Methane and nitrous oxide emission from bovine manure management practices in India

We report seasonal variation in CH4 and N2O emission rate from solid storage of bovine manure in Delhi as well as emission factors and emission inventory from manure management systems in India. Emission flux observed in the year 2002–2003 was 4.29 ± 1, 4.84 ± 2.44 and 12.92 ± 4.25 mg CH4 kg−1 dung day−1, as well as 31.29 ± 4.93, 72.11 ± 16.22 and 6.39 ± 1.76 μg N2O kg−1 dung day−1 in winter, summer and rainy seasons, respectively. CH4 emission factors varied from 0.8 to 3.3 kg hd−1 year−1 for bovines and were lower than IPCC-1996 default values. N2O emission factors varied from 3 to 11.7 mg hd−1 year−1 from solid storage of manure. Inventory estimates were found to about 698 ± 27 Gg CH4 from all manure management systems and 2.3 ± 0.46 tons of N2O from solid storage of manure for the year 2000.