Ernest Osei-Asante

Project title: Impact of optimizing N content in animal diet on environmental N emissions.

Overview: My research interest is in understanding factors affecting greenhouse gas emissions in grassland and measures to reduce these factors in grassland. I am currently working on how optimizing nitrogen (N) content in animal diet affects environmental N emissions. The project aims to:

1. Evaluate the effect of urinary N content, due to contrasting animal diets, on ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions, nitrate leaching and plant N uptake from urine deposition in grassland.
2. Provide data for modelling ammonia emissions from animal excreta deposition under a variety of application timings and upscale these emissions to a paddock scale.
3. Parametrise the ALFAM2 model for estimating ammonia emissions for a range of urine compositions under Irish conditions in order to facilitate further emission modelling efforts.

I am experienced in soil and gas sampling in forest and grassland; soil incubation experiments; soil chemical analysis and soil organic carbon decay modelling. I also have a hands-on experience in using Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES), Spectrophotometer and Electrical conductivity to determine soil chemical properties in the laboratory. I have knowledge of using R, Minitab, GraphPad Prism and EndNote software.

Programme Area: Environment, Soils and Land Use Department

Supervisors: Dr Dominika Krol, Dr Karl Richards, and Dr Paul Murphy

Location: Teagasc Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford

Funding Source: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine