A study of nutrient balance in selected urban and peri-urban communes in Hue City with high densities of livestock

Workshop-seminar, 23-25 May, 2005, MEKARN-CTU

Making Better  Use of  Local Feed Resources

Contents

Citation of this paper

(http://mekarn.org/workshops/proctu/thanh-hue.htm)

Vo Thi Kim Thanh

Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Hue, Vietnam
vokimthanh@hotmail.com

Abstract

Livestock give the urban and peri-urban people a considerable part of their income, but in many urban and peri-urban areas with high densities of livestock problems have occurred due to accumulation of nutrients, in particular N, P and K. This has resulted in pollution both of soil and drinking water. Hue city reported there were a large number of pigs, poultry, buffaloes and cattle in urban areas. With the information on nutrient balance i.e. the N, P and K entering and leaving the area and levels accumulating in soils and water courses, the study shows that along with high livestock densities a large percentage of the area is presenting nutrient overload. Approximately 4 tonnes/day of fresh manure could be collected from 370 households keeping animals in the study area, not including other waste such as liquid waste from the animal house.

Chemical composition of soil collected around the farm was 0.04% of P₂O₅ and 0.2% of K₂O , and content of P and K in garden water was 1.5 and 6.4 micro-mol/litre, in a local pond 1.4 and 4 micromol/litre and from a river near the survey area 1 and 5 micromol/litre, respectively.

This study emphasizes the need for regulations that will be necessary to avoid large-scale future pollution.