Livestock manure can supply essential crop nutrients and contribute to improved soil quality. However, conventional surface broadcast application can result in adverse environmental effects from NH₃ volatilization, odor, and runoff losses of nutrients and pathogens. Incorporation of manure by tillage or standard injection methods conserves N but can also reduce residue cover and increase erosion; and tillage is not an option for no-till crops and perennial forages. Several novel application methods incorporate or limit surface exposure of manure so that N is conserved but residue is maintained, resulting in environmental, nutrient availability, and crop quality benefits. In annual crops, low-disturbance coulter or sweep injection methods or a manure injection/zone tillage combination (“zone-jection”) incorporate liquid manure while maintaining residue. Sediment and P runoff loss is typically reduced, but actual effectiveness depends on specific equipment and soil conditions. Nitrate leaching effects vary and, in some cases, may increase due to an increased inorganic N pool (due to reduced NH₃-N losses) and/or manure placement.  Sidedressing manure into a growing crop with injectors or s-tine cultivators provides available N at an optimum time and can decrease nutrient runoff. In perennial grass forages, surface banding of liquid dairy or swine manure with a trailing-foot technique has shown increased N utilization and forage yields and NH₃-N volatilization reductions of 30 to over 50% compared to broadcast application. Application by shallow injection is the most effective in reducing odor and ammonia emission but has the potential to damage the sward. A technique that applies surface-bands of slurry over aeration slots provide greater NH₃-N loss reduction than surface banding alone, while increasing N utilization and decreasing odor and N and P runoff losses. By reducing N losses all of these techniques improve the manure N:P balance for most crops, thereby reducing excessive P application (N-based application) or decreasing need for fertilizer N (P-based application). These improved manure application methods provide agronomic and/or environmental benefits compared to conventional broadcast application.