Effects of Acidifying Pig Diets on Emissions of Ammonia, Methane, and Sulfur from Slurry during Storage.

Ammonia (NH) volatilization from intensive livestock production is a threat to natural ecosystems. This study investigated pig diet manipulation by 1% (w/w) benzoic acid (BA) amendment and lowering of dietary electrolyte balance through substituting 1.4% (w/w) CaCO with 2.0% (w/w) CaCl. Urine and feces were collected separately from 24 pigs fed one of four diets (Control, +BA, +CaCl, +BA+CaCl) in metabolic cages and mixed as slurry. During 103 d of storage, all acidifying diets consistently reduced pH in the slurry by 0.4 to 0.6 units. There was a strong relationship between slurry pH and NH emissions, which were considerably reduced by the three acidifying diets. The +BA diet decreased NH emission by 28%, the +CaCl diet by 37%, and the combined +BA and +CaCl diet by 40%. Acidifying diets had no effect on S cycling or emission of volatile S compounds under the prevailing conditions of restricted S feeding. Methane (CH) emissions were increased by 73% in diets with CaCl. An initial delay in CH emissions was investigated in a separate experiment with manipulation of pH (5.4, 6.7, or 8.8) and inoculation with adapted pig slurry (0, 4, 11, or 19%), which showed that methanogenic potential, rather than inhibitory effects of the chemical environment, caused the delay. In conclusion, NH emissions from slurry could be reduced by addition of BA to pig diets or by controlling the dietary electrolyte balance, but there was no additive effect of combining the two strategies. However, CH emissions from slurry may increase with acidifying diets.

Sulfur turnover and emissions during storage of cattle slurry: effects of acidification and sulfur addition.

Slurry acidification using sulfuric acid reduces ammonia emissions but also affects sulfur (S) cycling. Emission of sulfur is a source of malodor and reduces the sulfur fertilizer value of the slurry. We investigated the effect of sulfate and methionine amendments, alone or in combination with acidification, on sulfur transformations in slurry and emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) during storage of fresh and aged cattle slurry. When pH was lowered to 5.5 it resulted in an almost complete inhibition of sulfate reduction. There was a huge emission of hydrogen sulfide (HS) with addition of sulfate and methionine ( < 0.01). Methanethiol (MT) was emitted in treatments with addition of methionine, especially when simultaneously acidified ( < 0.01). The large HS production in the sulfate-amended slurries resulted in little accumulation of MT and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) under neutral conditions, in contrast to acidic conditions where the degradation was inhibited and both MT and DMS accumulated. Based on odor activity values, untreated slurry had little odor development from S compounds, especially the aged slurry. Acidification did not significantly increase odor contribution from any of the compounds in fresh or aged slurry. Generally, addition of a sulfate increased the contribution from HS dramatically, whereas acidification lowered the HS contribution but increased that of MT. Thus, acidification of slurry with sulfuric acid may potentially produce more odor from S compounds than untreated slurry.