Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #312879
Title: Odor and odorous compound emissions from manure of swine fed standard and dried distillers grains with soluble (DDGS) supplemented diets

Author
item Trabue, Steven - Steve
item Kerr, Brian
item Scoggin, Kenwood

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/3/2015
Publication Date: 4/25/2016
Citation: Trabue, S.L., Kerr, B.J., Scoggin, K.D. 2016. Odor and odorous compound emissions from manure of swine fed standard and dried distillers grains with soluble (DDGS) supplemented diets. Journal of Environmental Quality. 45:915-923. doi: 10.2134/jeq2015.10.0511.

Interpretive Summary: Swine growers are increasingly substituting corn for dried distillers grains soluble (DDGS) to offset the cost of standard corn-soybean meal diets. However, the environmental impact of these new formulated diets on manure compositon and emissions of gases is largely unknown. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects DDGS diets have on manure odor emissions. Manures from animals fed DDGS diets had greater emissions of odours volatile organic compounds, while manures of animals fed standard soybean meal diets had greater emission of both hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. However, there was no difference in total odor emissions from manure for animals fed either diet. This report supplied needed information on swine fed DDGS diets showing that DDGS diets can change manure odor emissions characteristic, but not total odor. Infomation in this report will be of value for growers, engineers, and regulatory officials on the impact swine prodcution has in local communities.

Technical Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the impact diets containing dried distillers grains with soluble (DDGS) have on emissions of odor and odorous compounds from swine manure storage. Twenty-four pigs were fed either a corn-soybean meal (CSBM) diet or a CSBM diet containing 35% DDGS. Pigs were fed and their waste collected twice daily over a 42-day feeding trial. Manure from pigs fed diets containing DDGS had significantly lower odorant emissions expressed in animal units for both hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) (P < 0.05) compared to pigs fed the CSBM diet, but odorant emissions of both volatile fatty acids (VFA) and phenolic compounds were significantly higher (P < 0.05) for manures from animals fed the diet containing DDGS. There was no significant difference in indole compound emissions. Emissions of odorous volatile organic compound (VOC) from manure accounted for less than 0.1% of carbon consumed for either diet. There were no significant differences in odor emissions for either diet quantified with human panels or measured as the sum total of the odor activity value (OAV). Animals fed the CSBM diet had significantly higher odor emissions for both H2S and NH3, while animals fed the diet containing DDGS had higher emissions of VFAs. Manure odors from pigs fed the CSBM diet were dominated by H2S, while animals fed the diet containing DDGS were dominated by VOCs.