Development of a Database to Collect Emission Values for Livestock Systems

Growing demand for animal products has contributed to an increase in biogeochemical fluxes, leading particularly to gaseous ammonia, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions into the atmosphere. Developing accurate knowledge on the sources and magnitude of gas emissions from the livestock sector is essential to reducing emissions, while meeting other societal expectations, and to implementing effective regulations. To this end, a database called ELFE (ELevage et Facteurs d’Emission; i.e., Livestock and Emission Factors) was recently developed. It currently contains ∼5200 gas emission measurements extracted from 345 publications of the international literature published from 1964 to 2018 from 37 countries. One of its innovative aspects is the structured and comprehensive description of both the livestock system and the measurement method associated with emission data. Ammonia emitted by livestock systems represents 40 to 80% of emission values and 45 to 81% of the values concern production systems with slurry, depending on the animal produced. This database will contribute to improved emission factors for national inventories by more thoroughly considering factors influencing emission levels and data quality. It highlights the need for shared and standardized reporting protocols for both the livestock system itself and the measurement conditions, to allow for thorough comparisons and to reduce uncertainty in unit conversions. The database is available online on the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) platform (https://data.inra.fr/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.15454/MHJPYT) and will be updated annually with new gas emissions. CORE IDEAS: A new database includes about 5200 emission values from 345 publications. Of these emission values, 62% were related to NH₃, 41% to CH₄, 29% to N₂O, and 29% to CO₂. The database includes a detailed description of production systems and measurement methods. Complete data for system description and unit conversion increase potential uses.