Management of livestock slurries in France: an overview

Abstract

Effective livestock manure management is becoming a serious challenge in most areas of intensive animal production in Europe due to stricter environmental regulations. In France and particularly in the Brittany region, nutrient surplus districts have now been identified through the EC nitrate directive application and through a programme to control pollution (PMPOA). This programme is being agreed between different partners including Agricultural and Environmental authorities, and the Water Agency. To solve most of the problems, codes of good agricultural practice have been defined which should be strictly follow by the farmers. The major objectives are, to control manure runoff, control odours, ensure sufficient storage and land available (for timely application of manure), and apply manure at agronomic rates. In some cases however, treatment of manure is the only solution. Apart from well established techniques like aerobic treatment, there has been during the last five years a number of new treatment ideas flying around including simple natural processes (lagooning, soil processes) and a process based on the drying of slurry by means of a mixing and heating sequence and a gas compression (Sirven). Most of the others processes evaluated are biological processes coupled to a separation stage (pretreatment). A brief description of some of the operations units developed and evaluated are described as well as their main performances.