CPRC Update: June 2008

The Canadian Poultry Research
Council (CPRC) recently held its Annual General Meeting (AGM). All five
directors from 2007, representing all CPRC members1, have agreed to
continue working with CPRC.

The Canadian Poultry Research Council (CPRC) recently held its Annual General Meeting (AGM). All five directors from 2007, representing all CPRC members1, have agreed to continue working with CPRC. Chris den Hertog, a broiler breeder producer from British Columbia representing CHEP, remains chair. Jacob Middelkamp, an Alberta broiler producer representing CFC, will take over from Erica Charlton as vvice-chair. Erica remains a director representing CPEPC. Ingrid Devisser, an Ontario turkey producer representing CTMA, and Helen Anne Hudson representing CEMA make up the rest of the board of directors. The CPRC would like to take this opportunity to thank these individuals for their ongoing efforts in support of CPRC activities.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
During the AGM, the directors approved a Strategy Implementation Plan designed to set the direction for CPRC over the next 10 years. While it is clear that during this long timeline there will be new developments not foreseen in the plan, the document will point CPRC in the direction of meeting the needs of its members and increasing the support for poultry research in Canada. Details will be brought to light in future issues of this article.

GETTING FUNDERS OF POULTRY RESEARCH TOGETHER
As part of the strategy implementation plan, CPRC is planning a workshop among all the organizations in Canada that provide funding support for poultry-related research. The event will be an opportunity for these organizations to become aware of each other’s activities, and to identify opportunities for collaboration. The workshop will also include input from the research community with the objective of finding ways to streamline their application process(s). It is hoped that the end result will be more efficient use of industry money for research, particularly including increased leverage of these funds. More details will come.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Spreading and incorporating manure at the same time
Dr. Claude Laguë at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and collaborators Joy Agnew (U of S) and Hubert Landry (Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute) have been engineering a precision land applicator adapted to a variety of solid and semi-solid manures (including poultry manure) and other organic fertilizers. The performance goals of the applicator include application and subsurface incorporation in a single pass, uniform distribution, and low odour and greenhouse gas emissions.

Throughout the project, several improvements were made to the original prototype applicator that had been previously developed by the U of S, especially the design of an innovative subsurface application system adapted to solid manure products. A flexible auger system was developed to feed manure into a tube that injects the material directly behind a disk opener. Another disk closes the trench, effectively incorporating the manure.

Not only does the new prototype incorporate manure, it distributes it very uniformly. Uniformity of distribution, measured using beef cattle manure compost (similar in physical characteristics to poultry manure), was demonstrated by a coefficient of variation (CoV) of approximately 7 per cent  (CoV gives an indication of how evenly manure is applied – the smaller the number, the more uniformly the manure is spread. CoVs for commercial solid manure spreaders typically range from 30 per cent  to 110 per cent . A spinner-type spreader broadcasting poultry manure over a 40-foot width has a CoV of about 50 per cent ).

The current prototype (with six injectors) requires an estimated 72 kW (~100 hp). By comparison, a spreader with similar capacity and vertical or horizontal beaters requires about 40 kW (~55 hp), while spinning disc type would require about 60kW (~80 hp). Although a larger tractor is required, manure is simultaneously spread and incorporated, which represents time and energy savings versus separate spreading and incorporating operations.

When the prototype is adjusted to achieve maximum coverage of material, subsurface application of solid manure will significantly reduce odour emissions. There is, however, a tradeoff in that greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions increase with injection – the increase is about 30 per cent  for solid manure injection compared to surface application and about 45 per cent  for liquid manure injection compared to surface application.

Funds for this project came from a variety of sources including provincial government, federal government and universities2  It is a great example of how relatively few dollars from the poultry industry can be pooled with other funds to produce a comparatively large investment in research. n

For more details on any CPRC activities, please contact Gord Speksnijder at the Canadian Poultry Research Council, 483 Arkell Road, R.R. #2, Guelph, Ont., N1H 6H8, by phone at 289-251-2990, by fax at 519-837-3584, or by e-mail at info@cp-rc.ca ; or visit us at www.cp-rc.ca .

¹The membership of the CPRC consists of the Chicken Farmers of Canada, Canadian Hatching Egg Producers, Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency, Canadian Egg Marketing Agency and the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors’ Council. The CPRC’s mission is to address its members’ needs through dynamic leadership in the creation and implementation of programs for poultry research in Canada, which may also include societal concerns.

²Funding for this research was provided by CPRC, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Universities of Saskatchewan and Ottawa, the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization, and the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Program