| | Manure application on land is a key part of the farm nutrient cycle. So the producers and technical experts in the Alberta Nutrient Management Strategy will be adapting and evaluating various application technologies. Two likely candidates are manure injection systems and a top-of-the-line computer program to help producers choose when, where and how much manure to apply.
Manure injectors
Liquid hog manure can be broadcast on the soil and then incorporated, or it can be injected directly into the soil. Currently, only about 17% of Alberta producers who apply liquid manure use injection. However it offers some important benefits, and its use is growing.
With proper injection equipment, manure doesn’t pool on the soil surface if agronomic rates are used and the soil is dry enough to accept the manure. Because the manure isn’t exposed, injection provides several advantages over broadcasting. These include increased nutrient retention, decreased emissions of odour, ammonium and nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas), and decreased risk of nutrients and pathogens being carried by runoff to nearby water bodies.
The most common type of injection system involves an injector unit with a nurse tank pulled by a truck or tractor. Peter Gamache of Reduced Tillage LINKAGES (RTL) says, “Older units use shank applicators, but coulter disk applicators are gaining in popularity. They cause a lot less surface disturbance and require less horsepower.” Disturbance of the soil and
crop residue cover creates problems for direct seeding and increases the risk of soil erosion and nutrient loss.
However, a nurse tank system requires frequent refilling of the tank, which can lead to soil compaction from the truck traffic. “Some producers are opting for a drag hose system,” says Gamache. “The injector unit has a long hose connected to a pump on the lagoon. It pumps a constant supply of manure to the injector. The only traffic on the field is the injection unit, so there’s less compaction. Also you can run it with just two people, compared to an operator and several truck drivers in a
nurse system.”
Not all injectors are created equal, so Alberta Agriculture is developing procedures to evaluate injectors. As part of this project, the project team tested five application systems for such characteristics as soil disturbance, residue disturbance, manure pooling and odour. The fieldwork is completed, and project leader Brian Sexton expects to have the report finished this summer.
Sexton says, “Depending on the system, the capital cost to change to injection can be high, but you’re probably going to make that back in the amount of nutrients you’re saving.” He adds, “We really encourage nutrient management planning and applying manure at agronomic rates to just meet crop requirements and no more than that.”
This summer, RTL and Alberta Pork will be conducting injector demonstrations as part of the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture. At the demonstrations, they’ll also talk about considerations like carbon credits, because some companies are now buying carbon credits from farmers who inject manure.
For more information, contact Peter Gamache (780-422-7922; peter.gamache@gov.ab.ca) or Brian Sexton (403-381-5885; brian.sexton@gov.ab.ca).
New software for manure management
A nutrient management plan is a crucial tool for making the most of farm nutrient sources while protecting the environment. A state-of-the- art computer program has just been customized for Alberta so producers can develop nutrient management plans tailored to their own farms.
“We evaluated a number of different computer programs for nutrient management planning, and we decided that Manure Management Planner [MMP], developed by Purdue University in Indiana, would be the best choice for Alberta producers,” says Dr. Mohamed Amrani of Alberta Agriculture.
Amrani says, “MMP is being used by 24 states in the U.S. and continues to be supported by Purdue University. Alberta will continue to benefit from enhancements and upgrades to the software in the future…. [Also] MMP allows you to use your own data and other information as the source for the data processed by the program.”
Purdue completed the made-for-Alberta version of MMP in April 2004. Amrani says, “We’re going to first familiarize Alberta Agriculture staff, ag fieldmen, rural extension staff, custom applicators and consultants with the program. Then we’ll make it available to producers and others later in 2004.” The Windows-based software will be available on CD and on-line.
“The Alberta MMP can help producers manage manure for optimal agronomic returns and reduce negative impacts on the environment,” says Amrani. “It’s a management tool, a planner and a record keeper.”
Contact Mohamed Amrani (780-422-9236 or mohamed.amrani@gov.ab.ca) for more details.
For producers interested in using the MNP contact Doon Pauly at 1-800-882-7677. |
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