SEARCH
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:
Searching for genes that can offer resistance to disease
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
A DNA test could soon be available to identify breeder pigs best equipped to produce offspring with better natural resistance to disease.
“We have found some genetic defects that are associated with impaired resistance to different infections,” says Dr. Tony Hayes, Professor in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph.
“The genes that we are interested in are innate immune genes that provide resistance to a broad range of different things,” he says. “They help resist disease in animals when they first encounter those infections. If the systems don’t function correctly, the animal may be more susceptible to
various types of infections.”
USDA Agricultural Projections to 2016
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Rethinking the levels of supplemental trace minerals in sow diets when using phytase
Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments
Research to determine the
effect of the enzyme phytase
on a sow’s performance
and mineral requirements
may help reduce feed waste
and prevent the build-up of
minerals in the soil
Farm Practices Guidelines for PIG PRODUCERS in Manitoba
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
These guidelines describe manure management systems and practices designed to protect the
environment, reduce the risk of pollution(1) and minimize the odours experienced by
neighbours. The objectives of these guidelines are to:
-provide local governments with a basis for evaluating livestock operations
-assist livestock producers in their efforts to optimize the use of manure, prevent pollution and minimize odour
-provide a standard which may be used by the Farm Practices Protection Board in determining normal farming practices
-provide information to the general public
-provide information for government officials who evaluate livestock operations about potential effects on the surrounding area.
NUTRIENT RECOVERY BY SOLID-LIQUID SEPARATION AND METHANE PRODUCTIVITY OF SOLIDS
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Tile Water Quality following Liquid Swine Manure Application into Standing Corn
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Environmental Friendly Waste Management Technologies
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
An Alternative Arrangement of Gravel Media in Tidal Flow Reed Beds Treating Pig Farm Wastewater
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Vertical down flow and tidal flow reed beds have shown the potential of treating strong wastewaters under high organic and hydraulic loadings (Molle, Liénard, Grasmick, & Iwema, 2006; Sun, Zhao, & Allen, 2005). Gravel media in the reed beds provide filtration of suspended solids and surface areas for the attachment of biofilms to decompose soluble pollutants. Conventionally, multiple layers of gravel are arranged, to allow the sizes of gravel particles to increase progressively from the top layer to the bottom layer. However, a number of studies have reported the occurrence of clogging when reed beds with this conventional medium arrangement are operated (Blazejewski & Murat-Blazejewska, 1997; Kern & Idler, 1999; Langergraber, Haberl, Laber, & Pressl, 2003).
Clogging is considered one of the most serious operational problems occurring in both horizontal and vertical flow reed beds. When clogging occurs, the void spaces inside bed matrices are blocked, and the infiltration rate of wastewater is considerably reduced. Subsequently, the supply of oxygen into the matrices diminishes, and the treatment ability of the reed beds decreases rapidly. The mechanisms of clogging are not yet fully understood. It is generally believed that as wastewater flows through reed bed matrix suspended solids are removed by sedimentation and filtration; microorganisms then decompose the organic content of the trapped solids, while the inorganic content gradually mineralizes. Excessive growth of biofilm can also cause clogging (Austin, Maciolek, Davis, & Wallace, 2006). The growth of plant rhizomes and roots, chemical precipitation and deposition, and the formation and accumulation of humic substances may also be part of the causes. Two lab-scale reed beds (made of Perspex columns of 900 mm in height and 95 mm in diameter) were used in the study. The first bed employed conventional ‘progressively-sized’ medium arrangement; having smaller gravel size of 4±2 mm in the top layer (650 mm deep) and 26±7 mm round gravel in bottom supporting layer (150 mm deep). Having the same overall depth, the second reed bed employed an unconventional arrangement; having larger gravel size of 10±3 mm in the top layer (350 mm deep), followed by a middle layer (300 mm deep) of 4±2 mm gravel, and a bottom layer of 26±7 mm round gravel (150 mm deep). Each bed was planted with a single common reed, Phragmites australis. Results from lab-scale experiments demonstrated that in comparison with conventional progressively sized medium arrangement, employing larger gravel in the top layer of a tidal flow reed bed proved to be more effective, in terms of the removal of several major pollutants from a strong wastewater. The unconventional medium arrangement delayed the occurrence of clogging by allowing suspended solids to be deposited more uniformly inside the reed bed, and by facilitating aeration during resting period, but the arrangement did not eliminate the clogging problem. A specific clogging tendency rate was defined to provide an indication of the degree of clogging at different operation time for tidal flow reed beds. Calculation of the tendency rate revealed that the unconventional medium arrangement had a clear advantage over the conventional arrangement of employing fine gravel or sand in top layer.