A method for livestock waste management planning in NE Spain

doi:10.1016/S0956-053X(03)00072-2

Waste Management

Volume 23, Issue 10, 2003, Pages 917-932

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-053X(03)00072-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

A method of decision-making on livestock wastes management in areas with nutrient surplus due to high livestock density is applied in Catalonia (NE Spain). Nutrient balance is made considering soil nitrogen application as the limiting factor. Special attention is paid to the centralized treatment option. The method presented consists of:

1.
minimizing livestock waste generation (at farm scale) as a step previous to any other, both in amount and limiting components,
2.
applying the nitrogen balance method at regional and municipal scale and providing enough storage capacity in order to apply wastes in an agronomically correct way,
3.
spatially refining the results of the nitrogen balance by a proposed method that allows precisely pinpointing the hotspots of livestock waste generation, where centralized treatment might be an interesting option, and
4.
deciding on the waste treatment objectives, provided that treatments be necessary. Knowledge about the wastes, meeting the interests and merging the efforts of the various actors, as well as an adequate budget are necessary ingredients for the success of any waste management plan.

Section snippets

Minimization

Minimization of the generation of residues is crucial and one of the cheapest strategies to be adopted, becoming a must, previous to any other action.

Use of livestock wastes as fertilizers and nitrogen balance

The use of livestock wastes instead of mineral fertilizer has the following main limitations (Tabaglio et al., 1992):

•
relatively low nutrient concentrations. Therefore fertilization with livestock wastes is expensive due to the need to transport large amounts of waste,
•
difficulty in determining the nutrient concentrations in the wastes. The absence or low efficiency of homogenizers in the waste stocking tanks makes it difficult to determine the real nutrient content of wastes. This can be solved

Spatial distribution of nutrient generation

Regional or municipal balances may provide a distorted image of the problems since the actual spatial distribution of the crop requirements is often not known. The balance result will also depend on the scale of the analysis. In this sense, it is interesting noticing that, in Spain, the yearly nitrogen generation in the wastes from intensive farming corresponds to an average charge of 21 kg N/ha year. These values coincide with values from the US Southwest, where 50 1b/Ac are common (Cadena,

Transportation costs

Waste transportation constitutes the real bottleneck of the management of surplus livestock waste. Transportation cost varies per unit volume transported with the distance, and its incidence changes remarkably if the nutrients contained in the waste are given a value (Sangiorgi and Balsari, 1992). This is especially true where there's still land available for animal wastes application as fertilizer nearby the livestock farms.

Transportation is limiting because the wastes are highly diluted, the

Deciding on the treatment objectives

As Hahne et al. (1996) stated, the environmental effect of livestock farming depends on the number of animals and their concentration relative to the available area for livestock waste utilization in accordance with a good agricultural practice. For farms without a livestock waste surplus, its utilization probably will probably not cause any environmental pollution if the waste is stored in covered tanks for long enough and applied with flushing or injection systems or worked into the soil

Economic scoring of centralized surplus waste treatment plants

As already mentioned, in localized surplus nitrogen areas, the alternatives are either moving the farms out of the area, or reducing the waste volume to decrease export costs. In Spain, this second option is being favored through the Spanish Royal Decree 2818/1998 of 23 December on energy, cogeneration and wastes (and its yearly updates). This decree establishes a subsidy for the electricity produced by cogeneration if waste thermal energy is used for reducing the volume of pig slurry, sewage

Conclusions

The development of livestock wastes management planning, decision and control tools is necessary. Global long term planning is needed for the management of livestock residue in order to guarantee farm survival and the preservation of the environment.

Minimization of the generated wastes is a powerful tool that needs further development, research, and implementation efforts.

A management plan must be based on the nutrients balance according to local crop needs, on guarantying enough storage

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the municipalities, farmer associations, individuals and students who helped identifying the UTM co-ordinates of the farms, J. Areny for his collaboration, and the Catalan Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and that of Environment for funding (University of Lleida, CTT project K0011) and facilitating data on livestock numbers and crops.

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A method for livestock waste management planning in NE Spain

Abstract

Section snippets

Minimization

Use of livestock wastes as fertilizers and nitrogen balance

Spatial distribution of nutrient generation

Transportation costs

Deciding on the treatment objectives

Economic scoring of centralized surplus waste treatment plants

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

J. Agric. Engng. Res.

Purines de porcino (II)producción, composición y normativa medioambiental

Navarra Agraria

The Nutrient Requirements of Pigs

El cultivo de la Patata

Environmental nutrition: minimizing excretion of copper and zinc

Swine News

Gestión de subproductos y residuos porcinos

Mundo ganadero, Mayo

Risparmiare acqua conviene: meno liquami da smaltire

Supplemento a l'Informatore agrario

Transfer of cadmium and mercury to sheep tissues

Environmental Science and Technology

Pig slurry concentration by vacuum evaporationinfluence of previous mesophilic anaerobic digestion process

Journal of the Air and Waste management Association

Genética, patologia, higiene y residuos animales. Zootecnia. Bases de producción animal. Tomo IV

Supplemento a l'Informatore agrario n. 18 (April 1992)

Código de Buenas Prãcticas Agrarias de Navarra

El conreu de la vinya a Catalunya

Producción de piel y estiércol. Chapter 9, p. 168-180

Vademecum del Maiz

Tratado de Fertilización. 3a edició revisada i ampliada

La contaminació del sôl. Procés de degradació del medi edàfic i de l'entorn. Quaderns d'Ecologia Aplicada. Diputació de Barcelona

El melocotonero

Manual prãctico sobre utilización de suelo y fertilizantes. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación

Cultivos Herbáceos Extensivos

Management of livestock manure in Germany—a brief overview

Ingénieries-EAT. Animal manures in Europe

Tratado de Viticultura General

El cultivo moderno y rentable del olivo

Fertilización fosfo-potásica de cultivos extensivos

Navarra Agraria

Disponibilidad del fósforo en ingredientes alimenticios para ganado porcino

Anaporc

Fösforo en agricultura