Effects of On-Farm Dairy Manure Composting on Tetracycline Content and Nutrient Composition

This study quantified the potential of farm-scale composting to degrade antibiotics in dairy manure. The compost windrow, consisting of sick cow bedding from a 1000-cow US dairy farm, was managed using the dairy farm’s typical practices and monitored for tetracycline and nutrient composition. Samples were collected over 33 days, which was the time from compost pile formation to land application as fertilizer, and analyzed for solids, antibiotics, and nutrient content. Average tetracycline concentrations at the beginning of the study (452 ng/g DW) were lower than at the end of composting (689 ng/g DW), illustrating that antibiotic degradation was not greater than degradation of the compost solids. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) increased from 15.3 to 18.4 g/kg during the composting period due to decreases in solids and likely inhibition of N-mineralization due to the presence of antibiotics. The results indicated that antibiotics were not completely degraded when using the farm’s compost pile management techniques, with antibiotics possibly impacting nitrogen transformation in the compost, which should be considered in nutrient management when using sick cow bedding. Additionally, the results showed that antibiotic degradation during farm-scale composting can vary from reported laboratory-scale due to differences in management, composting duration, and temporal conditions, illustrating the need for more extensive on-farm research including common farm practices and real-world conditions.

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Herd Homes: nutrient management and farmer perceptions of performance

Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association ◽

10.33584/jnzg.2006.68.2600 ◽

2006 ◽

pp. 309-313

Author(s):

R.D.Longhurst J. Luo ◽

M.B. O'Connor ◽

T. Pow

Keyword(s):

Nutrient Management ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Land Application ◽

Nutrient Concentrations ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Wood Shavings ◽

Effective Option ◽

The Media

The recent invention of Herd Homes has presented NZ dairy farmers with a flexible facility for feeding and standing-off stock especially during wet periods. Herd Homes are a combination of feeding platform, stand-off facility and animal shelter comprising a "greenhouse" type roof over slatted concrete floors with an underfloor manure bunker. The prototype Herd Home built in Northland for 230 cows was closely monitored during its initial year (2002/03). Different bunker media were evaluated for their ability to absorb and retain manure nutrients. The media tested were natural materials (soil, wood shavings and a combination of soil/wood shavings) that were all effective at capturing nutrients (N and S) from the bunker manure. Benefits of media amendments are greater nutrient enrichment of the final bunker manure making it more useful for subsequent land application. Use of soil as a bunker medium appears to be the most viable and cost effective option. In early 2006, manure samples were collected from Herd Home bunkers from four geographically diverse areas of NZ and analysed for nutrient content. Nutrient concentrations found reflected variability in cow numbers, usage and feed inputs. In November 2004, 10 existing Herd Home owners were surveyed as to their reasons for purchase. The farmers reported ease of farm management, "on-off" grazing, reduced pugging damage, and improved stock condition and production were some of the beneficial effects of Herd Homes. Keywords: Herd Homes, winter management, wintering system, stand off, feed pad, manure management, bunker manure

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Addressing on-farm management to enhance pasture productivity and persistence

Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association ◽

10.33584/jnzg.2013.75.2914 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 241-244

Author(s):

W.N. Reynolds

Keyword(s):

Management Strategies ◽

Dairy Farm ◽

Stocking Rate ◽

Pasture Management ◽

Pasture Production ◽

Operating Profit ◽

The North ◽

The Cost ◽

On Farm ◽

Attention To Detail

Following the 2007/08 drought, we experienced poor pasture production and persistence on our dairy farm in north Waikato, leading to decreased milksolids production and a greater reliance on bought-in feed. It is estimated that the cost of this to our farming operation was about $1300 per hectare per year in lost operating profit. While climate and black beetle were factors, they did not explain everything, and other factors were also involved. In the last 3 years we have changed our management strategies to better withstand dry summers, the catalyst for which was becoming the DairyNZ Pasture Improvement Focus Farm for the north Waikato. The major changes we made were to reduce stocking rate, actively manage pastures in summer to reduce over-grazing, and pay more attention to detail in our pasture renewal programme. To date the result has been a reduced need for pasture renewal, a lift in whole farm performance and increased profitability. Keywords: Focus farm, over-grazing, pasture management, pasture persistence, profitability

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Nutrient content, quality and water productivity of pearl millet in response to integrated nutrient management

Research on Crops ◽

10.31830/2348-7542.2019.101 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

Keyword(s):

Pearl Millet ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Water Productivity ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Content Quality

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Environmental policy and swine manure management Waste not or want not?

American Journal of Alternative Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s088918930000641x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 163-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Dana L. Hoag ◽

Fritz M. Roka

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Environmental Policy ◽

Systems Approach ◽

Swine Manure ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Livestock Production ◽

Economic Incentives ◽

Land Application ◽

Manure Management ◽

Interactive Nature

AbstractLivestock production and manure handling decisions often have been treated in the literature as separate enterprises. Policymakers, too, have ignored the interactive nature of manure management by focusing on land application for nutrient disposal. This study outlines a systems approach to describe the interrelated decisions producers face, using examples from North Carolina and Iowa that show how producers' attitudes toward manure management lead them to handle manure differently in different regions. In North Carolina, nutrients in manure are “not wanted.” There are economic incentives to treat manure, thus reducing its nutrient content, and to apply it on as little land as possible. In Iowa, nutrients are “not wasted.” Producers conserve the nutrients in manure and use them more fully, applying manure to higher value crops such as corn. Policies that influence manure management can be made more effective by accounting for the differences in producers' incentives to waste or want the nutrients.

