The incorporation of livestock into agricultural systems ensures a more sustainable agriculture. Sustainable swine production systems are defined as those that combine production and management techniques to enhance profit and improve the ecological and socioeconomic surroundings. Over the long term, the systems should maintain or enhance the environment and resource base, the quality of life f...

BACKGROUND: Selenium is now recognized as essential trace element for ruminants. OBJECTIVES: Studying the effect of different levels of selcote ultra fertilizer and farm yard manure on the concentration of selenium in alfalfa in order to achieve optimum concentration of selenium in this plant. METHODS: The experiment was factorial based on ra...

Food animal production systems have become more consolidated and integrated, producing large, concentrated animal populations and significant amounts of fecal waste. Increasing use of manure and litter as a more "natural" and affordable source of fertilizer may be contributing to contamination of fruits and vegetables with foodborne pathogens. In addition, human and animal manure have been iden...

Reducing non-point source phosphorus (P) loss to drinking water reservoirs is a main concern for New York City watershed planners, and modeling of P transport can assist in the evaluation of agricultural effects on nutrient dynamics. A spatially distributed model of total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) loading was developed using raster maps covering a 164-ha dairy farm watershed. Transport of TDP ...

Stable flies are blood-feeding insects with a great negative impact on animals world wide. Larvae develop primarily in animal manure and bacteria are essential for larval development; however, the principle of this dependence is not understood. We hypothesized that as the microbial community of animal manure changes over time, it plays an important role in stable fly fitness. Two-choice bioassa...

Pilot-scale digesters (850 L) were used to quantify CH4 and H2S production when using forage radish cover crops as a co-digestion feedstock in dairy manure-based digesters. During two trials, triplicate mixed digesters were operated in batch mode with manure-only or radish+manure (27% and 13% radish by wet weight in Trial 1 and 2, respectively). Co-digestion increased CH4 production by 11% and ...

the effects of waterlogging, sewage sludge and animal manure on the concentrations of dtpa extractable copper, iron, manganese and zinc were investigated in two different types of soil. a factorial experiment based upon a completely randomized design of two replications containing duration of waterlogging at six levels (0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 30 days), source of organic fertilizer at three levels (con...