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:
Epuration de l'azote des lisiers de porcs par nitrification et denitrification dans un procede rustique d'epuration derive des lits bacteriens.
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 1995 | No Comments
A simple low cost gravel facility was used as a biofilter to treat swine liquid manure as an on farm percolation-infiltration system that removed both carbon and nitrogen. Tests done in laboratory showed using aerated columns showed that partially stabilized stored manure can be treated to reduce the BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) and lower the nitrogen content. After the initial biofilm (bacteria attached to the gravel particles) developed in the gravel bed, for an initial ammonium-N concentration of 1 g per liter, the nitrification process could reach a rate of 86 g per square meter of the gravel cross section per day. This rate was high enough to convert all the ammonium to nitrate. The nitrification process could not convert all the ammonium-N to nitrate when the initial ammonium content was equal to 3.2g/L even with a high nitrification rate of 258 g/m2 per day; the leachate had still a residual ammonium-L content of 0.52 g/L. Tests were done with the effluent and the results showed that when a carbon source was added to it, denitrification occurred and its rate was proportional to the amount of carbon added. The on-farm pilot scale gravel bed facility (50 m2 gravel surface area and 1.4 m depth) could nitrify completely 52 g of nitrogen per m2 and per day with a through-put of 60 L per m2 per day. The results showed that at a higher manure load of 100 L per m2 per day, the nitrification activity increased to 72 g per m2 per day however not all the ammonium-N was converted to nitrate.
This system seems simple as a gravel bed is used for support to the bacteria that treat the manure. However, aeration of the bed is necessary and subsequent control is necessary in order to assure the denitrification of the nitrogen that is under the form of nitrate. On a commercial scale that may represent controls and conditions that have to be monitored. The results presented are for a 3 months period and no information is presented on the ambient conditions necessary for optimal bacteria activity. As the activity slows and stops at low temperature, such systems could be ineffective during a long period in cold winter conditions.
The Potential of Thermophilic Anaerobic Fermentation for Biological Methane Production and Odor Control Using Swine Manure as a Substrate
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Swine manure from a primary treatment lagoon sediment and from rumen fluid were fed to mehtanogenic culture under thermophilic conditions (50A
ACUTE OUTBREAK OF PORCINE PARVOVIRUS INFECTION IN MOZAMBIQUE
Posted in: Welfare by admin on | No Comments
Investigations were made to determine the causal agent of an acute outbreak of
abortions recorded in a swine herd in Mozambique. Isolation of porcine parvovirus
and demonstration of its specific antibodies accomplished by using enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay, haemagglutination inhibition and immunofluorescent tests,
indicated that porcine parvovirus was the causal agent of the abortions. Other
pathogenic agents causing reproductive failure, e.g. pseudorabies virus, Leptospira
or Brueella species, were ruled out because investigations of these agents proved to
be negative.
Swine Nutrition Guide
Posted in: Energy by admin on | No Comments
Water needs for various classes of swine are illustrated. Nipple drinker flow rate varies depending on the age of the pig. Wet/dry feeders that incorporate a nipple drinker as the sole source of water have reductions in slurry volume by up to 40%. Water quality related to bacterial contamination and levels of sulfates is addressed.
Respirator protection and acceptability among agricultural workers.
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Results are presented of field determinations of effectiveness (workplace protection factor; WPF) and acceptability (questionnaire responses) by respirator users in indoor swine production, poultry production, and grain handling facilities. Dust mass and endotoxin in air samples collected over 4 hours outside the mask and inside the mask were compared to yield the WPF. Disposable respirators had a mean WPF of 13; quarter-mask respirators, 22; half-mask respirators, 19; and powered air purifying helmets, 30. These values are generally less than laboratory-based measures of effectiveness but similar to other field data. Acceptability among these four classes of respirators varied among the three user groups: poultry operators preferred the powered helmet; grain handlers preferred the half-mask; and swine producers were split between the quarter-mask and half-mask respirators. Fully disposable masks were preferred by only 20 to 22 percent of the workers in each setting. Among all groups of workers, powered helmets were rated best for breathing ease, communication ease, skin comfort, and in-mask temperature and humidity, while disposables were rated best for weight and convenience. However, in all but one of the above acceptability characteristics, the opposite respirator was given the worst rating. Thus, the reusable quarter-mask or half-mask is most often the best compromise.
Effects of Intermittent-cycle Extended-aeration Treatment on the Fate of Nutrients, Metals and Bacterial Indicators in Pig Slurry
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
The experiment was done on the liquid part of separated manure in order to treat it with an activated-sludge treatment that would produce an effluent that could be disposed by irrigation or for direct discharge to the water-course. The treatment reduces the nutrients content, however the pathogen indicators remains relatively high and the effluent cannot be used directly for irrigation or directly discharge to the water-course. Two products (effluent, and solids resulting from the separation) have to be disposed and evaluated for their nutrient content and two different types of equipment may be needed to handle the liquid part and to handle the sludge