Nitrous oxide emissions from a commercial cattle feedlot in Kansas

Orlando Aguilar, Ronaldo Maghirang, Charles W. Rice, Steven Trabue, Larry E. Erickson, Edna Razote

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Emission of greenhouse gases, including nitrous oxide (N2O), from open beef cattle feedlots is becoming a concern. Research measuring emission rates of N2O from open beef cattle feedlots, however, has been limited. This study was conducted to quantify the N2O emission rate from pen surfaces in a commercial beef cattle feedlot in Kansas. Static flux chambers with a diameter of 30 cm were used to measure the flux from the pen suriace as affected by pen surface conditions (i.e., moist/muddy, dry and loose, dry and compacted, and flooded) on 10 sampling days from July to November 2010. Air samples were collected from the chambers' headspace at 0, 15, and 30 min using syringes and analyzed with a gas chromatograph. From the N 2O concentrations, N2O emission fluxes were calculated. For each pen surface condition, N2O emission flux varied considerably with sampling day. Emission flux also varied with pen surface condition, with the moist/muddy surface having the largest median emission flux (7.18 mg m -2 h-1), followed by the dry and compacted, dry and loose, and flooded surfaces with median emission fluxes of 0.18, 0.17, and 0.09 mg m-2 h-1, respectively. This study quantified N 2O emission rates from pen surfaces in a cattle feedlot; further work is investigating factors that influence emission rates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2011, ASABE 2011
PublisherAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Pages5186-5199
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9781618391568
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
EventAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2011 - Louisville, KY, United States
Duration: Aug 7 2011Aug 10 2011

Publication series

NameAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2011, ASABE 2011
Volume6

Other

OtherAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLouisville, KY
Period8/7/118/10/11

Keywords

  • Closed-chamber method
  • Feedlot surface emissions
  • Nitrous oxide

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Agronomy and Crop Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nitrous oxide emissions from a commercial cattle feedlot in Kansas'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this