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- ItemExpressing stemflow commensurate with its ecohydrological importance(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2018) Carlyle-Moses, Darryl E.; Iida, Shin'ichi; Germer, Sonja; Llorens, Pilar; Michalzik, Beate; Nanko, Kazuki; Tischer, Alexander; Levia, Delphis F.Despite some progress, the importance of stemflow remains obscured partly due to computations emphasizing canopy interception loss. We advocate for two metrics—the stand-scale funneling ratio and the stand-scale infiltration funneling ratio—to more accurately portray stemflow inputs and increase comparability across ecosystems. These metrics yield per unit area stemflow inputs orders of magnitude greater than what would have been delivered by throughfall or precipitation alone. We recommend that future studies employ these stand-scale funnelling metrics to express stemflow commensurate with its ecohydrological importance and better conceptualize the role of stemflow in plant-soil interactions, permitting advances in critical zone science. © 2018 The Authors
- ItemMicrobiome-based biotechnology for reducing food loss post harvest(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2022) Wassermann, Birgit; Abdelfattah, Ahmed; Cernava, Tomislav; Wicaksono, Wisnu; Berg, GabrieleMicrobiomes have an immense potential to enhance plant resilience to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, intrinsic microbial communities respond to changes in their host's physiology and environment during plant's life cycle. The potential of the inherent plant microbiome has been neglected for a long time, especially for the postharvest period. Currently, close to 50% of all produced fruits and vegetables are lost either during production or storage. Biological control of spoilage and storage diseases is still lacking sufficiency. Today, novel multiomics technologies allow us to study the microbiome and its responses on a community level, which will help to advance current classic approaches and develop more effective and robust microbiome-based solutions for fruit and vegetable storability, quality, and safety.
- ItemThe impact of atmospheric boundary layer, opening configuration and presence of animals on the ventilation of a cattle barn(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2020) Nosek, Štěpán; Kluková, Zuzana; Jakubcová, Michaela; Yi, Qianying; Janke, David; Demeyer, Peter; Jaňour, ZbyněkNaturally ventilated livestock buildings (NVLB) represent one of the most significant sources of ammonia emissions. However, even the dispersion of passive gas in an NVLB is still not well understood. In this paper, we present a detailed investigation of passive pollutant dispersion in a model of a cattle barn using the wind tunnel experiment method. We simulated the pollution of the barn by a ground-level planar source. We used the time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) and the fast flame ionisation detector (FFID) to study the flow and dispersion processes at high spatial and temporal resolution. We employed the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Oscillating Patterns Decomposition (OPD) methods to detect the coherent structures of the flow. The results show that the type of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and sidewall opening height have a significant impact on the pollutant dispersion in the barn, while the presence of animals and doors openings are insignificant under conditions of winds perpendicular to the sidewall openings. We found that the dynamic coherent structures, developed by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, contribute to the pollutant transport in the barn. We demonstrate that in any of the studied cases the pollutant was not well mixed within the barn and that a significant underestimation (up to by a factor 3) of the barn ventilation might be obtained using, e.g. tracer gas method. © 2020 The Authors
- ItemComparison of ammonia emissions related to nitrogen use efficiency of livestock production in Europe(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2019) Groenestein, C.M.; Hutchings, N.J.; Haenel, H.D.; Amon, B.; Menzi, H.; Mikkelsen, M.H.; Misselbrook, T.H.; van Bruggen, C.; Kupper, T.; Webb, J.The increasing global demand for food and the environmental effects of reactive nitrogen losses in the food production chain, increase the need for efficient use of nitrogen (N). Of N harvested in agricultural plant products, 80% is used to feed livestock. Because the largest atmospheric loss of reactive nitrogen from livestock production systems is ammonia (NH3), the focus of this paper is on N lost as NH3 during the production of animal protein. The focus of this paper is to understand the key factors explaining differences in Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of animal production among various European countries. Therefore we developed a conceptual framework to describe the NUE defined as the amount of animal-protein N per N in feed and NH3–N losses in the production of milk, beef, pork, chicken meat and eggs in The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Denmark. The framework describes how manure management and animal-related parameters (feed, metabolism) relate to NH3 emissions and NUE. The results showed that the animal product with the lowest NUE had the largest NH3 emissions and vice versa, which agrees with the reciprocal relationship between NUE and NH3 within the