S1035: Nutritional and Management Abatement Strategies for Improvement of Poultry Air and Water Quality (from W195)
Statement of Issues and Justification
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:Environmental and water quality issues have received a lot of press coverage in recent years as contamination of ground and surface water sources have been brought to the attention of the US public. The importance of these issues will continue to escalate as the supply of potable water diminishes in the U.S. and our nation looks more critically at its natural resource base. Water quality is a health issue in many parts of the US and world, and in addition to being important for human health, water quality can affect poultry health and performance.
The goal of this project is to study the environmental issues affecting poultry production and this is the only regional project dedicated to this topic. For this reason, the objectives are broader than would be preferred under other circumstances. The poultry industry depends on our capacity to address current, relevant issues in a timely and comprehensive manner. Food safety, performance, health, and profitability of poultry and poultry products also will be examined.
JUSTIFICATION:
Importance in agriculture, rural life and consumer concerns
Agriculture continues to be the dominant industry in rural communities; however, it is becoming more evident that stewardship of our natural resource base is not only the responsibility of farmers, but of all citizens. Consequently, society is demanding that agriculture implement environmentally sound sustainable systems of production that have low chemical usage, reduced movement of sediment and nutrients from the land, and have minimal or no off-site impacts. Components of these production systems must include a reduction of waterborne pollutants, high-quality, healthy food products, and profitability for companies. Reduction or elimination of pollutants released into the environment will insure a safe and healthy drinking water supply for humans and animals.
In 1990 and 1991, states throughout the U.S. assessed the surface water quality of this nation's rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries. According to EPA sources, agricultural non-point source pollution affected 72 percent of the river and stream miles, 56 percent of lake acres, and 43 percent of estuary acreage. The nation's groundwater quality also was assessed and found generally good; however, local areas have experienced significant contamination with agriculture implicated as one of the main sources of groundwater pollution. One-third of agricultural pollution originates from non-point sources, with causes including the mishandling of animal waste such as manure and dead birds.
Public concern over animal waste pollution of our nation's water resources has resulted in the initiation of several pieces of federal legislation. Agriculture is greatly affected by these federal laws such as the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Best management practices (BMP's)must be economically achievable and represent the best means possible to reduce discharge of non-point source pollutants. Manure, waste water, and runoff water utilized on agricultural land must be applied in accordance with an applicable nutrient management plan. The Reauthorization Amendment is the foundation for controlling and preventing non-point source pollution. The reauthorization also encompasses the Clean Water Act which includes surface and groundwater protection from point and non-point pollutant sources. Agriculture, and the poultry industry, specifically, has been impacted significantly.
Maintaining profitability while protecting the environment has become a critical issue for the poultry producer. On many farms, traditional agricultural practices related to traditional crop and livestock production cannot provide adequate protection of the environment while sustaining agricultural profitability. To achieve this balance, agriculture must implement cost effective practices that invoke innovative approaches to marketing, production, management, and utilization. Such approaches include reducing total input costs, direct marketing, forward contracting, increasing efficiency through newly developed technologies, and identifying new uses for traditional agricultural products. All of this must be accomplished in harmony with the country's rich natural resource base.
Extent of the problem
Poultry production in the U.S. is a 28-billion-dollar-a-year industry that has grown dramatically since the 1950's. Unfortunately, severe environmental problems such as odor, flies, dust and declining water quality have concomitantly increased. The poultry industry currently is faced with major water quality and non-point source pollution issues, such as mortality management; manure/litter management; and air quality. These issues must be addressed, and mitigated, if the industry is to remain robust and sustainable.
Non-point source pollution from animal waste runoff can reduce surface and groundwater quality by introducing excessive levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, organic matter, and pathogens into the environment. In 114 watersheds studied throughout the U.S., excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorus were derived primarily from excessive or irresponsible animal manure applications. Detailed guidelines on manure-nutrient management programs must be developed and implemented by the poultry industry in order to avoid water pollution or to improve water quality. Besides nutrient management programs, mortality from poultry production units must be handled in ways that are environmentally sound, economical, and easily implemented by the industry.
One of the real challenges facing todays poultry producer, is managing and handling poultry by-products in ways that minimize environmental impacts, especially upon water resources. Animal wastes contain materials which cause direct and indirect health problems in other animals and people. Health problems from water sports or drinking water always relate to the concentration of contaminants in the water. With more and larger poultry operations confined to smaller areas of land, the likelihood of water contamination increases. That is the single most important reason for concern of both ground and surface waters in areas where there are high numbers of animals producing large amounts of manure and associated by-products.
