A model of ammonia volatilisation from a dairy farm: an examination of abatement strategies

A model (MAST) to calculate the mass flow of NH₃ through amodel dairy farm has been developed. Updated emission factors for UKagriculturewere used to examine different abatement strategies available for a typicaldairy farm. A range of annual NH₃ emissions was calculated for bothslurry and FYM based dairy systems. Emission for the slurry based system ranged between 27 kg NH₃-N ha^–1 yr^–1, achieved using a combination of abatementstrategies, and 107 kg NH₃-N ha^–1 yr^–1, calculated for a worst casescenario. For FYM, this range was between 33 and 86 kg NH₃-Nha^–1 yr^–1. The greatest reductionswereachieved by manipulating options linked to fertiliser usage and manureapplication.