conceptual framework. Across animal products for the countries considered, about 20% of the N in feed is lost as NH3. The significant smallest proportion (12%) of NH3–N per unit of Nfeed is from chicken production. The proportions for other products are 17%, 19%, 20% and 22% for milk, pork, eggs and beef respectively. These differences were not significantly different due to the differences among countries. For all countries, NUE was lowest for beef and highest for chicken. The production of 1 kg N in beef required about 5 kg N in feed, of which 1 kg N was lost as NH3–N. For the production of 1 kg N in chicken meat, 2 kg N in feed was required and 0.2 kg was lost as NH3. The production of 1 kg N in milk required 4 kg N in feed with 0.6 kg NH3–N loss, the same as pork and eggs, but those needed 3 and 3.5 kg N in feed per kg N in product respectively. Except for beef, the differences among these European countries were mainly caused by differences in manure management practices and their emission factors, rather than by animal-related factors including feed and digestibility influencing the excreted amount of ammoniacal N (TAN). For beef, both aspects caused important differences. Based on the results, we encourage the expression of N losses as per N in feed or per N in product, in addition to per animal place, when comparing production efficiency and NUE. We consider that disaggregating emission factors into a diet/animal effect and a manure management effect would improve the basis for comparing national NH3 emission inventories. © 2018 The Authors
- ItemGreenhouse gas emissions from broiler manure treatment options are lowest in well-managed biogas production(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2020) Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Breier, Jannes; Herrmann, Christiane; Libra, Judy; Prochnow, AnnetteThe production of broiler meat has increased significantly in the last decades in Germany and worldwide, and is projected to increase further in the future. As the number of animals raised increases, so too does the amount of manure produced. The identification of manure treatment options that cause low greenhouse gas emissions becomes ever more important. This study compares four treatment options for broiler manure followed by field spreading: storage before distribution, composting, anaerobic digestion in a biogas plant and production of biochar. For these options potential direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions were assessed for the situation in Germany. Previous analyses have shown that greenhouse gas balances of manure management are often strongly influenced by a small number of processes. Therefore, in this study major processes were represented with several variants and the sensitivity of model results to different management decisions and uncertain parameters was assessed. In doing so, correlations between processes were considered, in which higher emissions earlier on in the process chain reduce emissions later. The results show that biogas production from broiler manure leads to the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in most of the analysed cases, mainly due to the emission savings related to the substitution of mineral fertilizers and the production of electricity. Pyrolysis of the manure and subsequent field spreading as a soil amendment can lead to similarly low emissions due to the long residence time of the biochar, and may even be the better option than poorly managed biogas production. Composting is the treatment option resulting in highest emissions of greenhouse gases, due to high ammonia volatilization, and is likely worse than untreated storage in this respect. These results are relatively insensitive to the length of transport required for field spreading, but high uncertainties are associated with the use of emission factors.
- ItemAssessing the economic profitability of fodder legume production for Green Biorefineries – A cost-benefit analysis to evaluate farmers profitability(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2016) Papendiek, Franka; Tartiu, Valentina E.; Morone, Piergiuseppe; Venus, Joachim; Hönig, AnneFodder legumes play a major role in developing sustainable agricultural production systems and contain a range of compounds, which can be utilized to produce a wide spectrum of materials currently manufactured from petroleum-based sources. Hence, if associated with Green Biorefinery technology, the use of fodder legumes brings about significant advantages in terms of overall environmental sustainability. Since fodder legume production in Europe is currently very low, the objective of this study is to assess if a new value chain generated by Green Biorefineries can make fodder legume production profitable for farmers, and therewith increase cultivation numbers. We conducted a financial cost-benefit analysis of producing biomass from agricultural land in the federal state of Brandenburg (Germany) in three different production scenarios at two farm size levels. Costs, benefits, expected profits and risks between the scenarios were quantified. Fodder legume production for traditional fodder production was already able to increase the internal rate of return, while the production of feedstocks for Green Biorefineries, depending on prices paid for the legume juice showed an even higher profit potential. Therefore, in future agricultural production systems, fodder legumes should be part of crop rotations again.
