Ammonia emission factors from cattle production systems in Ireland – a review
Author
Owusu-Twum, M. Y.Kelleghan, D.
Gleasure, G.
Forrestal, P.
Lanigan, G. J.
Richards, K. G.
Krol, D. J.
Date
2024-01-19
Metadata
Show full item recordStatistics
Display Item StatisticsCitation
M. Y. Owusu-Twum, D. Kelleghan and G. Gleasure et al. Ammonia emission factors from cattle production systems in Ireland – a review. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research. 2024. Vol. 62(1):75-95. DOI: 10.15212/ijafr-2023-0108Abstract
Ammonia (NH3) emissions from livestock production contribute to environmental pollution. To address this challenge, the European Union (EU) National Emission Reduction Commitments Directive 2016/2284 (NECD) sets NH3 reduction targets for EU member states. In order to achieve these targets, several strategies have been evaluated under Irish conditions. A compilation of emission factors (EFs) from studies which evaluated these strategies is necessary to assess their effectiveness. This paper reports NH3 EFs from cattle production under Irish conditions. The results from the review show that the mean EFs from the deposition of dung, urine and urea applied to urine patches on grasslands were 4%, 9% and 8% total nitrogen (TN), respectively. EFs from the application of urea to urine patches were reduced by 28% after the addition of the urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) to urea. The mean EF of 28% TN reported for urea fertiliser was almost 7 times higher than calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN). The inclusion of urease inhibitors with urea fertilisation on grassland led to EF reduction of up to 86%. The mean EFs from cattle houses, concrete yards, slurry storage pits and slurry landspreading were approximately 13%, 35%, 60% and 59% total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN), respectively. The most effective NH3 abatement strategies for concrete yards and slurry storage were immediate cleaning of concrete floors (up to 89% reduction) after excreta deposition and the application of chemical amendments (sulphuric acid, acetic acid, alum and ferric chloride) to slurry in storage pits (up to 98% reduction), respectively. Low-emission spreading strategies and slurry acidification were effective at abating EFs after slurry application to land.Funder
DAFMGrant Number
2019R554ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.15212/ijafr-2023-0108
Scopus Count
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International