animal and poultry
waste management research:
a progress report

Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center

Organized in 1994, the Animal and Poultry Waste-Management Center is a research partnership of the university, the private sector, government and non-profit agencies. Center members must pay a membership fee, which helps fund research. In return, members get a voice in determining the direction of research. The full industry membership fee is $20,000 annually (or a gift-in-kind) for three years. The center also accepts associate members. The associate membership fee is $5,000 (or a gift-in-kind) for three years.

The centerpiece of this effort is a five-acre tract within the university's Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory just south of Raleigh. The tract will be the site of two facilities crucial to successful animal waste-management research -- a waste-processing equipment building and a composting building.

Ground was broken for the waste-processing equipment building in mid-July 1995. The facility is to be completed in the summer of 1997. The project -- construction and equipment for the facility -- was funded with an $880,000 Farmers Home Administration grant and $400,000 in Cooperative States Research Service funding.

The facility provides scientists with a location and the equipment necessary to evaluate alternative waste-processing methods. While researchers at N.C. State and other universities have proposed numerous alternative waste-processing methods, these alternatives are often not evaluated or demonstrated on a scale beyond that of the laboratory. Hog or poultry growers are understandably reluctant to experiment with alternative technologies when these technologies have not proved their worth under real-world conditions. The waste processing equipment building, which includes a teaching laboratory, provides a setting for the evaluation of alternative technologies on a commercial scale. Completion of this facility is a major and essential step in focusing university research on animal waste management. Construction of the composting facility is scheduled to begin in 1997.

Dr. Charles M. "Mike" Williams is director of the center. Projects have received funding from membership fees, various state agencies and a $350,392 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, which the center administered. Following are projects sponsored by the center.

• Utilizing Byproducts to Clean Air in Swine Buildings
• Livestock Odor Control Additives: Protocol for Evaluation
• Thermophilic Anaerobic Fermentation for Biological Methane Production and Odor Control Using Swine Manure as a Substrate
• Biofilter for Removing Odorous Compounds in Exhaust from Swine Buildings
• Molecular Phylogenetic Survey of Methane-Producing Archaea in Animal-Waste Slude
• Conversion of Ensiled Poultry, Fish and Sweet Potato Byproducts into High-Value Poultry and Aquaculture Feed Ingredients
• Development and Demonstration of a Fermentation/Preservation System for Converting Poultry Mortality and Sweet Potatoes into Added-Value Products
• Separation of Turkey Litter to Enhance Its Value as a Cattle-Feed Ingredient
• Deep-Stacked Broiler Litter as a Protein Supplement for Dairy Replacement Heifers
• A System for Development of Value-Added Products from Swine Manure and Peanut Shells
• Genetically Engineered Microorganisms for Utilization of Ammonia and Other Nitrogenous Compounds from Animal Manure
• Predicting Nutrient Release from Food and Animal Waste Products
• Optimizing the Proteolytic Degradation of Animal Byproducts
• Production of Amino Acids and Peptides from Feathers and Other Proteinaceous Waste Using Immobilized Keratinase
• Composting as a Suitable Technique for Managing Swine Mortalities
• Development and Demonstration of an Integrated Wastewater and Processing Waste- Management System for Trout Production
• Recovery of Solids from Flushed Swine Manure for Utilization
• The Use of Poultry Litter as a Source of Nitrogen and Phosphorus for the Biodegradation of Soil Contaminated with Hazardous Compounds
• Optimizing the Use of Livestock and Poultry Manures as a Co-Substrate and Source of Inorganic Nutrients for the Biodegradation of Hazardous Compounds
• Evaluation of Wetland Plant Species for Use in Constructed Wetlands