Mitigating Carbon Emissions: The Impact of Peat Moss Feeding on CH₄ and CO₂ Emissions during Pig Slurry Storage

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of peat moss as a feed additive on the emission of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from piggery slurry stored in slurry pits. There is no well-known study on the relationship between pig manure generated after feeding peat moss as a feed additive and CH4 and CO2 released during the storage period. A lab-scale experiment was conducted for two months using a slurry pit simulator composed of six vessels—three for pig slurry collected after feeding 3.0% peat moss as a feed additive (PFS) and three for pig slurry without feeding peat moss (CTL). PFS reduced CO2 and CH4 emissions (p 4 in total carbon emissions was observed (p 4 accounting for approximately 93% and 95% of total carbon emissions in PFS and CTL, respectively. PFS had a roughly 43% lower impact on cumulative carbon emissions than CTL, primarily due to decreased CH4 emissions. These findings suggest that PFS may be a promising approach for mitigating carbon emissions and potentially impacting environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation efforts.

Keywords

• pig slurry
• slurry pit
• storage
• peat moss
• humic substance
• methane emission