Instant Insights: Using manure in soil management (Burleigh Dodds Science: Instant Insights, 94)

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on the utilisation of manure to improve soil management and health.

The first chapter reviews ways to improve manure management in animal housing during storage and after application in the field. The chapter also considers manure application methods and their effects on nitrogen utilisation and soil carbon storage.

The second chapter discusses the role of manure and compost in maintaining soil health, as well as ways of integrating livestock and crop production to optimise soil health.

The third chapter reviews the impacts associated with the application of livestock and poultry manure on the ability of soil to deliver a range of ecosystem services that sustain plants, animals, people and the environment.

The fourth chapter discusses the responsible storage, treatment and processing of livestock manure, as well as the measures available to mitigate the production of greenhouse gas emissions during these processes, such as slurry mixing.

The final chapter reviews the main technologies for manure valorisation into bioenergy and biofertiliser products. It discusses developments in more established technologies such as solid-liquid (S/L) separation, as well as more innovative techniques, such as ammonia stripping/scrubbing.

Professor (UZ) Dr Barbara Amon is an Associate Professor for Environmental Engineering and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Zielona Góra, Poland and a Senior Research Scientist and Board Representative for Research at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany. Professor Amon sits on many panels, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UNECE, UNEP and the FAO LEAP Partnership.