Nitrogen concentration in the urine of cattle, sheep and deer grazing a common ryegrass/cocksfoot/white clover pasture

Abstract

Total nitrogen (N) concentration in the urine of 12-to 18-month old female sheep, cattle and deer grazing a common pasture was measured in the morning, noon and evening for three consecutive days on two separate occasions in spring, and on a single occasion sampling in autumn. Mean (and range) of urine N concentrations for single urinations were 7.9 (1.4Á17.8), 4.4 (0.9Á13.2) and 4.1 (0.5Á16.6) g N kg(1 fresh urine for sheep, cattle and deer, respectively. Wide ranges in urine N concentration were found within days, between days and between animals within the same species. Differences in urine N concentration between the three different species in any one measurement occasion were significant but inconsistent between measurement occasions. The results presented in this study may have implications for the development of process-based models capable of accounting for the spatially heterogeneous return of excretal N in grazed systems.

Fourfold Increase in Pumpkin Yield in Response to Low-Dosage Root Zone Application of Urine-Enhanced Biochar to a Fertile Tropical Soil

“…One freshly mixed sample was transported in a cool box to the soil laboratory of the Aquatic Ecology Centre at Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel for analysis. The total nitrogen (TN), phosphate (P2O5) and potassium (K) content of the cow urine were 9.5 g·L K application rates, respectively, confirming the average nutrient contents of cow urine known from the literature [45][46][47][48]. Urinary P excretion in ruminants is generally considered minimal [49] and is nearly 100 times lower than in solid cow manure [48].…”

“…The average yield of giant pumpkins in optimized conventional pumpkin production with controlled fertigation is 20 to 70 t·ha −1 depending on cultivar, soil, climate and plant density [44][45][46]. The average yield in the urine-only treatment was 20.4 t·ha , i.e., at the lower end of conventional farming standards, but by accounting for the low, sub-optimal one-dosage liquid fertilization at the time of seeding, the yield is considerable and confirms a rather good basic fertility of the trial plot soils.…”

Disentangling the effect of sheep urine patch size and nitrogen loading rate on cumulative N2O emissions

“…It is difficult to determine a management strategy that would reduce N 2 O emissions on the basis of the results of this treatment, as it assumes a difference in the frequency of urine events, but with the same N concentration and total volume of urine excreted. In reality, ruminant urine N concentration and volume varies widely among and within days, and among individuals of the same species (Betteridge et al 1986(Betteridge et al , 2013Hoogendoorn et al 2010). Nevertheless, on the basis of the results of the present study and the sheep urine patch sizes used here, it would seem that sheep that urinate more frequently in smaller volumes would emit more N 2 O than sheep urinating less frequently in larger volumes, given the same high urinary N concentration.…”

“…The concentration of N excreted in urine is a function of the amount of surplus metabolised N to be excreted, the volume of urine produced and the frequency of urine events (Hoogendoorn et al 2010) and can range from 1 to 18 g N/L (Bristow et al 1992;Oenema et al 1997;Hoogendoorn et al 2010). Urine volume is mainly influenced by water intake and the mineral load ingested by the animal (Selbie et al 2015), and can be high when the moisture content of the diet is high, or when the herbage leaves are wet with rain water or dew (Doak 1952).…”

Process-based modelling of NH<sub>3</sub> exchange with grazed grasslands

“…This parameter ranges widely (2-20 g N dm −3 ; Whitehead, 1995), not just amongst different animals but also for different urination events by the same animal (Betteridge et al, 1986;Hoogendoorn et al, 2010). In the baseline simulation a constant average N content was applied.…”