DATAMAN: A global database of methane, nitrous oxide, and ammonia emission factors for livestock housing and outdoor storage of manure

Authors: HASSOUNA, MELYNDA - Inrae; VAN DER WEERDEN, TONY - Ag Research Limited; BELTRAN, IGNACIO - Inia Remehue - Osorno; AMON, BARBARA - Leibniz Institute; ALFARO, MARTA - Inia Remehue - Osorno; ANESTIS, VASILEIOS - Agricultural University Of Athens; CINAR, GULTAC - Leibniz Institute; DRAGONI, FEDERICO - Leibniz Institute; HUTCHINGS, NICHOLAS - Aarhus University; Leytem, April; MAEDA, KOKI - Japanese International Research Center For Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) - Japan; MARAGOU, ARISTEA - Agricultural University Of Athens; MISSELBROOK, TOM - Rothamsted Research; NOBLE, ALASDAIR - Ag Research Limited; RYCHLA, ANNA - University Of Zielona Góra; SALAZAR, F - Inia Remehue - Osorno; SIMON, P - Ag Research Limited

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2022
Publication Date: 1/17/2023
Citation: Hassouna, M., van der Weerden, T.J., Beltran, I., Amon, B., Alfaro, M.A., Anestis, V., Cinar, G., Dragoni, F., Hutchings, N., Leytem, A.B., Maeda, K., Maragou, A., Misselbrook, T., Noble, A., Rychla, A., Salazar, F., Simon, P. 2023. DATAMAN: A global database of methane, nitrous oxide, and ammonia emission factors for livestock housing and outdoor storage of manure. Journal of Environmental Quality. 52(1):207-223. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20430.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20430

Interpretive Summary: An international project, DATAMAN (http://www.dataman.co.nz), was developed to build a global database of greenhouse gas (methane and nitrous oxide) and ammonia emissions from manure management (including housing and outdoor storage). The goal is to provide data for refining emission factors for national greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions inventories. This report details the development of this database as well as an overview of the meta data associated with the database and description of the emission factors listed in the database. The DATAMAN database will be useful for the refinement of national inventories and better assessment of the cost-effectiveness of a range of mitigation measures.

Technical Abstract: Livestock manure management systems can be significant sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) emissions. Many studies have been conducted to improve our understanding of the emission processes and to identify influential variables in order to develop mitigation techniques adapted to each manure management step (animal house, outdoor storage, and manure spreading to land). The international project DATAMAN (http://www.dataman.co.nz) aims to develop a global database on greenhouse gases (N2O, CH4) and NH3 emissions from the manure management chain to refine emission factors (EF) for national greenhouse gas (GHG) and NH3 inventories. This paper deals with the housing and outdoor storage components of this database. Relevant information for different animal categories, manure types, livestock buildings, outdoor storage and climatic conditions were collated from published peer reviewed research, conference papers and existing databases published between 1995 and 2021. The storage database contains 654 NH3 EF from 16 countries, 243 CH4 EF from 13 countries and 421 N2O EF from 17 countries. Across all gases, dairy cattle and swine production in temperate climate zones are the most represented animal and climate categories. In the housing database, 2024 EF were collated (63% for NH3, 19.5% for CH4 and 17.5% for N2O). As for the storage database, the number of EF for the tropical climate zone is under-represented with only 8 values included. The DATAMAN database can be used for the refinement of national inventories and better assessment of the cost-effectiveness of a range of mitigation measures.