Horseradish lessens manure smell.(CONSERVATION NEWS YOU CAN USE)(Brief Article)

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, September, 2005

Where there are hogs, there is an odor. Horseradish to the rescue! HUH? Penn State University chemist Jerzy Dec and colleagues added ground horseradish and hydrogen peroxide to hog manure. A panel of trained odor evaluators concluded that the smell was half as intense as untreated manure.

Why horseradish? Oxidation can reduce the odor of manure and horseradish has a powerful oxidizing capability. Purified forms of the abundant enzymes found in horseradish are used for soil and water treatment. Dec wondered if the cost and trouble of isolating the enzymes was worth the trouble. He performed experiments in which he ground up horseradish and added it to polluted water. "It worked as well as the purified enzyme," he says.