. Energy News .




FARM NEWS
Climate-related emissions from feedyards monitored in AgriLife Research study
by Staff Writers
Amarillo TX (SPX) Nov 14, 2012


While this study is quantifying nitrous oxide and methane emission rates from pen surfaces in cattle feedlots, further work is needed to investigate factors that influence emission rates.

An accurate estimation of nitrous oxide and methane emissions from beef cattle feedlots is an increasing concern given the current and potential future reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions. Dr. Ken Casey, Texas A and M AgriLife Research air quality engineer in Amarillo, is working on an ongoing study to quantify the nitrous oxide and methane emission rates from pen surfaces at two commercial beef cattle feedlots in Texas.

This research was supported in part by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AgriLife Research and Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

To put these in perspective, nitrous oxide and methane have global warming potentials of 310 times and 21 times that of carbon dioxide, respectively, Casey said. This means these gases trap more heat within the atmosphere than carbon dioxide per unit weight.

"These greenhouse gases contribute more toward climate change but are not concerns for human or animal health at the concentrations that exist in and around feedyards," he said. "But they need to be studied because we need to know how much is being emitted before we can accurately determine what contribution feedyards are making to the national and global inventory of greenhouse gases."

Casey said determining these numbers now also will help make sure any future regulations that might be imposed are based on scientific findings.

"But little research has been conducted into the emissions of these greenhouse gases from beef cattle feedyards and particularly as it applies for the climatic conditions, ration formulations and management practices of Texas High Plains feedlots," he said.

His AgriLife Research study was set up to determine the range of nitrous oxide and methane emission rates from feedlot pen surfaces; to obtain an understanding of seasonal, temporal and spatial variability of emission rates within pens; and to gain insight into the factors that influence and control emission rates, such as moisture content, days since rainfall and nitrogen content.

In his study, the emissions from the pen surfaces were measured on 20 sampling days from June to October 2011, Casey said. The air samples were collected from the chambers' headspace at 0, 10, 20 and 30 minutes using syringes, transferred to evacuated vials and analyzed with a gas chromatograph.

From the nitrous oxide and methane concentrations, emission fluxes were calculated, he said.

Casey said the study showed nitrous oxide and methane flux generally increased with increasing manure pack temperature. Following a rain, nitrous oxide flux would spike and then was followed by a decline to pre-event levels over three to six days.

The nitrous oxide flux increase due to a rain was approximately 100 times greater than the temperature response, he said.

While this study is quantifying nitrous oxide and methane emission rates from pen surfaces in cattle feedlots, further work is needed to investigate factors that influence emission rates, Casey said.

Knowing the production and release mechanisms that influence these emissions will help the industry to develop management systems that could reduce the emissions, he said.

For instance, if reduced storage of manure in pens lessens anaerobic conditions, that could result in lower methane emissions, Casey said. And reduced nitrogen excretion - possibly through feeding less nitrogen - could reduce the nitrous oxide emitted.

Accurate and well-designed emission measurements from well-characterized types of manure and manure management systems will be needed to reduce the uncertainties, he said. These measurements must account for temperature, moisture conditions, aeration, manure nitrogen content, metabolizable carbon and duration of storage.

.


Related Links
Texas A and M AgriLife Communications
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





FARM NEWS
Texas cotton getting a genetic 'tune-up'
College Station TX (SPX) Nov 14, 2012
Can you imagine trying to build a competitive race car with old parts? Chances are, the entry would not fare well at the Indy 500. Very much the same thing might be said about today's crops, according to a Texas A and M AgriLife Research scientist. "Contemporary crops such as Texas cotton are like finely tuned racing machines - they need high quality parts to perform optimally," said Dr. D ... read more


FARM NEWS
Surveying Earth's interior with atomic clocks

Storms, Ozone, Vegetation and More: NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP Satellite Returns First Year of Data

NASA's SPoRT Team Tracks Hurricane Sandy

Sizing up biomass from space

FARM NEWS
Quattro Group Gains Visibility And Control With Ctrack

Gazprom to Launch Two Satellites by Yearend

Research cruise testing EGNOS satnav for ships

Two SOPS accepts command and control of newest GPS satellite

FARM NEWS
Inspiration from Mother Nature leads to improved wood

Action needed to prevent more devastating tree diseases entering the UK

Texas A and M scientist taking infrared laser look at forests

Forest fertilization can increase production, decrease carbon emissions

FARM NEWS
14,000 Jobs Possible from Military Biofuels Initiative

Airbus, EADS and ENN make a push for new generation aviation fuels

A Better Route to Xylan

More Bang for the Biofuel Buck

FARM NEWS
2012 National Solar Jobs Census Finds Installers Leading the Way

Balfour Beatty Communities and SolarCity Team Up

Midwestern Solar Icon Moves into Solar

Eclipsall Solar PV Panels Featured on Three Municipal Buildings

FARM NEWS
AREVA deploys its industrial plan to produce a 100 percent French wind power technology

Gannets could be affected by offshore energy developments

Scotland approves 85MW Highlands wind farm

China backs suit against Obama over wind farm deal

FARM NEWS
US shale gas drives up coal exports

Coal investment in Queensland unlikely

Australian coal projects mega polluters?

Australian coal basin may be top 10 polluter: Greenpeace

FARM NEWS
China's Xi says party faces problems including graft

China appoints respected economist to target graft

Penpics of China's new Communist Party leaders

Child journalists grill ministers at China congress




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement