Strategies for mitigation of nitrogen environmental impact from swine production

Abstract

This work presents strategies that can be implemented in order to minimize the environmental impact of swine slurry on soil, water, and air. This reduction can be achieved through decrease in nitrogen excretion and ammonia emissions. The correct feed formulation according to animal requirements, the increase in diet digestibility and improvement in animal performance can reduce nitrogen excretion. The use of additives either in the diet or in the manure as well as some equipment rearrangements can reduce ammonia emission.

Addition of inulin, alfalfa and citrus pulp in diets for piglets: Influence on nutritional and faecal parameters, intestinal organs, and colonic fermentation and bacterial populations

“…in young pigs (Montagne et al, 2003;Lallès et al, 2007;Bindelle et al, 2008;Molist et al, 2014). Additionally, the inclusion of fermentable fibrous ingredients in the diet of pigs may produce a shift in N excretion from urine to faeces as a consequence of microbial protein synthesis in the hindgut and thus, a reduction in ammonia emissions (Monteiro et al, 2010).…”

Productive Response of Duroc x Large White and Commercial Hybrid x Large White Crosses Fed High and Low Protein Diets

“…The need of pigs for the essential amino acids was widely studied and the researches confirm their inefficacity in satisfying the non-specific N requirements (Adkins et al, 1966;Allen and Baker, 1974;Featherstone, 1976); furthermore the essential amino acids must be supplied with the diet in certain amounts and proportions to obtain optimum efficiency of utilization of the proteins. Several authors report values of efficiency of dietary protein utilization between 18-40 % (de Lange et al, 1999;Della Casa, 2006;Dourmad et al, 1994;Monteiro et al, 2010;Mordenti et al, 1995, Rossi et al, 2005; according to Dourmad et al 2007, in pigs fed diets based on cereals and soybean flour during breeding-fattening, the N retention is of about 32%. The different protein utilization depends on several factors: composition of the diet, physiological state, growth intensity of the animals, breed and genotype, sex and slaughter weight (Bittante et al, 1990).…”

Emissions of Gaseous Pollutants from Pig Farms and Methods for their Reduction – A Review

“…Faecal pH is one of the most important factors determining the concentration of ammonia in the aqueous phase, and thus affects the release of this gas. Studies have shown that the release of ammonia from litter begins at a pH of about 7, and reaches a maximum value of 8 or higher (Monteiro et al, 2010).…”