Ammonia emissions from livestock production in Chile: an inventory and uncertainty analysis

The objective of this work was to quantify the country’s NH3 emissions from livestock production. This calculation was based on the mass flow of total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN). The analysis was performed for all 15 geographical regions in Chile. The definition of livestock subcategories was based on data from the Chilean Agriculture and Forestry Census as well as technical reports published by the Chilean National Statistics Institute. Significant differences were observed among the sources of livestock emissions in Chile’s regions, and there was high variability depending on the degree of livestock confinement. In 2013, the total calculated emissions were 69.1 kt NH3/year (± 31.1). The O’Higgins Region had the highest NH3 emissions in Chile, representing 45% of the total. In terms of livestock production, 45% of the emissions were generated by pigs, 22% by poultry, 16% by cattle, 11% by equines and 4% by sheep. Emissions from the TAN that was available during manure and slurry management and the degree of animal confinement were the primary sources of uncertainty. This uncertainty could be greatly reduced by developing regional emission factors and by including the degree of animal confinement in Chile’s national statistics such as the Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry Census.