Manure nitrogen production and application in cropland and rangeland during 1860–2014: A 5-minute gridded global data set for Earth system modeling

Abstract. Given the important role of nitrogen input from livestock system in the terrestrial nutrient cycles and the atmospheric chemical composition, it is vital to have a robust estimation of the magnitude, spatiotemporal variation of manure nitrogen production and the application to cropland and rangeland across the globe. In this study, we used the dataset from Global Livestock Impact Mapping System (GLIMS) in conjunction with country-specific annual livestock population to reconstruct the manure nitrogen production from 1860 to 2014. The estimated manure nitrogen production increased from 21.4 Tg N yr−1 in 1860 to 131.0 Tg N yr−1 in 2014, with a significant increasing trend during 1860–2014 (0.7 Tg N yr−1, p < 0.01). Changes in manure nitrogen production exhibited highly spatial variability and concentrated in several hotspots (e.g., Western Europe, India, Northeast China and Southeast Australia) across the globe over the study period. In the 1860s, northern mid-latitude accounted for ~ 52 % of the global total manure production, while tropical region became the largest share (~ 48 %) in the recent five years (2010–2014). Among all the continents, Asia accounted for over one-fourth of the global manure production during 1860–2014. Cattle dominated the manure nitrogen production and contributed ~ 44 % of the total manure nitrogen production in 2014, followed by goat, sheep, chicken and swine. The manure nitrogen production applied to cropland and rangeland accounts for less than one-fifth of the total manure nitrogen production over the study period. The 5-arc minute gridded global data set of manure nitrogen production generated from this study could be used as an input for global or regional land surface/ecosystem models to evaluate the impacts of manure nitrogen on key biogeochemical processes and water quality, and the best management practices of manure nitrogen applications to cropland and rangeland across the globe could be important for food security and environmental sustainability. Datasets available at: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.871980.