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Livestock waste used as organic fertilizer releases greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Innovative fertilizer management practices, such as treating slurry with plasma induction, show promise for reducing carbon and nitrogen losses, but its impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions needs further study.

In this webinar, techniques and results of a randomized experiment that measured soil fluxes of nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) emissions from winter wheat over 83 days using Eosense eosAC-LT automated chambers and the Picarro G2508 GHG gas concentration analyzer will be presented. Three treatments with similar nitrogen levels will be compared: inorganic fertilizer (IF), pig slurry with inorganic fertilizer (PS), and plasma-treated pig slurry with inorganic fertilizer (TPS) will be described and the outcomes discussed for:

• N₂O Emissions: which treatment emitted the most and what influenced the results
• CH₄ Emissions: which treatment emitted the most and which had the highest net uptake
• GHG intensity: which treatment had the highest intensity

Also, a brief explanation of how the precision of the Picarro G2508 GHG gas concentration analyzer and quick and easy processing of flux data enabled by the Eosense eosAC-LT automated chambers were critical to the success of this experiment.

Finally, an analysis of what is needed to determine if the benefits outweigh the emissions linked to inorganic fertilizer production and transport will be proposed.