Skatole is the source of the foul smelling odor of manure.
There are in the 21st century three main classes of manures used insoil management:
Animal manure
Concrete reservoirs, one new, and one containing cow manure mixed with water. This is common in ruralHainan Province,China.
Most animal manure consists offeces. Common forms of animal manure include farmyard manure (or farm slurry (liquid manure).[1] Farmyard manure also contains plant material (often straw), which has been used as bedding for animals and has absorbed the feces andurine. Agricultural manure in liquid form, known asslurry, is produced by more intensive livestock rearing systems where concrete or slats are used instead of straw bedding. Manure from different animals has different qualities and requires different application rates when used as fertilizer. For examplehorses,cattle,pigs,sheep,chickens,turkeys,rabbits, andguano fromseabirds andbats all have different properties.[2] For instance, sheep manure is high in nitrogen and potash, while pig manure is relatively low in both. Horses mainly eat grass and a few weeds, so horse manure can contain grass and weed seeds, because horses do not digest seeds as cattle do. Cattle manure is a good source of nitrogen as well as organic carbon.[3] Chicken litter, coming from a bird, is very concentrated in nitrogen and phosphate and is prized for both properties.[3][4]
Animal manures may be adulterated or contaminated with other animal products, such aswool (shoddy and otherhair),feathers,blood, andbone. Livestock feed can be mixed with the manure due to spillage. For example, chickens are often fedmeat and bone meal, an animal product, which can end up becoming mixed with chicken litter.
This section mayrequirecleanup to meet Wikipedia'squality standards. The specific problem is:Focuses on the classical definition of animal manure. Reasonable as the use of other, expanded-definition "manures" is quite trivial, but the resultant lopsided structure may warrant a restructuring of the article. Or we can just hollow this out and merge toFeces#Uses of animal feces. Please helpimprove this section if you can.(March 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Animal manure
Pile of animal manure on a wall
Animal manure, such aschicken manure andcow dung, has been used for centuries as a fertilizer forfarming. It can improve the soil structure (aggregation) so that the soil holds more nutrients and water, and therefore becomes more fertile. Animal manure also encourages soil microbial activity which promotes the soil's trace mineral supply, improving plant nutrition. It also contains some nitrogen and other nutrients that assist the growth of plants.[5]
Animal manures with a particularlyunpleasant odor (such as slurries fromintensive pig farming) are usually knifed (injected) directly into the soil to reduce release of the odor. Manure from pigs and cattle is usually spread on fields using amanure spreader. Due to the relatively lower level of proteins in vegetable matter,herbivore manure has a milder smell than the dung ofcarnivores oromnivores. However, herbivore slurry that has undergone anaerobicfermentation may develop more unpleasant odors, and this can be a problem in some agricultural regions. Poultry droppings are harmful to plants when fresh, but after a period ofcomposting are valuable fertilizers.[7]
Manure is also commercially composted and bagged and sold as a soil amendment.[8][9]
In 2018, Austrian scientists offered a method ofpaper production fromelephant and cow manure.[10]
Dry animal dung is used as a fuel in many countries around the world.
Issues
The women of a neighborhood ward with manure on their way to the field of one of them, Tireli, Mali 1990
Any quantity of animal manure may be a source ofpathogens or food spoilage organisms which may be carried byflies,rodents, or a range of other vector organisms and cause disease or put food safety at risk.
In intensive agricultural land use, animal manure is often not used as targeted as mineral fertilizers, and thus, the nitrogen utilization efficiency is poor. Animal manure can become a problem in terms of excessive use in areas of intensive agriculture with high numbers of livestock and too little available farmland.[citation needed]
Organic foods may be much more or much less likely to contain antibiotics, depending on their sources and treatment of manure. For instance, bySoil Association Standard 4.7.38, most organicarable farmers either have their own supply of manure (which would, therefore, not normally contain drug residues) or else rely on green manure crops for the extra fertility (if any nonorganic manure is used by organic farmers, then it usually has to be rotted or composted to degrade anyresidues of drugs and eliminate any pathogenic bacteria—Standard 4.7.38, Soil Association organic farming standards). On the other hand, as found in the University of Minnesota study, the non-usage of artificial fertilizers, and resulting exclusive use of manure as fertilizer, by organic farmers can result in significantly greater accumulations of antibiotics in organic foods.[12]
Antibiotics and Hormones in Animal Manure (Webcast): A two part webcast series about the science available on potential risks and best management practices related to antibiotics and hormones from animal manure
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