Nitrogen excretion in dairy cow, beef and veal cattle, pig, and rabbit farms in Northern Italy

Reference values for N excretion of different livestock production systems are required for the application of the Nitrate Directive (91/676/EC). A survey aimed to estimate N excretion from on-farm measurements of feed consumption and performance of dairy cows (104 herds, 9,984 cows), growing cattle (40 farms, 40,157 young bulls), veal calves (34 farms, 49,206 calves), growing pigs (39 farms, 161,278 pigs) and rabbits (54 farms, 65,664 reproducing does) was conducted in Veneto from 2002 to 2003. N excretion was computed as the difference between N consumption and N retained in animal products. Dairy cow yielded 8,366 +/- 1,646 kg/year of milk, consumed 6,600 +/- 928 kg/year of DM, containing 2.45 +/- 0.2 % DM of N, and excreted 116 +/- 25 kg of N/year. No significant correlation was found between milk yield and N excretion, but the correlation between dietary N concentration and N excretion was significant (r=0.66). For growing cattle, the following mean values were achieved: daily gain 1.25 +/- 0.19 kg/d; feed conversion ratio 6.9 +/- 0.9 kg of DM/kg, rounds/year 1.66 +/- 0.38. Nitrogen consumed, retained and excreted were, respectively, 68.7 +/- 5.4, 11.4 +/- 1.9 and 57.3 +/- 4.9 kg/place/year. For veal calves, N consumed was 24.1 +/- 1.9 kg/place/year, 12.1 +/- 0.8 kg of which were retained in the body and 12.0 +/- 1.5 kg were excreted. For heavy pig production, N consumed, per place and per year, averaged 19.0 +/- 1.9 kg, N retained was 5.2 +/- 0.5 kg and N excreted was 13.8 +/- 0.4 kg. In the close-cycle rabbit farms, the doe and the relative growing rabbits (43 sold per year) consumed 11.2 +/- 2.2 kg, retained 3.8 +/- 0.7 kg and excreted 7.4 +/- 1.5 kg N/doe/year. Nitrogen excretion estimated in this work can be considered as representative of some of the main animal production systems of the North-East of Italy. These values should not be considered as fixed, otherwise the implementation of the various strategies to reduce N excretion would not be possible. They should be considered as guidelines in the assistance both to public institutions and private enterprises in the evaluation of N excretion at farm level, favouring a more accurate quantification of the excretions, an increase of N retention efficiency and a better knowledge of the requirements of agricultural land. Moreover, a major extension of the agricultural land to be fertilised with manure should be promoted.