Daniele Aspesi

Ammonia (NH₃) from intensive agriculture is a primary precursor for secondary fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), necessitating mitigation under the EU National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive. This study evaluated a novel feed-based intervention assessed under real-scale commercial conditions in weaning and growing pig units. Indoor NH₃ concentrations were monitored at high frequency (2 h resolution), and treatment effects were analyzed using a Circular Block Bootstrap (CBB) approach to account for diurnal cyclicity and temporal autocorrelation. In the weaning unit, where pits were fully emptied before the trial, the mean indoor NH₃ concentration decreased from 7.51 ppm to 1.37 ppm, representing an 81.7% reduction. In the growing unit, which operated under pre-existing slurry and an overflow system, a significant reduction of 20.9% was observed (from 5.45 ppm to 4.31 ppm). These results demonstrate the intervention’s efficacy in preventing NH₃ release from fresh excreta and suggest that its impact in systems managed under slurry overflow can be further optimized by initially activating pre-existing material. This infrastructure-free solution offers a scalable, economically sustainable pathway to align livestock production with zero-pollution targets while supporting multiple Sustainable Development Goals related to human health, worker welfare, and environmental protection.

Ammonia (NH₃) is a major anthropogenic pollutant originating from agricultural activity, particularly livestock operations. NH₃ emissions from livestock slurry storage pose risks to environmental quality and human health. Reducing NH₃ emissions aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 3, SDG 12, SDG 14, and SDG 15. This study evaluates the performance of the commercially available SOP^® LAGOON additive under real-scale farm conditions for mitigating NH₃ emissions. Two adjacent slurry storage tanks of a dairy farm in Northern Italy were monitored from 27 May to 7 September: one treated with SOP^® LAGOON and one left untreated (serving as a control). In the first month, the treated tank showed a 77% reduction in NH₃ emissions. Emissions from the treated tank remained consistently lower than those from the control throughout the monitoring period, reaching an 87% reduction relative to the baseline levels by the end of the period. The results suggest that SOP^® LAGOON is an effective and scalable strategy for reducing NH₃ emissions from liquid manure storage, with practical implications for farmers and policy makers in regard to designing sustainable manure management practices.

Reducing methane (CH₄) is a key objective to address climate change quickly. Manure management and storage play a significant role. In this context, a real-scale trial was performed to measure the ability of the commercial additive SOP LAGOON to reduce carbon-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from liquid manure over approximately 4 months. Gas emissions were measured at a commercial dairy farm from two slurry tanks, one treated with the abovementioned product (SL) and the other used as the untreated control (UNT). After 3 and 4 months from the first additive applications, the SL storage tank showed lower and statistically significantly different emissions concerning the UNT (up to −80% for CH₄ and −75% for CO₂, p < 0.001), confirming and showing improved results from those reported in the previous small-scale works. The pH of the UNT tank was lower than that of the SL on two dates, while the other chemical characteristics of the slurry were not affected. In this work, SOP LAGOON proved to be an effective additive to help the farmers mitigate the contribution of stored liquid manure to global CH₄ emissions, potentially improving the overall sustainability of the dairy industry.