In this study, 183 livestock feeds and 85 animal manure samples were collected from commercial farms in England and Wales and analysed to determine their heavy metal (zinc, copper, nickel, lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and mercury) contents. Zinc and copper concentrations ranged from 150±2920 mg Zn/kg dm (dry matter) and 18±217 mg Cu/kg dm in pig feeds, depending on the age of the pigs. In p...

Pollution of water bodies by phosphorus in runoff from soil amended with animal manures is one of the greatest threats to water quality in developed countries. The environmental fate of manure phosphorus is determined in part by its chemical composition, yet extraction procedures to assess this are poorly developed and provide no structural information. We used solution 31P NMR spectroscopy to ...

This chapter considers the emissions of ammonia (NH 3) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from the excreta of agricultural animals deposited in buildings and collected as either liquid slurry or solid manure. This includes emissions from animal excreta at all stages: animal housing, manure storage and from land spreading of manures. Excreta deposited in fields by grazing animals are dealt with under SNA...

Mineral Fertilizers. It is considered to be the hall-mark of the good agriculturist that he aims not only to produce maximum crops, but to maintain the fertility of his soil unimpaired for the benefit of posterity. Both these ends were achieved in former times by the use of animal manures, by fallowing at regular intervals, and at a later date by the practice of crop rotation in conjunction wit...

Biochar, a product of incineration biomass is proposed for use as soil amendment (SA) to enhance water holding capacity, increase microbial community, and plant nutrients availability. We studied the effect six SA (sewage sludge SS, horse manure HM, chicken CM, vermicompost Vermi, commercial inorganic fertilizer (19N-19P-19K), organic (Nature Safe 10N-2P-8K), biochar added on root, shoot, weigh...

Livestock manures are an important resource in sustainable and organic crop production. This publication addresses the problems and challenges of using both raw and composted manures and discusses some of the solutions. It also deals with guano, a similar material. Manures for Organic

The use of organic matter such as animal manures, human waste, food wastes, yard wastes, sewage sludges and composts has long been recognized in agriculture as beneficial for plant growth and yield and the maintenance of soil fertility. The new approaches to the use of organic amendments in farming have proven to be effective means of improving soil structure, enhancing soil fertility and incre...

Despite the many potential sources of release of pathogenic organisms into the environment, agronomic practices that utilize animal manures contaminated with pathogenic or parasitic organisms appear to be the major contributors to watershed or basin contaminations. High rates of land-applied raw manure increase the risks of surface or ground water contamination, both from excess nutrients and p...