Strategies to mitigate ammonia and nitrous oxide losses across the manure management chain for intensive laying hen farms.

Circular economy principle aims to achieve sustainable production systems, focusing on the waste valorisation and the reduction of gaseous losses to the atmosphere. Nitrogen (N) compounds in terms of ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) represent the major losses to the atmosphere of laying hen manure management chain. We present a study aimed to evaluate NH3 and N2O emission and mitigation strategies at housing, storage and land spreading stages. The whole manure management chain was evaluated under different scenarios which combined mitigation strategies of each stage. Two intensive laying hen facilities were involved in the study. Evaluated mitigation strategies were: (i) frequency of manure removal from housing facility, (ii) dried manure storage after passing throughout a manure drying tunnel (MDT) compared to fresh manure storage and (iii) fresh or dried manure incorporation versus surface land application. Increasing the frequency of manure removal from 4 days to 1/3 daily, reduced N losses around 68%. Dried manure storage achieved around 75% reduction in N losses compared to fresh manure storage. Spreading dried manure on grassland surface reduced ≈77% NH3 losses in relation to the emission level reached by fresh manure. The reduction was similar when dried manure was incorporated compared to surface application of fresh manure (≈79%). A 40% reduction in N losses was achieved using the MDT compared to no drying strategy. In the whole manure management chain, the combination of strategies that most reduced N losses was: removal frequency of 1/3 daily, dry storage after passing through the MDT and incorporated land application. These strategies reduced N losses between 40 and 60% compared to the 4 days of removal frequency, fresh storage and surface application of fresh manure.

Assessing ventilation rate measurements in a mechanically ventilated laying hen facility.

Gaseous emission in laying hen facilities affects animal production performance and the environment. Emission is ruled by gas concentration and ventilation rate (VR), which are the key parameters to estimate precise emission factors. In this work, VR were assessed in a mechanical ventilated laying hen facility under Mediterranean climate conditions. The study was performed during a complete production cycle from July 2015 to October 2016. Direct hot wire anemometer (HWA) and fan rotational speed methods, and indirect CO2 mass balance method were used to assess the VR. Mean VR was 5.3 ± 2.9 m3 h-1 hen-1 for the HWA method. The mean uncertainty of VR based on the HWA method was 8.5%, and it varied among ventilation stages from 2.3 to 12.8%. Uncertainty was higher in warm season (9.6%) than in cold season (5.4%). In relation to fan rotational speed method, mean VR was 5.9 ± 3.3 m3 h-1 hen-1, which accounts for 8.3% more than the HWA method. According to the results, the fan rotational speed method would be less sensitive than the HWA method for assessing VR. VR was 6.3 ± 2.1 m3 h-1 hen-1 for the CO2 balance method, which estimated lower VR values in warm season compared to the laser tachometer (LT) method (-5%) but higher values compared to the HWA method (+5%). In contrast, it estimated higher values in cold season compared to the HWA method (+23%) and LT method (+17%). Correlation analysis showed a strong correlation between the CO2 balance method and both direct methods (R = 0.85 and 0.86 for HWA and LT, respectively).

Effect of dietary crude protein modification on ammonia and nitrous oxide concentration on a tie-stall dairy barn floor.