- ItemFunctional relationship of particulate matter (PM) emissions, animal species, and moisture content during manure application(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2020) Kabelitz, Tina; Ammon, Christian; Funk, Roger; Münch, Steffen; Biniasch, Oliver; Nübel, Ulrich; Thiel, Nadine; Rösler, Uwe; Siller, Paul; Amon, Barbara; Aarnink, André J.A.; Amon, ThomasLivestock manure is recycled to agricultural land as organic fertilizer. Due to the extensive usage of antibiotics in conventional animal farming, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are highly prevalent in feces and manure. The spread of wind-driven particulate matter (PM) with potentially associated harmful bacteria through manure application may pose a threat to environmental and human health. We studied whether PM was aerosolized during the application of solid and dried livestock manure and the functional relationship between PM release, manure dry matter content (DM), treatment and animal species. In parallel, manure and resulting PM were investigated for the survival of pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacterial species. The results showed that from manure with a higher DM smaller particles were generated and more PM was emitted. A positive correlation between manure DM and PM aerosolization rate was observed. There was a species-dependent critical dryness level (poultry: 60% DM, pig: 80% DM) where manure began to release PM into the environment. The maximum PM emission potentials were 1 and 3 kg t−1 of applied poultry and pig manure, respectively. Dried manure and resulting PM contained strongly reduced amounts of investigated pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms compared to fresh samples. An optimal manure DM regarding low PM emissions and reduced pathogen viability was defined from our results, which was 55–70% DM for poultry manure and 75–85% DM for pig manure. The novel findings of this study increase our detailed understanding and basic knowledge on manure PM emissions and enable optimization of manure management, aiming a manure DM that reduces PM emissions and pathogenic release into the environment.
- ItemBuilding consensus on water use assessment of livestock production systems and supply chains: Outcome and recommendations from the FAO LEAP Partnership(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2021) Boulay, Anne-Marie; Drastig, Katrin; Amanullah; Chapagain, Ashok; Charlon, Veronica; Civit, Bárbara; DeCamillis, Camillo; De Souza, Marlos; Hess, Tim; Hoekstra, Arjen Y.; Ibidhi, Ridha; Lathuillière, Michael J.; Manzardo, Alessandro; McAllister, Tim; Morales, Ricardo A.; Motoshita, Masaharu; Palhares, Julio Cesar Pascale; Pirlo, Giacomo; Ridoutt, Brad; Russo, Valentina; Salmoral, Gloria; Singh, Ranvir; Vanham, Davy; Wiedemann, Stephen; Zheng, Weichao; Pfister, StephanThe FAO Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership organised a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to develop reference guidelines on water footprinting for livestock production systems and supply chains. The mandate of the TAG was to i) provide recommendations to monitor the environmental performance of feed and livestock supply chains over time so that progress towards improvement targets can be measured, ii) be applicable for feed and water demand of small ruminants, poultry, large ruminants and pig supply chains, iii) build on, and go beyond, the existing FAO LEAP guidelines and iv) pursue alignment with relevant international standards, specifically ISO 14040 (2006)/ISO 14044 (2006), and ISO 14046 (2014). The recommended guidelines on livestock water use address both impact assessment (water scarcity footprint as defined by ISO 14046, 2014) and water productivity (water use efficiency). While most aspects of livestock water use assessment have been proposed or discussed independently elsewhere, the TAG reviewed and connected these concepts and information in relation with each other and made recommendations towards comprehensive assessment of water use in livestock production systems and supply chains. The approaches to assess the quantity of water used for livestock systems are addressed and the specific assessment methods for water productivity and water scarcity are recommended. Water productivity assessment is further advanced by its quantification and reporting with fractions of green and blue water consumed. This allows the assessment of the environmental performance related to water use of a livestock-related system by assessing potential environmental impacts of anthropogenic water consumption (only “blue water”); as well as the assessment of overall water productivity of the system (including “green” and “blue water” consumption). A consistent combination of water productivity and water scarcity footprint metrics provides a complete picture both in terms of potential productivity improvements of the water consumption as well as minimizing potential environmental impacts related to water scarcity. This process resulted for the first time in an international consensus on water use assessment, including both the life-cycle assessment community with the water scarcity footprint and the water management community with water productivity metrics. Despite the main focus on feed and livestock production systems, the outcomes of this LEAP TAG are also applicable to many other agriculture sectors.
