[en] Atmospheric NO_x concentrations are declining steadily due to successful abatement strategies predominantly targeting combustion sources. On the European continent, total NO_x emissions fell by 55% between 1990 and 2017, but only modest reductions were achieved from the agricultural sector; with 7.8% from 20 Eastern European countries and 19.1% from 22 Western European countries. Consequently, the share of agricultural NO_x emissions for these 42 European countries have increased from 3.6% to 7.2%. These values are highly uncertain due to serious lack of studies from agricultural soils and manure management. The emission factor (EF_NO 1.33%), currently used for calculating soil NO_x emissions from European agricultural categories ‘N applied to soils’ and ‘manure management’ was evaluated here by including recently published data from temperate climate zones. The newly calculated EF_NO (average 0.60%, 0.06_25th%/0.54_75th%, n = 65 studies) is not notably different from the current value, given the large uncertainties associated with the small pool of studies, and therefore continued use of EF_NO (1.33%) is recommended until more data become available. An assessment of the contribution of agricultural and non-agricultural NO_x sources found that of the 42 European countries, the 8 most populated countries achieved considerable reductions (1990–2017) from categories ‘non-agricultural sources’ (55%), ‘N applied to soils’ (43%) and ‘manure management’ (1.2%), compared to small reductions from the remaining 34 countries. Forests are also large sources of soil NO_x. On average, emissions from Eastern European forests were 4 times larger than from ‘N applied agricultural soil’, whereas Western European NO_x emissions from ‘N applied agricultural soil’ were two times larger than from forest soils. Given that non-agricultural sources of NO_x continue to decline, soil related emissions from agriculture, forests and manure management become more important, and require rigorous investigation in order to improve atmospheric pollution forecasts. (paper)

No abstract available

No abstract available

[en] A field trial was conducted to test whether composed manure with tithonia or lantana would improve growth and yield of maize. A field trial consisting of five compost types and inorganic N fertilizer was carried out in a site low N using maize (Zea mays Var. Hybrid 513) as a test crop. The compost and fertilizer were applied at an equivalent rate of 100 kg N ha^-1. Above-ground maize biomass was taken at 2, 6, 10, 14 and 18 weeks after crop emergence, dried and N content determined. Amongst the compost, the highest dry matter accumulation N uptake and grain yield were observed in FYM composted with tithonia at 1:1 ratio. At all stages of crop growth, inorganic fertilizer treatment gave the highest dry matter and N uptake. Based on the growth and N uptake in the fertilizer treatment it was concluded that the N release in all the compost was lower than the crop demand

[en] Keeping in mind the importance that has today the use of national and international biogas plants, which use as raw material animal manure; as well as agricultural and agroindustrial residuals for the energy production and biofertilizers, minimizing the aspects of environmental contamination. This work is presented in three parts, in those which: firstly the technologies and the methods are described to apply the basic and special pre-treatments to the different biomass in order to obtain their maximum potential of methane. A second part where it is approached the particularities to do that. Finally, a third part where their possible use is analyzed in the Cuban case. As a result of the same one, the state of the art is shown in the use of basic and special pre-treatments, with the objective of to potentialize the increase of the methane production in agricultural or animal biomasses. (author)

[en] The paper analyzes scientific literature on manure recycling and systems of waste management at two poultry plants that use different technologies of poultry housing and manure disposal and calculates the volumes of waste generation for two plants.

The authors suggest an economically and ecologically efficient manure utilization technology, consider the feasibility of replacing traditional fuel with the one produced by manure recycling and calculate expected profits and the payback time of equipment. (paper)

[en] The highest record yields of the Japonica rice in Binchuan county, Yunnan Province, China were 1.664 to 1.982 t/ha using Yu-Za 29(F1 hybrid variety). The spikelet number per square m was 71,000 to 87,000. The thousand grain weight of brown rice and the percentage of ripened grain were 23.1 to 23.5 8, 76.0 to 76.2%, respectively. Although the average daily incident solar radiation during the rice growing period in Binchuan(19.3 MJ/square m/day)was 20% higher compared to the Japanese mean value, the high yields of Yu-Za 29 were attributed principally to technical effects such as breeding and manuring practices with high pesticide levels. Disese and insect injuries were more frequently observed in the dense planting than in the sparse planting. The high yielding technology in Binchuan should be reexamined with regard to the planting density

[en] Neutron moisture meter (NMM) calibration accuracy and precision must be performed to obtain reliable results. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of applied organic manure on neutron moisture meter calibration curve of sandy soil. The experiment was carried out at the farm of Soils and Water Department, Atomic Energy Authority. Two rates of organic manure were added (48 and 71.5 m³ /ha) including untreated control to surface sand soil at depth 20 cm. Neutron moisture meter calibration curve for 30 and 50 cm depth were done, the results showed that a 30 cm depth the neutron calibration curves for three treatments have approximately the same slope, and there is differences in the intercept which were 1.131, 1.298 and 1.978 for rate 2, rate 1 and the control, respectively. The values of the volumetric soil water content versus count ration presented in Tables (2 and 3) showed that, at the same count ratio, the values of water content decrease with increasing the rate of the organic matter in the case of 30 cm depth. As for 50 cm depth, the values of soil water content were approximately the same at each count.

[en] The efficiency of biopurification systems to treat pesticide-contaminated water was previously studied in microcosms. To validate the obtained results, macrocosm systems were set-up. Four pesticides (linuron, isoproturon, bentazone, and metalaxyl) were continuously applied to ten different organic substrate mixes. Retention of the pesticides was similar and in some cases slightly lower in the macrocosms compared to the microcosms. Differences in retention between the different mixes were however minimal. Moreover, the classification of the retention strength of the pesticides was identical to that observed in microcosms: linuron > isoproturon > metalaxyl > bentazone. Monod kinetics were used to describe delayed degradation, which occurred for isoproturon, metalaxyl and bentazone. No breakthrough of linuron was observed, thus, this pesticide was appointed as the most retained and/or degraded pesticide, followed by isoproturon, metalaxyl and bentazone. Finally, most of the matrix mixes efficient in degrading or retaining pesticides were mixes containing dried cow manure. - Transport of pesticides in macrocosm containing organic substrates

[en] Highlights: • Microbiome favors CIP degradation when CIP was incorporated into soil with manure. • Microbiome and fate of CIP responded differently to CIP addition methods to soil. • CIP degradation was prolonged when adding manure of swine fed with CIP in soil. Antibiotic residues in swine manure when entered the soil would most likely affect the complex composition and functions of the soil microbiome, which is also responsible for degrading these antibiotics. Three different methods of adding ciprofloxacin (CIP), a common antibiotic used in the swine industry, to the soil were used to investigate the effects of CIP on the soil microbiome and the degradation of CIP. Results of the study showed that the microbiome could promote the degradation of CIP in the soil when CIP was incorporated into the soil together with manure. However, the CIP degradation time was prolonged when adding the manure of swine fed with diet containing CIP in the soil. All treatments did not affect the copy number of the resistance genes, except for aac(6′)-Ib-cr, as compared with the initial numbers of each treatment. MiSeq Illumina sequencing and Biolog-ECO microplates results showed that CIP had a significant effect on the abundance, structure, and function of the soil microbiome, but different addition methods resulted in distinct effects. Results of the present study demonstrated that the microbiome and fate of CIP responded differently to the different methods of adding CIP to the soil.