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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:
Nutrient Uptake by Warm-Season Perennial Grasses in a Swine Effluent Spray Field
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments
Phosphorus Transformation in Pig Slurry due to Diet and Intermittent Aeration Treatments
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The experiment was conducted to study the transformation of phosphorus (P) in slurry from pigs fed two
different diets, i.e. the regular maize–soya bean meal diet with or without a supplement of 9% sugar beet pulp (SBP). The slurry was collected and treated either without or with aeration and intermittent aeration (aeration on/off ratio=10 h:14 h) at an airflow rate of 06 lm3 s1 for 15 days. Slurry sources and treatments were composed of a 2 by 2 factorial design. The results indicated that aeration increased (probability Po001) the slurry pH by 05–08 within 24 h, from 65 to 70 for the SBP slurry, and from 69 to 77 for the control slurry, but the pH reached 76 and 80 for the SBP and control slurry in 3–4 days. The average pH of the SBP slurry was lower (Po001) than that of the slurry from the control diet (667 versus 738). However, little change in pH was observed in the non-aerated slurry. Aeration decreased total inorganic P, insoluble inorganic P, and soluble P, but increased organic P by approximately 30mg l1. The average organic P in the slurry for both diets with aeration was about 174% higher than that in the same slurry without aeration. Aeration decreased
insoluble inorganic P by about 72% and soluble P by about 45%. The mass balance of P fractions showed transformation of insoluble inorganic P into organic forms during the aeration stage. The insoluble inorganic P took about 68% of the total P in the slurry, so it is essential to perform solid–liquid separation prior to aeration to enhance the efficiency of soluble P removal because insoluble inorganic P is mainly contained in the slurry solids.
Natural Resource and Environmental Issues Related to Hog Expansion in Alberta
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This study identifies environmental issues and natural resources in certain landscapes in Alberta, which have the potential for expansion. The factors to investigate are 1) soil zone, most hog production is concentrated in the Black soil zone; 2) water supply, the expansions of the hog industry was not found to be limited by it; 3) feed supply ,Alberta has more than enough to support the hog industry there; 4) population density, critical when considering the development permit process because of the neighbor complaints about odour and; 5) minimum distance separation (MDS), there must be the appropriate distance for the manure spreading process as well as the facility itself as there needs to be enough land in the area for the amount of manure that is to be spread or else leaching and run-off will be the results.
Alberta’s livestock associations have taken the lead in developing voluntary guidelines to assist municipalities and producers in siting, design and management of new and expanding livestock facilities in order to deal with the environmental issues relating to livestock production. The development of new livestock operations is controlled at the municipal level in Alberta. New operations will have some form of public review and permit process. Well-defined planning approval processes have greatly reduced risks and uncertainties faced by livestock operators and neighboring residents. With all these different factors being taken into consideration, Alberta is attempting to identify where opportunities lie for expansion of the industry. The most important factors were population density and feed supply. Areas of Alberta have now been chosen for further investigation.
Agronomic conversion of treated pig slurry on forage crops
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Solid-liquid phase separation of pig slurry allows to control and reduce the amount of phosphorous released in the environment, an advantage for the many farms in a situation of excess phosphorous. Various methods of slurry phase separation allow a relatively important concentration of the phosphorous into the solid phase, whereas most of the nitrogen stays in the liquid phase. We studied the utilization, as nitrogen sources, of liquid by-products obtained through natural decantation, filtration through woodchips, anaerobic digestion and physicochemical flocculation. The agronomic and environmental performances of these liquid by-products to those of raw slurry and mineral fertilizers have been compared. During three consecutive seasons, nitrogen loss through ammonia (NH3) volatilization and emissions of dinitrogen oxide (N2O, a greenhouse gas), after each field spreading have been measured. Dry matter yield and major nutrients’ uptake of timothy were measured for each type of fertilizer. Raw slurry emitted 3 to 4 times more NH3 than mineral fertilizer and 20 to 25% more than liquid by-products. Slurry emitted significantly more N2O than the mineral fertilizer and the liquid by-product resulting from anaerobic digestion. This liquid by-product, followed by the one obtained through flocculation, also resulted in timothy yields and nutrient uptake similar to those of mineral fertilizer. Slurry generally allowed lower timothy performances than did mineral fertilizers and liquid by-products. Despite the agronomic and environmental advantages showed by solid-liquid separation of slurry, the higher nutrient availability of the liquid by-products commands caution when spreading in the absence of actively growing crops.
Evaluating heavy metal contents in nine composts using four digestion methods
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Tillage and Compost Affect Yield of Corn, Soybean, and Wheat and Soil Fertility
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