Water is vital to the poultry industry. High quality water is necessary for poultry production and processing. Poultry farms may use water from municipal sources (potable for humans), wells, streams, ponds, lakes, rainfall catchments, or springs. Because of its very nature of potential hydrogen bonding, water is an excellent solvent for many inorganic and organic substances. Water also is an ideal medium for the proliferation and distribution of microorganisms, including pathogens. Surface and ground water quality depends upon many factors, including cations, anions, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, run-off of excessive organic or inorganic fertilizers, and microorganisms.
Drinking water quality is a concern to poultry producers due to its great variability and potential for contamination. The former is characterized by acidity, alkalinity, odor, color, turbidity, salinity, electrical conductivity, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, hardness, presence of anions, cations, herbicides, pesticides, and bacteria. Water inclusions contribute to the diet of chickens, having either nutritional, anti-nutritional, toxic, or infectious properties. High quality drinking water may be defined as water that contains inclusions which promote vitality and lack inclusions causing morbidity and mortality. As the proportion of non-potable water increases and the technology for measurement of inclusions improves, we are increasingly aware of water inclusions and their impact on poultry health and nutrition, and it is important that we precisely define high-quality drinking water.
Needs and advantages of a cooperative approach
It is important for the American poultry industry to comply with environmental policies and regulations and to exceed future expectations through the development and adoption of environmentally safe management practices. The development of these systems requires a multi-disciplinary approach that can only be accomplished through cooperation of various experiment stations to account for variations in climatic and environmental conditions across the U.S. Also, these issues must be examined regionally because of the enormous variation in climate, forage and crop biology, soil types, and management systems employed. No single institution or investigator is likely to develop a single, broad-based program to ensure the environmentally safe disposal of farm-generated poultry by-products or to ensure the safety of ground and surface waters under all climatic conditions and production scenarios. Field testing and producer education programs must be addressed in different regions of the country to ensure that results of research trials and field tests are relevant to the target audience. The need to refine information to fit local conditions mandates the need to develop an information base that involves researchers from diverse geographical regions and to include experts in nutrition, physiology, waste management, agronomy, horticulture, agricultural engineering, waste water management, and food safety.
Expected benefits
Establishing an interdisciplinary team will allow greater flexibility and innovation to solve non-point source problems in the poultry industry nationwide. Despite shrinking personnel and financial resources, work continues to progress in this area. However, reduced resource availability demands greater flexibility in defining objectives, and time constraints force personnel to focus on certain areas within the broader array of possibilities. By sharing innovative program approaches, concepts and characteristics, time, money, and energy in solving related problems can be saved. Moreover, existing programs that may need a new direction or approach can consider what works in a particular region or production situation and potentially modify their practices to enhance the efficiency of an operation without negatively affecting, or even improving its environmental impact.
Development of methods to ensure environmentally safe disposal of poultry by-products and to ensure quality of ground and surface waters requires a thorough understanding of scientific principles and their application to real-world situations. A more complete knowledge in these areas will allow for development of sustainable agricultural systems that utilize science-based technologies to reduce environmental problems and will result in more appropriate management-based systems. Application and integration of these systems will result in improvements in efficiency of poultry production by reducing costs, lessening potential for contamination of ground and surface waters, utilizing by-products in a more economical manner, and reducing the amount of non-point source pollutants being released into the environment.
Extension publications, videos/DVDs, articles in trade magazines, as well as refereed journal articles will report results from the cooperative project while also serving to educate producers and other poultry industry personnel on manure/nutrient management and dead bird disposal. Through educational materials, understanding of this subject will be enhanced. Oral presentations at a wide variety of venues - grower meetings, regional meetings, scientific meetings and conferences, extension workshops, and associated professional meetings, both domestic and international, will be used to disseminate the research findings generated by regional project participants.
Coordination of the educational plan will be through the elected Chair of the committee. Richard Reynnells, the USDA/CSREES/PAS liaison, will be actively involved in assisting in national coordination and distribution of information. Coordination of an educational action plan will be discussed as part of annual meetings and quarterly conference calls. Personnel will have responsibilities related to their contributions on individual efforts, as well as team projects.
How this project varies from past efforts
This is a renewal and continuation of the former W195 project group. The core group of this project originally initiated WCC-59 (early 1980s), which subsequently became the W195 project group in 2000. Thus, there has been a long-term interest in poultry environmental and water quality issues by a group of highly committed poultry scientists. The project varies from work accomplished by WCC-59 in that additional research emphasis is being placed upon the effects of non-point nutrient pollution associated with poultry production and processing.
This committee has taken the responsibility for conducting the bi-annual National Poultry Waste Management Symposium (since 1988) that has been held throughout the country in order to educate poultry technical personnel, the commercial industry, and governmental officials, about poultry waste management and environmental issues. Environmental issues, water quality, air quality, and food safety are critical public issues, and this is the only regional project that studies these issues specifically for the poultry production arena.
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