Nutrient management procedures to enhance environmental conditions: An introduction

The advent of concentrated, large animal production units presents a monume ntal challenge for the effective management of nutrients in animal manure. This symposium was organized to address the issue of the environmental impa ct of animal production and to offer suggestions on nutrient management pro cedures for reducing the environmental impact. There were four presentation s on environmental concerns of animal manure that covered the topics of usi ng the severe Dutch legislation that limits the amounts of nitrogen and pho sphate in the manure allowed for application on cropland, potential for red ucing odorous compounds in swine manure, alternatives to reduce the environ mental impact of large swine production units, and, finally, perspectives o n nutrient management procedures from a swine integrator's viewpoint. This introduction to the symposium highlights the major areas discussed within e ach of the four presentations.