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An Evaluation of Raw Milk Microorganisms as Markers of On-Farm Hygiene Practices Related to Milking

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-68.4.764 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 68 (4) ◽

pp. 764-772 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

M. L. HUTCHISON ◽

D. J. I. THOMAS ◽

A. MOORE ◽

D. R. JACKSON ◽

I. OHNSTAD

Keyword(s):

Dairy Farm ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Raw Milk ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Bacterial Indicator ◽

Relative Standard ◽

Bacillus Spp ◽

On Farm ◽

Milk Storage ◽

Bacterial Groups

Dairy farm hygiene audits were undertaken at 24 farms during summer and winter and the results compared with transformed bacterial indicator levels in raw milk samples collected during each audit. The bacterial indicators measured were total viable counts, Escherichia coli, coliforms, Bacillus spp., Bifidobacteria spp., and Pseudomonas spp. The results of initial comparisons using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients showed presumptive relationships between some bacterial groups and the subjective quantitative audit scores. When investigated further using linear regression, the presumptive relationships were found to be influenced by external factors. Possible reasons for the low correlations between on-farm hygiene and bacterial indicator counts in raw milk were further investigated. Measurements of the uncertainty associated with the bacteriological results were undertaken and revealed geometric relative standard deviations that ranged from 0.019 to 1.05. Toward the higher end of this scale, the uncertainty associated with the laboratory estimations of bacterial numbers may have been large enough to blur hygiene score-marker bacteria relationships. The samples obtained from on-farm raw milk storage tanks were representative of the whole tank contents and not a significant source of error. Although total bacterial counts are widely acknowledged by the milk industry as not always giving a true measure of on-farm hygiene during milking, we were unable to find any marker bacteria that showed consistently higher correlations and were thus better suited as indicators of on-farm hygiene.

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Site-Specific Nutrient Management for Rainfed Maize in Western Mid-Hills of Nepal

International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology ◽

10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12538 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 227-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Prakash Ghimire ◽

Khem Raj Dahal ◽

Santosh Marahatta ◽

Krishna Devkota ◽

Buddhi Raj Ghimire

Keyword(s):

Nutrient Management ◽

Block Design ◽

Maize Production ◽

Site Specific ◽

Fertilizer Recommendation ◽

Application Rates ◽

Development Committee ◽

Fertilization Practice ◽

Village Development Committee ◽

On Farm

On-farm experiment was conducted in eight farmers’ field, of Khasyoli village development committee (952 to 1415 masl), Nepal, from April to September, 2011 to address the major constraint (nutrient management) to maize production through site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) as this approach is popular among scientists. The experiment comprised three nutrient omission plots (0N, 0P, and 0K), an ample NPK plot, and a farmers’ fertilization practice (FFP) plot, arranged in randomized complete block design. Farmers planted open pollinated variety (Manakamana-3) and managed in their way. Field-specific NPK application rates were calculated by considering nutrient demand, indigenous NPK supply and recovery efficiency of fertilizers. Grain yield in FFP (2.32 Mg/ha) and 0N (1.79 Mg/ha) plots differed significantly from each other and rest of the treatments, but was statistically similar among 0P (3.18 Mg/ha), 0K (3.40 Mg/ha) and ample NPK (3.38 Mg/ha) plots. Post-harvest grain and stover analysis revealed that indigenous NPK supply (20-71 kg N, 19-68 kg P2O5 and 51-164 kg K2O/ha) of soil vary among the farmers’ field. Moreover, soil was poor in indigenous N supply (42 kg/ha), but rich in indigenous P2O5 (35 kg/ha) and K2O (90 kg/ha) supply, on an average. As per the principles of SSNM, the initial fertilizer recommendation made can vary from 40-222 kg N, 0- 93 kg P2O5, and 0-50 kg K2O/ha. On an average, farmers may apply no or lower dose of P2O5 (18 kg/ha) and K2O (3 kg/ha) but need to significantly increase dose of N (143 kg/ha) fertilizer for enhancing soil and maize productivity.Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(2): 227-231 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12538

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Nutrient Management Effects on Wine Grape Tissue Nutrient Content

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants11020158 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 158

Author(s):

John L. Havlin ◽

Robert Austin ◽

David Hardy ◽

Adam Howard ◽

Josh L. Heitman

Keyword(s):

Nutrient Management ◽

Nutrient Status ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Field Studies ◽

Soil Test ◽

Full Bloom ◽

Management Decisions ◽

Late Season ◽

Foliar N ◽

N Management

With limited research supporting local nutrient management decisions in North Carolina grape (Vitis vinifera) production, field studies (2015–17) were conducted to evaluate late season foliar nitrogen (N) application on leaf and petiole N concentration and yeast assimilable N (YAN) in the fruit. Foliar urea (1% v/v) was applied at different rates and application times beginning pre-and post-veraison. Compared to soil applied N, late season foliar N substantially enhanced petiole N and grape YAN. Smaller split N applications were generally more effective in increasing YAN than single larger N rates. These data demonstrate the value of assessing plant N content at full bloom with petiole N analysis or remote sensing to guide foliar N management decisions. Additional field studies (2008–11) were conducted to evaluate pre-bud soil applied phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) effects on petiole P and K nutrient status. Fertilizer P and K were initially broadcast applied (0–896 kg P2O5 ha−1; 0–672 kg K2O ha−1) prior to bud-break in 2008–09 and petiole P and K at full bloom soil test P and K were monitored for three to four years after application. Soil test and petiole P and K were significantly increased with increasing P and K rates, which subsequently declined to near unfertilized levels over the sampling time depending on site and P and K rate applied. These data demonstrate the value of annually monitoring petiole P and K levels to accurately assess plant P and K status to better inform nutrient management decisions.

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