Mitigating the Greenhouse Gas Potential of Australian Soils Amended with Livestock Manure
Lead organisation and partner organisations:
Lead: The University of Western Australia
Principal Investigator: Dr Sasha Jenkins
Project Partners: Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Meat and Livestock Australia, Chicken Meat Program of Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australian Egg Corporation Limited, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
Outcomes to Industry
This project gathered data to understand the emissions resulting from the application of different manures from piggeries, feedlot cattle and poultry compared to the baseline emissions from conventional fertilisers. Practical field strategies were developed to mitigate emissions when applying these manures to different soil types and cropping systems. The major outcomes from this project included:
- Lower application rates of manures have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 60%.
- Dry seeding shows the potential to reduce GHG emissions by 25%.
- Incorporation of manures into soil revealed up to 75% reduction in GHG emissions.
- Composting and pelletising rather than stockpiling livestock manures showed a potential reduction of GHG emissions by up to 70 and 80%, respectively.
The results of comprehensive field trials show that, irrespective of the source of manure, there was a trend towards higher grain and biomass yields in field plots receiving livestock manure. The results from the comprehensive field trial suggested that the addition of low GHG-emitting livestock manures to soil could be a good management practice for increasing organic carbon, nitrogen availability, microbial diversity and resilience in soils as well as improving crop productivity.