Relationships between animal nutrition and manure quality; a literature review on C, N, P and S compounds

Optimization of the utilization of nutrients in animal manures requires a whole-chain approach, from the animal feed via the animal and animal manure to the soil and crop. A literature study was carried out to present a state of the art on the relationship between animal nutrition and manure quality. It focused on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of carbon (C ), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) in animal nutrition and in animal manure. The study shows that there is scope for developing simple mathematical relationships that relate total C, N, P and S in the ration to total C, N, P and S in the manure. However, the quantitative understanding of the relationship between the ration composition and the availability and stability of the various C, N, P and S compounds in the manure is still poor. There is, however, scope for exploring these relationships further by incubation studies, modelling and chemical analyses using manures produced from different rations.