Bedding and Seasonal Effects on Chemical and Bacterial Properties of Feedlot Cattle Manure

Abstract

Nutrients, soluble salts, and pathogenic bacteria in feedlot-pen manure have the potential to cause pollution of the environment. A three-year study (1998-2000) was conducted at a beef cattle (Bos taurus) feedlot in southern Alberta, Canada to determine the effect of bedding material [barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) straw versus wood chips] and season on the chemical and bacterial properties of pen-floor manure. Manure was sampled for chemical content (N, P, soluble salts, electrical conductivity, and pH) and populations of four groups of bacteria (Escherichia coli, total coliforms, and total aerobic heterotrophs at 27 and 39 degrees C). More chemical parameters of manure were significantly (P < or = 0.05) affected by season (SO4, Na, Mg, K, Ca, sodium adsorption ratio [SAR], total C, NO3-N, NH4-N, total P, and available P) than by bedding (K, pH, total C, C to N ratio, NH4-N, and available P). Bedding had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on the four bacterial groups whereas season affected all four groups. Numbers of E. coli and total coliforms (TC) were significantly higher by 1.72 to 2.02 log10 units in the summer than the other three seasons, which was consistent with a strong positive correlation of E. coli and TC with air temperature. The low ratio of bedding to manure in the pens was probably the major cause of the lack of significant bedding effects. Bedding material and seasonal timing of cleaning feedlot pens and land application of manure may be a potential tool to manage nutrients, soluble salts, and pathogens in manure.

Available nitrogen and phosphorus in soil amended with fresh or composted cattle manure containing straw or wood-chip bedding

“…Details of the feedlot, pen manure and bedding material (Miller et al 2003), and details of the composting process (Miller et al 2005) have previously been reported. The inorganic fertilizer treatment consisted of 100 kg N ha…”

“…The barley was irrigated with a side-roll system. The extraction procedures and chemical analyses of the amendments applied have previously been reported (Miller et al 2003).…”

“…2a). Greater soil NO 3 -N for straw than wood suggests a potential for greater soil nitrification with straw, and may be related to the greater NH 4 in the straw than wood bedding (Miller et al 2003). An increased supply of NH 4 will enhance nitrification (Havlin et al 1999).…”

“…We expected greater soil NH 4 -N for FM than CM, since the FM amendment was generally greater in NH 4 -N than CM (Miller et al 2009). It is possible that mixing of the organic amendments with the soil and subsequent chemical interactions (e.g., NH 4 fixation, immobilization, volatilization, nitrification) may have obscured the (1 ) bedding (Miller et al 2003), and mineralization of organic N to NH 4 is generally greater in soils with lower C:N ratios (Havlin et al 1999). However, the difference of 0.5 mg kg…”

Sawdust and bark to treat nitrogen and faecal bacteria in winter stand‐off pads on a dairy farm

“…These workers considered that the retention of N may have been due to adsorption and/or immobilisation of N and sulphur by the C-rich bark. Miller et al (2003) reported that although the addition of sawdust or wood chips to cattle manure did not result in a reduction in faecal bacteria, this was almost certainly due to having too low a ratio of bedding material to manure.…”