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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Effects of Swine Lagoon Effluent Relative to Commercial Fertilizer Applications on Warm-Season Forage Nutritive Value
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments
Alfalfa and Reed Canarygrass Response to Midsummer Manure Application
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Hog Manure on Forages – Coarse-textured Soil (Zhoda Fertility Trial)
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Studies were initiated near Zhoda, MB, to determine the impact of the timing and rate of hog manure
applied to forage grown on coarse textured soils with high water tables. Precipitation and soil
groundwater data were also collected. In Experiment 1, manure treatments equivalent to 0, 60, 90, 120 lb
N ac-1 were applied commencing in the summer of 2002 in summer and fall after forage harvesting; a
treatment consisting of a split application of manure equivalent to 120 lb N ac-1 was also applied (60 lb
ac-1 each in summer and fall). Four replicates were arranged in a completely randomized design. In
Experiment 2, manure was applied at rates equivalent to 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 lb N ac-1 in spring
2004 in three replicates in a strip plot design. Besides forage yield and quality, the distribution of nitrate-
N and phosphorous in the soil profile was also monitored in both experiments. Forages responded strongly to manure application with respect to nutrient uptake, nutrient content, and
dry matter yield. In Experiment 1, dry matter yields increased considerably as manure application rate
increased, as did nutrient uptake. was a trend in most instances of increasing nutrient content with
increasing manure application rate. Fall-applied manure appeared to produce higher forage yields,
possibly as a result of greater nutrient losses in summer-applied treatments as well as the lack of nutrient
response when dry conditions prevailed during the summer period. Split N application was no more
effective at increasing forage productivity than the 120N treatment when considering productivity over a
production cycle (i.e. fall and summer harvest). Tming of nutrient availability is a key consideration in
attempting to maximize forage productivity. In Experiment 2, for example, it was clear that nutrient
availability was delayed somewhat relative to application date, as indicated by a delay in the
accumulation of nitrate-N in the upper soil profile. Given the lack of leaching observed in Experiment 1
(up to target N rate of 120 lb ac-1), increasing manure application rates may be feasible relative to current
recommendations. Splitting manure application rates may also provide another means of increasing
manure application rates without causing adverse effects to the environment.
The Properties of Combined Horizontal Flows of Air and Farm Livestock Slurries in a Tubular Loop Aerator
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Pig slurries and dairy cattle slurries exhibit shear-thinning characteristics and therefore two-phase horizontal pipeline flows of water and slurries with air were studied in a novel Tubular Loop Aerator (TLA) to determine whether air injection could achieve shear-thinning effects, leading to reduced energy requirements. The TLA incorporated a pipeline of 402mm internal diameter which was 65m in length. It was found that the pressure gradients resulting from these two-phase flows were described satisfactorily by a correlation based on ratios of single- and two-phase pressure gradients. This technique enabled convenient comparison of the flow characteristics of slurries with different total solids (TS) concentrations at different air injection rates. Pig slurries containing up to 35% TS showed no reductions in pressure loss due to air injection, whereas cattle slurries of 2–3% TS produced some instances of pressure reduction. These reductions occurred at low superficial liquid flow velocity (05 m/s) and o2% (vol/vol) air injected, but the results did not provide statistically significant evidence of an energy-saving effect.
Streptococcus suis infection
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Environmental impact and agronomic value of pig slurry on field corn: nitrogen balance measurement using nitrogen 15 radioactive labelling
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It is difficult to accurately evaluate the loss of nitrogen in the environment following the spreading of pig slurry, because other nitrogen sources (fertilizers, crop residues, etc.) also contribute to the overall nitrogen losses. The radioactive labelling, with nitrogen 15, of the slurry nitrogen allows to distinguish it from the nitrogen found in other sources in the field. Radioactive labelling was used in a two-year assay (2003 and 2004) for determining the real fertilizing efficiency of pig slurry applied in post-emergence on field corn (at a rate of 85 to 95kg total N/ha) and for determining the real proportion of nitrogen loss attributable to slurry spreading. This study allowed us to establish the distribution of the slurry nitrogen in the soil, plants and environment. As measured at the end of the growing season, 20 to 50% of the slurry nitrogen was assimilated by corn, depending on the year and the type of soil of the assay. Nitrogen uptake was lower in a clay-rich soil, since clay reduces the availability of ammoniacal nitrogen. Fifteen to 25% of the slurry nitrogen was lost in the environment between spreading and harvest. The measured nitrogen uptake and losses of slurry are similar to those reported for mineral fertilizer applications at post-emergence of corn and at similar rates. In the various conditions of this study, spreading of pig slurry proved as efficient as the application of mineral fertilizer in terms of agronomic performances of corn, and no more at risk, environmentally speaking.
Determining nitrogen fractions in swine slurry
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