Less nitrogen excreted
STILLWATER, Okla. – Decreasing crude dietary protein in rations has the potential to substantially reduce nitrogen excretion in swine, according to two Oklahoma State University-Tyson Foods joint research projects.
While swine are more efficient in converting ingested dietary nitrogen to meat production than many animals, the rate is still only about 35 to 45 percent.
The two trials involved 432 gilts and were designed to determine the potential for reducing nitrogen excretion in swine while maintaining animal performance and carcass merit.
“This was done by substituting a portion of the soybean meal in the ration with synthetic amino acids – lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan,” said Bill Luce, Oklahoma co-operative extension service swine specialist.
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In addition to discovering that nitrogen excretion can be reduced by substituting synthetic amino acids at the given rates, researchers found test animals exhibited rates of gain, feed efficiency and carcass merit similar to swine eating normal diets.
But while science has showcased this method as a way to reduce nitrogen excretion, it is not likely to see widespread use soon, Luce said.
“The considerable increase in cost of production does not make it feasible at the moment to use synthetic amino acids unless the public dictates it, which ultimately will increase the cost of pork,” Luce said.
– Oklahoma State University
Sleeping weeds easy kill
WASHINGTON, D.C. (INEWS) – A new U.S. government study says plowing at night can dramatically reduce the number of weeds competing with farm crops and significantly cut farmers’ herbicide costs.
A team of experts with the U.S. department of agriculture in Iowa says weed emergence was reduced from 50 to 80 percent in some cases, when farmers plowed their fields in darkness.
The theory is that light penetrates the soil when it’s turned during daytime plowing and wakes buried weed seeds from dormancy. The study found that denying light at plowing to certain types of small-seeded broadleaf weeds made them less likely to sprout and emerge.
Nighttime plowing is no easy option. In one trial, researchers wore military-style night-vision goggles to guide them as they tilled a maize field around midnight.
Such efforts might be practical, the study concludes, if farmers believe they can save significant amounts of money on weed chemicals, and the study suggests they might.
But the efforts could also be in vain, unless careful precautions are taken to ensure complete darkness. The USDA study said tractor headlights or even moonlight can wake the sleeping weeds.
Clarification
A production update printed in The Western Producer Dec. 21 on grass-alfalfa combinations for Prairie pastures neglected to mention the research was conducted by Neal Holt at the Semiarid Prairie Agricultural research centre at Swift Current, Sask.
