Nitrous oxide from aerated dairy manure slurries: Effects of aeration rates and oxic/anoxic phasing

Small-scale laboratory research was conducted to compare the effects of different aeration rates and oxic/anoxic phasing on nitrous oxide (N2O) formation from dairy manure slurries. Manure slurry samples were incubated in triplicate for three-weeks under a range of continuous sweep gas flows (0.01–0.23 L min−1 kg−1 slurry) with and without oxygen (air and dinitrogen gas). The net release of N2O–N was affected by both aeration rates and oxic/anoxic conditions, whereas ammonia volatilization depended mainly on gas flow rates. Maximum N2O–N losses after three-weeks incubation were 4.2% of total slurry N. Major N losses (up to 50% of total slurry N) were caused by ammonia volatilization that increased with increasing gas flow rates. The lowest nitrous oxide and ammonia production was observed from low flow phased oxic/anoxic treatment.