Near infared sensing has been used in the grain industry for 30 years to test moisture and protein content of grain, recentlt has been developed in order to analyze grain based on its digestible energy content. The objective of this study was to determine if near infared spectroscopy (NIRS) calibrations could effectively predict total solids, TKN, NO3-N, phosphoros and potassium in three types of manure: liquid swine pit manure, swine lagoon effluent and dry beef feedlot manure.

An NIRSystems 6500 Scanning monochromator, manufactured by FOSS NIR Systems, was calibrated against wet chemistry analysis data, using partial least squares regression analysis. This study showed that NIR is a potentially usable method to determine manure nutrient and solids concentrations in liquid and solid swine manure. Although further work will be necessary to refine procedures results are encouraging for this type of technology to accurately predict manure nutrient content.