Managing manure in reduced tillage and forage systems presents challenges, as incorporation by tillage is not compatible. Surface-applied manure that is not quickly incorporated into soil provides inefficient delivery of manure nutrients to crops due to environmental losses through ammonia (NH3) volatilization and nutrient losses in runoff, and serves as a major source of nuisance odors. An arr...

—Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) routinely collect andscatter dry manure of mammals around their nesting burrows. Recent studies have suggested this behavior attracts insect prey to the nesting burrow. However, some Burrowing Owls do not use manure, but instead, collect and scatter other materials (e.g., grass, moss, paper, plastic) around their nesting burrow in a similar fashion. Use of t...

Here we studied how the transit through the gut of the earthworm Eisenia fetida affects the microbial and nutrient stabilization of pig and cow manure, by analyzing fresh casts. Earthworms reduced the pools of dissolved organic C and N in casts from both types of manure, as wells as mineral N. Microbial biomass was enhanced only in casts from pig manure and did not change in casts from cow manu...

In laboratory studies performed in the United States and Hungary, the dump ßy Hydrotaea aenescens (Wiedemann) was reared successfully in manure of 1to 8-wk-old dairy calves, and inmanure from adult lactating dairy cows. Survival in manure collected from 1-wk-old calves was poor (7.2%), better in manure collected from 2and 3-wk-old calves (53.5%), and best in manure collected from 4to 8-wk-old c...

The distribution of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) in cattle, swine, and chicken manure compost was analyzed. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that a Candidatus Nitrososphaera gargensis-like sequence dominated in cattle manure compost, while few AOA were detected in other composts. In the case of AOB, Nitrosomonas-like sequences were detected with hi...

Agricultural P transport in runoff is an environmental concern. An important source of P runoff is surface-applied, unincorporated manures, but computer models used to assess P transport do not adequately simulate P release and transport from surface manures. We developed a model to address this limitation. The model operates on a daily basis and simulates manure application to the soil surface...

Concerns for microbial safety of surface water facilitate development of predictive models that estimate concentrations and total numbers of pathogen and indicator organisms leaving manure-fertilized fields in overland flow during runoff events. Spatial variability of bacterial concentrations in applied manure introduces high uncertainty in the model predictions. The objective of this work was ...

The effects of agitation, liquid-only manure, depth and time on odour emission rates were investigated. Manure storage tanks were filled to incremental depths every two weeks. At each depth odour samples were collected twice. The second sample was collected seven days after the first. Odour concentration was measured with an olfactometer. Three different pig-manure treatments were investigated....

that are in excess of the crop P removal. Excess P can accumulate in the soil and can increase P in runoff. Pote To utilize manure P for crop production, P release and plant availet al. (1996, 1999) found increased P loss in runoff as ability needs to be quantified. An incubation study was conducted to determine P availability from swine (Sus scrofa) and cattle (Bos tauthe soil P test increased...