Environmental safety of livestock and poultry waste handling may be achieved through optimal transportation and distribution of resulting organic fertilisers between the consumers – crop-growing farms. With this aim in view, a logistic transport model was created with due account for fertilising quality and ecologically grounded application rates of organic fertilisers. The model was applied to agricultural enterprises of Leningrad Region, where 121 cattle, 15 pig and 14 poultry complexes are located (as of 2015), with more than 5 million tons of animal and poultry manure being produced annually. The model allowed identifying 34 agricultural enterprises as organic fertiliser suppliers and 124 agricultural enterprises as organic fertiliser consumers. The transport problem of linear programming was solved by the method of potentials by the software written in FORTRAN using the calculated correction factors of nitrogen content in one cubic meter of organic fertilisers: 0.5 – for cattle enterprises, 1 – for pig-rearing complexes, and 0.34 – for poultry complexes. The model allowed distributing all produced organic fertilisers on the fields of crop growing farms with the minimal transportation costs. The model was verified on the data from an egg poultry factory with the stock of 579.1 thousand head and the annual poultry manure yield of 26.8 thousand tons and the pig complex with the stock of 17. 5 thousand head and the annual manure yield of 71.9 thousand tons. The achieved savings were 19,251 thousand roubles (282.4 thousand Euros) and 93,117 thousand roubles (1365.4 thousand Euros), respectively.

Currently Russia is realising the transition to the BAT system in different spheres of economy. Russian BAT reference books on intensive rearing of pigs and intensive rearing of poultry have been developed and come into force on June 1, 2018. The paper presents the study outcomes of dairy farming in Leningrad Region in terms of its environmental impact. The main features of current dairy farming are large-scale enterprises and concentration of livestock on separate sites. This results in accumulation of animal manure near the farms and increases the risk of nutrient leakage into the water sources and ammonia emissions into the atmosphere. The top-priority environmental challenge in animal farming in Leningrad Region is manure utilisation on big farms with substantial manure output. Manure processing technologies applied on dairy farms in Leningrad Region were estimated by the BAT criteria, namely, the least environmental effect, high economic efficiency of implementation and operation, and the use of resource and energy saving practices. Ecological estimation of cattle farms was based on indicators of nitrogen use efficiency. The list of required initial data to develop the BAT reference book on intensive rearing of cattle and to select the key technologies to be identified as BAT candidates was compiled. Introduction of BAT technologies for manure processing, storage and field application will allow reducing atmospheric ammonia emissions by, at least, 20 % and consequently cutting down the nutrients loss.

The indoor climate in livestock houses is one of the significant factors affecting the productivity of animals. To create an optimal inside environment the proper inside-outside air exchange is required. This leads to significant emissions of harmful substances generated in the rooms: ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, etc. Manure removal systems account for 27 % of the general negative impact on the environment of livestock technologies. The factors influencing the release of ammonia from cattle manure were studied in laboratory setting. Two most significant and linearly independent factors were identified: the area of the polluted surface and the thickness of the manure layer. For research purposes, a laboratory installation was designed, consisting of a body with a fan and an exhaust pipe with an ammonia concentration sensor and air velocity transmitter. Manure with relative moisture content of W = 87.3 % was placed in the body of the installation; the air was blown over the manure surface by the fan and the sensors in the pipe recorded the ammonia concentration and the air flow rate. The ammonia emission from manure was calculated. The obtained data indicated that the area of the manure surface had the greatest impact on the ammonia emission, and with its increase, the emission grew. Analysis of the mean values revealed that the biggest ammonia emission of 129.56 mg·hE-1 from the manure was in the variant with the maximum surface area and thickness of the manure layer.

Laboratory study of phosphorus leaching from the plow horizon was conducted. The purpose of the study is to examine and compare the values of leaching phosphorus mass from the plow horizon in order to obtain the values of the coefficients for the IEEPAgrDLM model (Agricultural Diffuse Load Model by IEEP – the Institute for Engineering and Environmental Problems). The IEEPAgrDLM model allows to calculate the diffuse load on water bodies from agricultural fields depending on the field area, field soil nutrient content, type of soil by mechanical composition, doses of mineral and organic fertilizers, structure of crop rotation and distance from the field to the nearest water body. The influence of soil factors was studied. In the experiment 4 types of soil of different mechanical composition were used. Triplicate repeatability was used - for each type of soil, three vessels were used. The laboratory installation was a rack with vessels filled with soil. The vessels have a cover for introduction of water at the top and the filter element, bung with a glass tube and stopper at the bottom. During the study, once every two weeks, water was poured into the vessels and water which passed through the soil was taken. The volumes of water passed through the soil were measured and the concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen in the water were analysed. Based on the results of a six-month experiment (from April to October 2017), the values of the masses of nitrogen and phosphorus washed from the vessels were obtained. In this article, the results of the experiment on phosphorus are considered. The processing of laboratory data made it possible to calculate the coefficients reflecting the dependence of the mass of phosphorus leaching on the type of soils, which were used to update the coefficient values of the IEEPAgrDLM model.

Creation of comfortable conditions for dairy cow housing ensures maximum realisation of their productive genetic potential; the temperature and the relative (absolute) humidity of the air are of primary importance in this respect. Russian and foreign researchers have established that temperature fluctuations in the range of +10 ºC to +22 ºС and relative air humidity in the range of 50 to 90 % do not have any adverse effect on productivity of animals. According to Russian standards, the minimum inside air temperature should be from + 3 ºC to +10 ºC, with the relative humidity being 40 to 85 % depending on the animal housing technology. Our study showed that in winter in the barn with tied housing of dairy cows, the air temperature varied from +3.5 ºC to +12.3 ºC, with the outside air temperature being from -4.6 ºC to -10.5 ºC. An uneven distribution of air temperature across the barn was registered, with the difference reaching 5 ºC to 7 ºC in some cases. This indicates an uneven and insufficient thermal insulation of the premises. The absolute air humidity in the barn was 5.42 to 9.98 g•mE-3 and was also distributed unevenly, depending on the absolute humidity of the outside air, which was 1.46 to 3.28 g•mE-3, and the wind direction, which created additional conditions for active ventilation of the premises. To identify the conditions causing stress in animals, the Thermal Humidity Index was applied; its values were in the range of 45.6 to 57.8, with the recommended values being 65−68. So the housing conditions of cows were considered normal. The study results were used to create Excel graphical and regression models of temperature and humidity conditions and THI in the barn, depending on variation of external weather conditions, with the coefficient of determination R2 being from 0.915 to 0.969.

In 2017 a field study of water bodies in Nevel and Usvyatsky Districts of Pskov Region was aimed to give qualitative and quantity estimation of the impact of local large-scale pig enterprises on the status of water bodies in the Western Dvina river basin. Water samples were taken and the flow was measured on the vulnerable areas and outside the farm impact area in accordance with an elaborated programme and methods of field measurements. Soil samples were collected from the fields, where liquid pig manure was applied. The results showed that on the local level, in the vicinity of these fields, the water bodies featured high levels of main manure pollution indicators – ammonium nitrogen and phosphorous. The concentration of ammonium varied from 4.4 to 32.7 mg·lE-1 at these points that was several hundred times higher than that in water bodies in natural areas; the concentration of dissolved phosphorus varied from 0.11 to 0.23 mg·lE-1 that was several times higher than the background values. The concentration of these elements was dropping down to the background level with the distance from the fields as the result of self-purification and dilution processes owing to natural conditions, associated mainly with the presence of wetlands.

This booklet provides the scientific basis for the Mansholt lecture 2018 “Circularity in agricultural production” by Imke J.M. de Boer and Martin K. van Ittersum.