Utilisation of Animal Manure to Avoid Pollution

Keywords: Animal manure, Emission reduction, Environment, Fertilisers, Pollution.

As is often the case, pollution by animal manure has an economic background.It is cheaper to discard nutrients from manure than to save them. The most mobile component in manure is nitrogen: it can escape in solution or by volatilisation. The prevention of gaseous loss is especially complicated.

The most effective measures to prevent losses from the field are regulation of the time and method of spreading. The better utilisation of the nitrogen resulting from these techniques should be supplemented by a reduced application of inorganic fertilisers.

The processing of manure surpluses is still hampered by many technical and social problems. Nevertheless, it should be considered as a more sophisticated way of using manure.

J H Voorburg, IMAG Wageningen, Netherlands.

16 pages, 7 tables, 6 refs.