Dietary crude protein (CP) reduction is considered a useful strategy to minimize cow N excretion and NH(3) and N(2)O emissions. The aim of the current work was to relate dietary CP modification to whole-animal N balance and subsequent NH(3) and N(2)O concentrations on a tie-stall barn floor. The effect of temperature on NH(3) and N(2)O concentration was also studied. Three Holstein mid to late lactating cows were confined in separate tie-stalls and randomly assigned to 3 diets with varying CP content [low CP (LCP): 14.1%; moderate CP (MCP): 15.9%; high CP (HCP): 16.9%]. Increasing N intake (from 438.6 to 522.8 g of N/d) improved milk yield (from 22.1 to 24.2 kg/d). However, N use efficiency tended to decrease with increasing dietary CP, as shown by milk N use efficiency (from 23.9 to 22.6%), milk urea N (from 15.4 to 18.7 mg/dL), and excreted N per milk yield unit (from 14.7 to 16.4 g of N/kg of milk). Because of higher N excretion, NH(3) concentration on the dairy barn floor increased (LCP: 7.1mg of NH(3)/m(3); MCP: 10.4 mg of NH(3)/m(3); HCP: 10.8 mg of NH(3)/m(3)). In contrast, N(2)O concentration did not respond to dietary manipulation (mean 1.1mg of N(2)O/m(3)). Temperature, which ranged between 12.6 and 18.0 degrees C, did not affect NH(3) and N(2)O concentrations at the stall level. However, when fecal and urinary samples were incubated at 4, 19, and 29 degrees C in the laboratory, ammonia concentration increased for all diets, especially for the MCP and HCP diets, as the temperature increased. In contrast, N2O concentration was negatively related to increasing temperature. In conclusion, data from the current trial demonstrate that lowering dietary CP minimizes NH(3) concentration on dairy stall floors although temperature controls the rate of NH(3) volatilization. On the other hand, N(2)O concentration is not affected by dietary treatments on tie-stall floors.

Nutritional and management strategies on nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency of lactating dairy cattle on commercial farms: an environmental perspective.

Dairy farm activities contribute to environmental pollution through the surplus N and P that they produce. Optimization of animal feeding and management has been described as a key strategy for decreasing N and P excretion in manure. Sixty-four commercial dairy farms were studied to assess the efficiency of N and P use in lactating herds and to identify dietary and management factors that may contribute to improving the efficiency of nutrient use for milk production, and decrease N and P excretion. The average ration was formulated to 50:50 forage:concentrate ratio with grass silage and corn silage as the main forage sources. Mean N and P intakes were 562 g/d [16.4% crude protein (CP)] and 84.8 g/d (0.40% P), respectively. Milk yield averaged 29.7 kg/d and contributed to 25.8% (standard deviation +/- 2.9) of N utilization efficiency (NUE) and 31.9% (standard deviation +/- 4.5) of P utilization efficiency (PUE). Dietary N manipulation through fitting the intake of CP to animal requirements showed a better response in terms of decreasing N excretion (R(2) = 0.70) than that estimated for P nutrition and excretion (R(2) = 0.30). Improvement in NUE helped increase PUE, despite the widespread use of feedstuffs with a high P content. Management strategies for lactating herds, such as the use of different feeding groups, periodical ration reformulation, and selection of feeding system did not show any consistent response in terms of improved NUE and PUE. The optimization of NUE and PUE contributed to decreasing the N and P excretion per unit of milk produced, and therefore, reductions in N and P excretion of between 17 and 35%, respectively, were estimated. Nevertheless, nutritional and herd management strategies were limited when N and P excretion were considered in relation to the whole lactating herd and farmland availability. Dietary CP manipulation was estimated to decrease herd N excretion by 11% per hectare, whereas dietary P manipulation would be decreased by no more than 17%. We conclude that the correct match between the ingested and required N and P, together with an increase in milk productivity, may be feasible strategies for decreasing N and P excretion by lactating herds on commercial farms.

Morphocultural variants of Septoria tritici isolates.

This is a morphocultural study under in vitro and in vivo condition on some Septoria tritici variants mainly originated from isolates collected from cultivars bearing Bobwhite 'S' and Kavkaz germplasm. The objective was to show the variability in cultural and morphobiometrical characters of atypical isolates (variants) derived from these germplasms and discuss the relationship with the pathogen's adaptative process. The isolates were grown on potato dextrosa agar and studies with the optical and scanning electron microscope were performed. The thallus behaviour and the vegetative structures were described. It was confirmed that these atypical structures belong the S. tritici thallus. Under in vivo condition the isolates developed typical leaf blotch lesions with normal pycnidia. These contained cylindrical cells or pycnidiospores smaller than spores of the "wild type". Possible reasons for the origin of these variants of S. tritici are considered.