Effects of form of effluent, season and urease inhibitor on ammonia volatilization from dairy farm effluent applied to pasture.

With land application of farm effluents from cows during housing or milking as an accepted practice, there are increasing concerns over its effect on nitrogen (N) loss through ammonia (NH3) volatilization. Understanding the relative extent and seasonal variation of NH3 volatilization from dairy effluent is important for the development of management practices for reducing NH3 losses. The objectives of this study were to determine potential NH3 losses from application of different types of dairy effluent (including both liquid farm dairy effluent (FDE) and semi-solid dairy farm manure) to a pasture soil during several contrasting seasons and to evaluate the potential of the urease inhibitor (UI)—N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBTPT, commercially named Agrotain®) to reduce gaseous NH3 losses.