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Ammonia Emission from a Beef Cattle Feedlot and Its Local Dry Deposition and Re‐Emission
Author(s) -
McGinn S. M.,
Janzen H. H.,
Coates T. W.,
Beauchemin K. A.,
Flesch T. K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2016.01.0009
Subject(s) - feedlot , manure , environmental science , manure management , beef cattle , ammonia , deposition (geology) , greenhouse gas , flux (metallurgy) , fertilizer , pasture , livestock , zoology , dairy cattle , environmental engineering , agronomy , chemistry , geography , ecology , biology , forestry , paleontology , organic chemistry , sediment
Ammonia (NH 3 ) volatized from livestock manure is affiliated with ecosystem and human health concerns and decreased fertilizer value of manure and can also be an indirect source of greenhouse gas. Beef cattle feedlots, where thousands of cattle are grouped together to enable greater control of feed management and production, are hot spots in the agricultural landscape for NH 3 emissions. Quantifying the feedlot NH 3 emissions is a difficult task, partly due to the reactive nature of NH 3 within and surrounding the feedlot. Our study used a dispersion model coupled to field measurements to derive NH 3 emissions from a feedlot in southern Alberta, Canada. The average feedlot NH 3 emission was 50 μg m −2 s −1 (85 g animal −1 d −1 ), which coincides with a low dietary crude protein content. At a location 165 m east of the feedlot, a flux gradient (FG) technique measured an average NH 3 deposition of 12.0 μg m −2 s −1 (west wind) and 5.3 μg m −2 s −1 (east wind). Ammonia FG emission averaged 1 μg m −2 s −1 with east winds, whereas no NH 3 emission was found for west wind. Using soil‐captured NH 3 , there was a decrease in deposition with distance from the feedlot (50% over 200 m). Collectively, the results of this study provide insight into the dynamics of NH 3 in the agricultural landscape and illustrate the need for NH 3 mitigation to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of cattle feedlots. Core Ideas Beef feedlots are “hot spots” of ammonia emissions in the landscape. A significant fraction of the emitted ammonia is deposited to local land. Nitrogen fate of emitted ammonia is dynamic.