Effects of winter storage conditions and subsequent agitation on gaseous emissions from liquid dairy manure

Abstract

VanderZaag, A. C., Gordon, R. J., Jamieson, R. C., Burton, D. L. and Stratton, G. W. 2010. Effects of winter storage conditions and subsequent agitation on gaseous emissions from liquid dairy manure. Can. J. Soil Sci. 90:229 -239. An understanding of emissions from liquid manure facilities during winter, spring thaw and agitation is needed to improve national emissions inventories in Canada. In this study, liquid dairy manure was stored in six pilot-scale tanks (1.8 m deep×6.6 m2 surface area) covered by steady-state chambers that enabled greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia (NH 3) flux measurement. After 158 d of undisturbed storage, three tanks were agitated for 5 d (8 h per day) consecutively. During storage, methane (CH4) flux was correlated with manure temperature at 30 cm depth (P<0.05). Nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes occurred only during spring thaw - at rates comparable with agricultural soil during spring thaw. On a carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent basis, however, cumulative N 2O fluxes were negligible compared with CH4 fluxes. Flux of NH 3 was correlated positively with manure temperature near the surface and negatively with the presence of ice or a surface crust (PB