Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya

To improve the estimate of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from tropical rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa, we measured GHG emissions from sheep excreta over two periods of 51 days on a Kenya rangeland. In addition, we measured GHG emissions from potential hotspots in the landscape linked to sheep gra...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhu, Yuhao, Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus, Merbold, Lutz, Oduor, Collins, Gakige, Jesse K., Mwangi, Paul, Leitner, Sonja
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131885
_version_ 1855541465389727744
author Zhu, Yuhao
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Merbold, Lutz
Oduor, Collins
Gakige, Jesse K.
Mwangi, Paul
Leitner, Sonja
author_browse Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Gakige, Jesse K.
Leitner, Sonja
Merbold, Lutz
Mwangi, Paul
Oduor, Collins
Zhu, Yuhao
author_facet Zhu, Yuhao
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Merbold, Lutz
Oduor, Collins
Gakige, Jesse K.
Mwangi, Paul
Leitner, Sonja
author_sort Zhu, Yuhao
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description To improve the estimate of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from tropical rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa, we measured GHG emissions from sheep excreta over two periods of 51 days on a Kenya rangeland. In addition, we measured GHG emissions from potential hotspots in the landscape linked to sheep grazing: overnight enclosures (“bomas”), where sheep are kept at night to protect them from theft and predators, the areas surrounding sheep bomas, and areas surrounding watering troughs. Results showed a short pulse of CO2 fluxes after sheep urine application and a rapid increase of CH4 fluxes following sheep dung application in both rainy and dry season. However, only small increases of N2O fluxes were observed after dung and urine applications compared to controls without excreta. Elevated N2O fluxes mainly coincided with heavy rainfall. Overall, N2O emission factors (EFs) did not vary across excreta type or seasons, but mean N2O EFs for dung (0.01%) and urine patches (0.02%) were only one tenth of the default EFs from the 2019 IPCC Refinement for dry climate. We did, however, find that bomas and watering troughs are sites of herd concentration that are important sources of GHG emissions in the landscape, and that emissions in these locations can remain elevated for months to years, especially when soil moisture is high. This study contributes to more robust estimates of GHG emissions from African livestock systems, which are fundamental to develop targeted mitigation strategies.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace131885
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1318852025-12-08T09:54:28Z Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya Zhu, Yuhao Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Merbold, Lutz Oduor, Collins Gakige, Jesse K. Mwangi, Paul Leitner, Sonja nitrous oxide livestock manure urine greenhouse gas emissions pastures sheep To improve the estimate of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from tropical rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa, we measured GHG emissions from sheep excreta over two periods of 51 days on a Kenya rangeland. In addition, we measured GHG emissions from potential hotspots in the landscape linked to sheep grazing: overnight enclosures (“bomas”), where sheep are kept at night to protect them from theft and predators, the areas surrounding sheep bomas, and areas surrounding watering troughs. Results showed a short pulse of CO2 fluxes after sheep urine application and a rapid increase of CH4 fluxes following sheep dung application in both rainy and dry season. However, only small increases of N2O fluxes were observed after dung and urine applications compared to controls without excreta. Elevated N2O fluxes mainly coincided with heavy rainfall. Overall, N2O emission factors (EFs) did not vary across excreta type or seasons, but mean N2O EFs for dung (0.01%) and urine patches (0.02%) were only one tenth of the default EFs from the 2019 IPCC Refinement for dry climate. We did, however, find that bomas and watering troughs are sites of herd concentration that are important sources of GHG emissions in the landscape, and that emissions in these locations can remain elevated for months to years, especially when soil moisture is high. This study contributes to more robust estimates of GHG emissions from African livestock systems, which are fundamental to develop targeted mitigation strategies. 2024-01 2023-09-18T08:04:39Z 2023-09-18T08:04:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131885 en Open Access Elsevier Zhu, Y., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Merbold, L., Oduor, C.O., Gakige, J.K., Mwangi, P. and Leitner, S.M. 2023. Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 359:108724.
spellingShingle nitrous oxide
livestock manure
urine
greenhouse gas emissions
pastures
sheep
Zhu, Yuhao
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Merbold, Lutz
Oduor, Collins
Gakige, Jesse K.
Mwangi, Paul
Leitner, Sonja
Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title_full Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title_fullStr Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title_short Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya
title_sort greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in kenya
topic nitrous oxide
livestock manure
urine
greenhouse gas emissions
pastures
sheep
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131885
work_keys_str_mv AT zhuyuhao greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT butterbachbahlklaus greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT merboldlutz greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT oduorcollins greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT gakigejessek greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT mwangipaul greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya
AT leitnersonja greenhousegasemissionsfromsheepexcretadepositedontotropicalpasturesinkenya