Emissions of Greenhouse Gases, Ammonia, and Hydrogen Sulfide from Pigs Fed Standard Diets and Diets Supplemented with Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles

Abstract

Swine producers are supplementing animal diets with increased levels of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) to offset the cost of a standard corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diet. However, the environmental impact of these diets on emissions of greenhouse gases, ammonia (NH), and hydrogen sulfide (HS) is largely unknown. Twenty-four pigs (103.6 kg initial body weight) were fed a standard CSBM diet or a CSBM diet containing 35% DDGS for 42 d. Pigs were fed and their manure was collected twice daily over the 42-d trial. Pigs fed diets containing DDGS had reduced manure pH ( < 0.01), increased surface crust coverage ( < 0.01), increased manure dry matter content ( < 0.01), and increased manure C ( < 0.01), N ( < 0.01), and S ( < 0.01) contents. Animals fed DDGS diets also had significantly higher concentrations of total ammoniacal nitrogen ( < 0.01) and sulfide ( < 0.01) in their manure compared with animals fed CSBM diets. Manure emissions of NH ( < 0.01) and HS ( < 0.05) were significantly higher in animals fed the CSBM diet. There was no dietary treatment effect for methane or nitrous oxide emissions from manure. This study demonstrates that diets containing DDGS can significantly affect manure composition and potentially lower emissions of NH and HS.

Impact of fiber source and feed particle size on swine manure properties related to spontaneous foam formation during anaerobic decomposition

“…This creates a wellestablished link between feed composition and the physical and chemical characteristics of the manure (Kerr et al, 2006;Jarret et al, 2011;Trabue and Kerr, 2014). Van Weelden (Unpublished Results) found that this was also true for properties of manures thought to be related to foam formation, where they reported that manures from pigs fed varying sources and levels of carbohydrate or proteins resulted in manure with different microbial community structures, different methane production characteristics, and different capacities to form and stabilize foam.…”

Laser-Based Monitoring of CH4, CO2, NH3, and H2S in Animal Farming—System Characterization and Initial Demonstration

“…Quality of air affects animals, has an impact on people who live nearby (due to odors) and climate (due to greenhouses gases emission). The environmental impact of pig farming (pig sector is the biggest contributor to global meat production) on air quality primarily includes emission of methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Proper assessment of emission rates requires all these gases to be detected in the continuous manner, at low cost, and with sensitivity and accuracy at single ppmv level.…”

Impact of Dietary Carbohydrate and Protein Source and Content on Swine Manure Foaming Properties

“…This creates a well-established link between feed composition and the physical and chemical characteristics of the manure (Kerr et al, 2006;Jarret et al, 2011;Trabue and Kerr, 2014). For example, Miller and Varel (2003) found that the composition of the manure and the potential release of nutrients and volatile emissions into the environment from livestock operations are partially controlled by dietary inputs.…”