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Storage of cattle slurry leads to emissions of methane (CH(4)), nitrous oxide (N(2)O), ammonia (NH(3)), and carbon dioxide (CO(2)). On dairy farms, winter is the most critical period in terms of slurry storage due to cattle housing and slurry field application prohibition. Slurry treatment by separation results in reduced slurry dry matter content and has considerable potential to reduce gaseous emissions. Therefore, the efficiency of slurry separation in reducing gaseous emissions during winter storage was investigated in a laboratory study. Four slurry fractions were obtained: a solid and a liquid fraction by screw press separation (SPS) and a supernatant and a sediment fraction by chemically enhanced settling of the liquid fraction. Untreated slurry and the separated fractions were stored in plastic barrels for 48 d under winter conditions, and gaseous emissions were measured. Screw press separation resulted in an increase of CO(2) (650%) and N(2)O (1240%) emissions due to high releases observed from the solid fraction, but this increase was tempered by using the combined separation process (CSP). The CSP resulted in a reduction of CH(4) emissions ( approximately 50%), even though high emissions of CH(4) (46% of soluble C) were observed from the solid fraction during the first 6 d of storage. Screw press separation increased NH(3) emissions by 35%, but this was reduced to 15% using the CSP. During winter storage greenhouse gas emissions from all treatments were mainly in the form of CH(4) and were reduced by 30 and 40% using SPS and CSP, respectively.

S U M M A R YExperiments were conducted on the seed rates of the components of oat-vetch mixtures combined with varying rates of nitrogen fertilizer in a rainfed area of north-east Portugal in 1982-3 and 1984-5.Forage oats grown alone showed a very high yield response to N and rainfall ranging from 30 to 18-2 t D.M./ha, but had a very low crude protein concentration (37-54 g/kg D.M.) and a poor mineral nutrient composition.The increased use of vetch in the seed mixture had a buffering effect on dry-matter (D.M.) yield but this depended very much on crop N nutrition. For N-deficient conditions vetch inclusion increased the D.M. yield and had a strong positive effect on total forage crude protein (CP) and mineral composition. When crop N nutrition was good, very high D.M. yields (> 12 t D.M./ha) were possible using a high proportion of oats, with vetch making a reduced contribution to the yield and nutritive value of total forage. Seed rates suggested in the literature for Mediterranean conditions are adequate for low N inputs and low available soil N, but not for high D.M. yields which can only be obtained by using a higher proportion of oats and adequate N fertilizer.

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