Project Number: 6209-31630-002-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jun 14, 2005
End Date: Jun 13, 2010

Objective:
1. Livestock Feeding: Evaluate animal nutrition regimens that decrease losses of feed nutrients in manure, decrease ammonia emissions, decrease particulate matter emissions, decrease excretion of pathogens, improve the value of cattle manures for land application, maintain animal productivity, and minimize risks to the environment, livestock and the public. Determine the impact on livestock performance and environmental quality of the following characteristics of distiller's grain: high concentrations of phosphorus and sulfur, changing composition due to removal of fats and other constituents, and concentration of antibiotics used in the fermentation process. 2. Feedyard/Manure Management: Evaluate feedyard and manure management regimens that decrease losses of feed nutrients to the environment, decrease ammonia emissions, decrease particulate matter emissions, decrease pathogen loads and pharmaceutically active compounds, improve the value of cattle manures for land application, maintain productivity, and reduce impacts on the environment, livestock, and the public. 3. Feedyard and Dairy Emissions, Losses and Accumulation: Quantify atmospheric emissions, runoff losses, and accumulation of nutrients, bioaerosols, pathogens, and pharmaceutically active compounds; determine their fate and transport; determine the distribution of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance of key pathogens; and evaluate their potential risk to livestock, crops, the public, and the environment. 4. Land Application: Determine land application protocols that decrease atmospheric emissions of ammonia, particulates and pathogens and minimize their impact on the environment, crops, the public, and livestock.

Approach:
Experimental objectives are accomplished through a combination of cooperative, multidisciplinary studies that extend from basic laboratory scale experiments to practical field experiments. Lab-scale and research feedlot-scale studies are used to determine how chemical, physical and microbiological factors affect nutrient losses and pathogen excretion and for initial evaluation of potential control measures. Larger field studies will be used to determine the production, fate, and transport of potential pollutants and pathogens under practical conditions in the southern Great Plains of the U.S.