The Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative says solid-liquid manure separation offers the opportunity to better match the application of livestock manure nutrients to the needs of crops.
The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in collaboration with the MLMMI, the University of Manitoba and Puratone are evaluating the effectiveness of commercially available manure separation technology under Manitoba conditions.
“Results of Manure Processing Technologies Evaluation” will be discussed as part of the 2012 Manitoba Swine Seminar slated for next week in Winnipeg.
Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative Executive Director John Carney notes overall the province is in a deficit of phosphorus but there is a few municipalities where there is a high level of livestock being raised and livestock produce a lot of phosphorus so those municipalities are looking for feasible ways to use that excess phosphorus.
Solid-liquid manure separation starts with the slurry and the concept is that there’s many nutrients in that so what we’re trying to do is basically separate the phosphorus component from the nitrogen component and what we’ve learned is that the solids are phosphorus rich and the liquids are nitrogen rich.
By separating the solids from the liquid we can basically create two streams of manure output, solids and liquids, one of which has a high nitrogen content and another that has a high phosphorus content.
By creating those two streams you’re able to tailor the application of those by-products to the crops’ need when you’re feeding the crops on the field.
The solid-liquid manure separation technology evaluation was initiated in the summer of 2011, preliminary results will be presented at the Manitoba Swine Seminar Thursday morning and the final report is scheduled to be released in March.
