Experimental Evaluation of Manure Evaporation in The Paddock for a Management Algorithm Development

Abstract

The aims of this study was to evaluate the possibility of reducing the weight of manure in paddocks by natural evaporation according to an appropriate management plan. The weight of buffalo manure was recorded by an experimental platform equipped with load cells and installed within the paddock. The data was used for assessing the real evaporation of manure in situ. A model for predicting manure evaporation was developed by adapting a soil evapotranspiration model. On the basis of the model an optimal management strategy was established, which corresponds to minimizing the use of the scraper from the 100th day of the year (DOY) to the 250th DOY. This lead to a potential reduction in weight of the manure by 650 kg/m2/year which corresponds to management cost reduction of about 30%. This approach is effective for reducing the bulkiness of buffalo manure for which the spreading costs per kg of nitrogen and the fuel needs for land application is very substantial considering its low nitrogen content of about 2 mg/m3