Benefits, concerns and prospects of using goat manure in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Livestock production has undergone an industrial revolution over the past few decades. This has resulted in the enormous generation of livestock manure, particularly in agro-pastoral systems. Agricultural productivity in these systems largely depends on livestock manure. However, some of these communities are struggling with goat manure disposal. In addition, livestock manure requires proper treatment before application to agricultural land, because it contains toxic heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms. The review aimed to demonstrate that poor manure management has environmental consequences; thus, interventions that will promote local community livelihood benefits from animal wastes are germane. In many other communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), horticulture or crop production is minimal, due to erratic rainfall hence, most of the manure lies idle in abandoned kraal pens or is heaped outside the pens with no designed plan. Manure should be viewed as a resource, rather than a waste product. The environmental consequences associated with such manure management are not known and should be probed further. Deliberate efforts to explore the land and environmental risks associated with the non-use of livestock manure are germane to promoting environmental stewardship. The use of manure as feedstock for anaerobic digesters offers the greatest potential for sustainable management in SSA.

Grazing Pressure and Plant Functional Types in Puna Highlands, Northwestern Argentina

“…Conversely, at the Tolar ecological site, total cover and cover of herbaceous dicotyledons decreased towards intermediate values of the GPI, suggesting a potential threshold effect where moderate grazing pressure may lead to reduced vegetation cover. Low vegetation cover values at both ends of the index could be explained by reduced plant consumption by livestock at low GPI values (less pressure), and likely by dung fertilization at higher GPI values [26][27][28][29][30]. The only negative linear response regarding the GPI was for the cover of clonal shrubs at the Tolar ecological site.…”

Animal Manure as an Alternative Bioenergy Resource in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Present Insights, Challenges, and Prospects for Future Advancements

“…The development of anaerobic digester technology for biogas production presents a plausible avenue to ameliorate energy poverty, which is partly responsible for slow economic development in SSA countries [31]. What makes animal manure particularly ideal as a feedstock for biogas production is its high moisture and volatile-solids content [12]. In addition, animal manure also contains a diverse assemblage of microorganisms, some of which play significant roles during the anaerobic digestion process.…”

“…For example, the microbial profile of cow dung consists of different bacterial species, including Bacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera spp., Morgarella morganii, Pasteurella spp., Providencia alcaligenes, Providencia stuartii, and Pseudomonas spp., as well as protozoa and yeast (Saccharomyces and Candida), lignocellulolytic fungi, and archaea [32][33][34]. As a potential replacement for fossil fuels, biogas is produced when animal manure is subjected to anaerobic digestion by methanogenic bacteria, generating biogas whose composition varies from 45 to 70% for methane gas (biomethane) and 25-40% for carbon dioxide, as well as containing some trace gases, including hydrogen sulphide (<10 ppm), nitrogen (<3 ppm), and hydrogen (<1 ppm), depending on the animal source of the manure [12] This follows a four-stage process starting with hydrolysis, followed by acid-genesis and acetogenesis that are induced by a specific consortia of bacteria, with the final step of methanogenesis undertaken by a consortia of methanogenic archaea, as detailed in the extant literature [2,13,27,31,35], and as shown in Figure 1 below.…”

“…At the household level, 76-80% of urban populations in the sub-Saharan African region have access to electricity for cooking and heating, while almost the same percentage (70%) of rural populations rely on unsustainable biomass sources, especially fuelwood [8,9], exposing them to respiratory health complications due to polluted indoor environments in addition to environmental degradation due to deforestation [10,11]. The persistently high demand for wood fuel in rural sub-Saharan African households is unsustainable as it directly threatens forests resources, thereby accelerating desertification, which inadvertently increases the region's carbon footprint and contributes to global warming [12]. In any case, The United Nations, through its nonbinding Agenda 21, as well as the Kyoto Protocol, strongly advocate for the development of sustainable, climate-friendly renewable energy systems, particularly in the face of the imminent depletion of fossil fuels [13].…”

Enhancing Kharif Pearlmillet (Pennisetum Glaucum) Growth and Yield Through Integrated Approaches: a Comprehensive Field Study on Animal Dung Composts, Cow-based Bio-enhancers and Fertilizer Management in Loamy Sand

“…On a pooled basis of statistical analysis, the enhancement in pearlmillet straw yield was a notable increase of 11.28%, 4.21%, 7.03% and 12.10% under the application of 10 t goat dung compost per ha compare to 10 t FYM per ha, 10 t cow dung compost and 10 t buffalo dung compost per ha and goat dung compost 50 quintal ha -1 , respectively. Compost made from goat dung might improve the overall bio-chemical properties of soil including supply of the essential plant nutrients(Washaya & Washaya, 2023). Thus, a good nutrition in a conducive environment may have aided in the development of new tissues and vegetative growth, which in turn enhanced growth of crop and ultimately, the amount of pearlmillet straw(Awodun et al, 2007;Jawale et al, 2009).…”