Released Sept. 4, 2009
Applying manure to the land has long been known to increase soil fertility and health. A less-studied aspect is air emissions from manure application. A Sept. 18 webcast will begin with a discussion of the main air quality issues associated with manure application: ammonia nitrogen loss, odor complaints and potential greenhouse gas emissions.
Three presenters on the eXtension webcast will emphasize the importance of equipment in reducing air emissions and show results of field studies comparing the use of current manure application equipment. There will also be an update on North American equipment research and development for subsurface application of solid manures. The free educational webcast is from the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center of eXtension.
Speakers
Webcast speaker Robin Brandt, director of the Penn State Odor Assessment Laboratory, is a registered professional engineer with more than 25 years experience in land-based recycling programs. His current research uses human sensory evaluation to quantify agricultural odors for investigation of odor reduction practices.
Joy Agnew, a project leader at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute and PhD candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, focuses on the environmental impacts of manure management including emissions from earthen manure storage, production buildings and manure spreading, as well as the development of a precision solid manure injector prototype.
Curtis Dell is a soil scientist with the USDA ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit. The focus of his research is C, N and P cycling in manured and pasture soils and nitrogen gas emissions. He currently is investigating the impacts of manure injection and subsurface application methods on gas losses.
The Friday, Sept. 18 session begins at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The webcast meeting room opens 15 minutes before the start time. Go to http://www.extension.org/wiki/Live_Webcast_Information to view.
Monthly webcasts are hosted by the Livestock and Poultry Environmental (LPE) Learning Center, an information resource developed by more than 150 experts from land-grant universities, agencies and other organizations. The center is part of the national eXtension interactive Web resource customized with links to local Cooperative Extension Web sites. Webcasts are archived at http://www.extension.org/wiki/Archived_Webcasts%2C_Livestock_and_Poultry_Environmental_Learning_Center.
LPE Learning Center
The center advocates that individuals involved in public policy issues, animal production and delivery of technical services for animal producers should have on-demand access to the nation's best science-based resources. Articles about animal manure management are at http://www.extension.org/animal+manure+management.
eXtension is an educational partnership helping Americans improve their lives with access to timely, objective, research-based information and educational opportunities. The eXtension site is http://www.extension.org. Land-grant universities were founded on the ideals that higher education should be accessible to all, that colleges should teach liberal and practical subjects and share knowledge with people throughout their states.
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Sources: Jill Heemstra, University of Nebraska, (402) 748-3909, jheemstra@unl.edu
Robin Brandt, 814-865-2809, rcb100@psu.edu
Joy Agnew, jagnew@pami.ca
Curtis Dell, 814-863-0984, curtis.dell@ars.usda.gov
Writer: Lynette Spicer, (515) 294-1327, lynette.spicer@extension.org
