scholarly journals Nitrogen and phosphorus balances on Finnish dairy farms

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. VIRTANEN ◽  
J. NOUSIAINEN

The calculation of whole-farm nutrient balance is an effective and simple method for estimating the potential nutrient loading from dairy farming into the environment. In Finland, however, the published results based on larger number of farms are still lacking. In this study whole-farm nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances on Finnish dairy farms were studied based on short-cut data for the year 2002. The survey was targeted to 1260 dairy farms, located all over Finland. Of the 386 replies received, 319 were used for subsequent statistical analyses. The association between selected farm variables and nutrient balance was studied using regression analysis and a sensitivity coefficient was calculated for each regression slope. The average (± standard deviation) whole-farm nutrient balance for N and P was 109 (±41.3) and 12 (±7.2) kg ha-1, respectively. The most responsive factors affecting the nutrient balances were total nutrient and fertilizer import per ha, followed by animal density, milk export per ha and concentrate import per ha. The results suggested that nutrient surpluses could be controlled more easily in combined crop and milk than in specialised milk production. It is concluded that nutrient surplus on Finnish dairy farms is markedly lower than that on areas with intensive production in central European countries. However, when nutrient balances were extrapolated to comparable production intensity as in central Europe, the level of the surpluses was equal.;

Author(s):  
Zijuan Zhao ◽  
Beilei Fan

Abstract: Estimating regional soils Nitrogen and phosphorus balance in cropland is essential to improve management practices, reduce environmental risks and develop sustainable agriculture. In this study,spatial and temporal variations in crop layout, the impact on soil N and P nutrient balance were assessed from 2000 to 2015 in the West Liaohe River Basin between 2000 and 2015. The result shows that the area of cropland is on the rise, and the spatial distribution of arable land is consistent with the distribution of the main tributaries of the West Liaohe River basin. The change in planting layout for maize and soybeans has a significant impact on the nutrient balance of farmland, which plays a critical role in modifying surplus nutrients. Nutrient surpluses on farmland were mostly concentrated in areas where maize planting layout changed between 2000 and 2015. The N nutrient surplus rate decreased by 39.3%, N utilization efficiency, increased by 70.7%; P nutrient surplus rate decreased by 3.8%, and P utilization efficiency increased by 49.3%. The average utilization efficiencies of N and P nutrients were 27.8% and 9.1%, respectively, and the utilization efficiency was low. Chemical manure is the main source of nutrients. The risk of phosphorus pollution was higher than the risk of nitrogen pollution in the West Liaohe River Basin. The lower Liaohe River Basin (below the Sujiapu) was the region with the most violent changes in nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient balance. It is recommended that reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer application, especially, reduce the amount of P application, improve the ef-ficiency of nutrient use, and focus on strengthening pollution control in key areas such as the West Liaohe River lower reaches basin (below Sujiabao), reducing the risk of agricultural nonpoint source pollution.


2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 531-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvo lital ◽  
Enn Loigu ◽  
Nils Vagstad

The paper deals with nutrient runoff monitoring results and calculated nutrient budgets on catchment level in small agricultural watersheds in Estonia. A special programme for monitoring of nutrient losses was initiated and a network of monitoring stations, equipped with data-loggers and suitable devices for continuous flow measurement and flow-proportional automatic water sampling were established in Estonia in the mid-1990s. The research methodology is harmonized with the Nordic countries as well as with the other Baltic countries. The results indicate that nutrients losses are relatively low (generally below 11 kg N/ha and 0.9 kg P/ha). It can be partly explained by drastic changes in the Estonian agricultural practice in the 1990s but also by differences in runoff regime. Nutrient balances were calculated for two catchments, based on the data collected from the farms, some special studies and water quality monitoring results in two watersheds in 1995 (1999) - 2001. The nutrient balances for the catchments turned positive after being negative both for nitrogen and phosphorus in the mid-1990s.


2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pak ◽  
W. Chang

A two-biofilter system operated under alternate conditions of anaerobic/aerobic was tested to simultaneously remove nitrogen and phosphorus from sewage. The factors affecting simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus by the two-biofilter system were investigated. Those factors appeared to be influent COD/T-N and COD/T-P ratio, nitrogen loading rate and hydraulic retention time. Nitrite and nitrate produced in the biofilter in aerobic condition affected phosphorus removal by the two-biofilter system. The amount of biomass wasted during the backwash procedure also affected total nitrogen and phosphorus removal by the system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-527
Author(s):  
Zihao Bian ◽  
Hanqin Tian ◽  
Qichun Yang ◽  
Rongting Xu ◽  
Shufen Pan ◽  
...  

Abstract. Livestock manure nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) play an important role in biogeochemical cycling. Accurate estimation of manure nutrient is important for assessing regional nutrient balance, greenhouse gas emission, and water environmental risk. Currently, spatially explicit manure nutrient datasets over a century-long period are scarce in the United States (US). Here, we developed four datasets of annual animal manure N and P production and application in the contiguous US at a 30 arcsec resolution over the period of 1860–2017. The dataset combined multiple data sources including county-level inventory data as well as high-resolution livestock and crop maps. The total production of manure N and P increased from 1.4 Tg N yr−1 and 0.3 Tg P yr−1 in 1860 to 7.4 Tg N yr−1 and 2.3 Tg P yr−1 in 2017, respectively. The increasing manure nutrient production was associated with increased livestock numbers before the 1980s and enhanced livestock weights after the 1980s. The manure application amount was primarily dominated by production, and its spatial pattern was impacted by the nutrient demand of crops. The intense-application region mainly enlarged from the Midwest toward the southern US and became more concentrated in numerous hot spots after the 1980s. The South Atlantic–Gulf and Mid-Atlantic basins were exposed to high environmental risks due to the enrichment of manure nutrient production and application from the 1970s to the period of 2000–2017. Our long-term manure N and P datasets provide detailed information for national and regional assessments of nutrient budgets. Additionally, the datasets can serve as the input data for ecosystem and hydrological models to examine biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Datasets are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.919937 (Bian et al., 2020).


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