- ItemTo what extent is climate change adaptation a novel challenge for agricultural modellers?(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2019) Kipling, R.P.; Topp, C.F.E.; Bannink, A.; Bartley, D.J.; Blanco-Penedo, I.; Cortignani, R.; del Prado, A.; Dono, G.; Faverdin, P.; Graux, A.-I.; Hutchings, N.J.; Lauwers, L.; Özkan Gülzari, Ş.; Reidsma, P.; Rolinski, S.; Ruiz-Ramos, M.; Sandars, D.L.; Sándor, R.; Schönhart, M.; Seddaiu, G.; van Middelkoop, J.; Shrestha, S.; Weindl, I.; Schönhart, M.; Seddaiu, G.; van Middelkoop, J.; Shrestha, S.; Weindl, I.; Eory, V.Modelling is key to adapting agriculture to climate change (CC), facilitating evaluation of the impacts and efficacy of adaptation measures, and the design of optimal strategies. Although there are many challenges to modelling agricultural CC adaptation, it is unclear whether these are novel or, whether adaptation merely adds new motivations to old challenges. Here, qualitative analysis of modellers’ views revealed three categories of challenge: Content, Use, and Capacity. Triangulation of findings with reviews of agricultural modelling and Climate Change Risk Assessment was then used to highlight challenges specific to modelling adaptation. These were refined through literature review, focussing attention on how the progressive nature of CC affects the role and impact of modelling. Specific challenges identified were: Scope of adaptations modelled, Information on future adaptation, Collaboration to tackle novel challenges, Optimisation under progressive change with thresholds, and Responsibility given the sensitivity of future outcomes to initial choices under progressive change. © 2019 The Authors
- ItemThinning efficacy of metamitron on young 'RoHo 3615' (Evelina®) apple(Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2020) Penzel, Martin; Kröling, ChristianTo achieve a high quantity of premium class fruit, chemical thinning is an important component of crop load management in apples. For this purpose, the triazine-type photosynthetic inhibitor metamitron was registered for fruit thinning in Germany. Frequent studies demonstrated consistent thinning effects of metamitron on trees of different apple and pear cultivars. In the present study, the efficacy of metamitron applied at a low concentration (165 g ha−1) was investigated in 2016 and 2017 on young 'RoHo3615' apple trees, planted in 2014. The highest fruit set reduction was achieved when metamitron was applied twice. Single application, in contrast, led to variable results and pointed out the strong dependence of the thinning efficacy of metamitron on favourable weather conditions. Adding citric acid or the growth regulator prohexadione-Ca in combination with ammonium sulphate did not affect the thinning efficacy of metamitron. The fruit quality was high in any treatment and no effects of thinning treatment on fruit colouration or percentage of skin russeting were observed. Consequently, metamitron is an effective fruit thinning agent for young apple trees, which can be additionally used in combination with the mentioned substances, while maintaining a high fruit quality