Farmscape for April 19, 2007  (Episode 2459)

Scientists with the PAMI  expect to be in the field next month to begin testing a new field scale prototype solid manure injection system.

Engineers at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Humboldt are now making the final adjustments to an implement designed to inject solid and semi-solid livestock manure into cropland.

The project began in 2001 at the University of Saskatchewan which designed an implement that would accurately control the application rate and uniformly apply manure and, in 2005, the project was turned over to PAMI for the development of the injection system.

PAMI project leader Dr. Hubert Landry says, while the testing program is based on feedlot manure, the machine is intended to handle any type of solid or semi-solid manure that's not pumpable including manure from any type of livestock operation as well as by-products from municipalities or biodigestion systems.

Clip-Dr. Hubert Landry-Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute 

We are making some adjustments to the system.

We have four large screw conveyers to discharge the product from the machine and, from there, the manure flows into a transverse distribution system and from there it goes into six individual injectors and those injectors are making use of flexible screw conveyers so basically those flexible screw conveyers will bring the product from the prototype machine to the ground basically.

What we're starting this spring is a three year agronomic assessment so, over the next three seasons, we will be applying manure and looking at crop response and effect on soils so we will be able to compare this new technology with the traditional broadcast spreaders.

Dr. Hubert Landry says final modifications are expected to be complete by the end of the month, at which time some short field trials will be conducted and then, by mid-may, plot work will begin for this spring.

He expects to have initial crop yield results so by next fall.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council