Abstract
Three experiments were conducted using a system of small wind tunnels to measure ammonia (NH3) volatilization from cattle slurry after surface application to land. In each experiment slurry was applied at a rate equivalent to 80 m3 ha-1, providing the equivalent of approximately 100 kg NH4 +-N ha-1. The first experiment compared NH3 volatilization from the liquid fraction obtained by mechanical separation of slurry with that from unseparated slurry. The total NH3 loss over six days from unseparated and separated slurry were very similar, being 38 and 35% respectively of the NH4 +-N applied. For the first five hours, the rate of NH3 loss was higher from the unseparated slurry, thereafter it was consistently lower. In the second experiment, slurry was ponded in a tray to examine whether impeded infiltration or changes in the NH4 + concentration or overall pH of the slurry influenced the rapid decline in rate soon after application that is characteristic of NH3 volatilization from animal slurries applied to land. It appeared, however, that other factors such as resistance to diffusion within the slurry and/or at the slurry surface were mostly responsible for the rapid decline in rate. In the third experiment, in which NH3 volatilization was measured from slurry applied to grassland or bare soil, the total loss from slurry applied to grassland was approximately 1.5 times that from slurry applied to bare soil.
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Thompson, R.B., Pain, B.F. & Lockyer, D.R. Ammonia volatilization from cattle slurry following surface application to grassland. Plant Soil 125, 109–117 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010750
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010750