Scaling from patch to paddock: Are diuretic-based mitigations of leaching and nitrous oxide emissions from urine patches effective at all scales and stocking rates?

V.O. Snow, E.D. Meenken, R. Cichota, D.P. Holzworth and R.A. Dynes

Agricultural Systems, 2025, vol. 230, issue C

Abstract: Temperate grasslands are important contributors to agricultural production but also to global warming through N2O emissions and to local water quality issues through leaching of N. These emissions are largely driven by small, concentrated urine patches. Adding diuretic components to the diet of ruminants will reduce the N load in individual urine patches without changing the total N return to the pasture. The effectiveness of lowering the N load has been established at the patch scale. However, diuretics will also increase the number and size of urine patches, and it is not known how much this will offset the reduction in N load at the paddock level.

Keywords: Pastoral farm; Grazing ruminants; Dynamic simulation modelling; APSIM; Greenhouse gases; Representative paddock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s0308521x25002070

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104467

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