Soil physical properties and crop status under cattle manure and Z’Fix in Haplic Chernozem

A three-year experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Z’Fix on soil physical properties and crop status. Z’Fix is an agent recommended as an addition to animal bedding to prolong its function and to lower ammonia emissions in stables. Concurrently, a positive effect on organic matter transformation in resulting manure is claimed. The experiment involved control, farmyard manure (FYM), and farmyard manure with Z’Fix (FYM_ZF) as variants. In-field sampling was conducted for cone index, water infiltration and implement a unit draft, where the latter two showed significant differences in favour of FYM_ZF. Also, concerning crop yields, FYM_ZF consistently attained the highest values, followed by FYM throughout all three seasons. Furthermore, remotely sensed data were analysed to describe crop status via normalised difference vegetation index where significant differences were found across all variants. Based on the study, FYM_ZF demonstrated positive effects both on soil properties and crop conditions.

Exploring rice residue management practices focusing environmental pollution and soil health in six major rice growing upazilas of Mymensingh district in Bangladesh

The study was conducted in the six major rice growing upazilas under the district of Mymensingh of Bangladesh during the period from January to December 2018. The purpose of the study was to find out the present status of rice residue management practices focusing on the environmental pollution and soil health. The data were collected from randomly selected 300 respondents with the help of pre-designed respective questionnaire to serve the objectives of the study. The results indicated that most of the respondents were illiterate and they have lack of knowledge on environmental pollution and soil health. About 54.33% of the respondents (163) managed their rice residues by incorporation, about 2.3% of respondent (7) open burning and 43.33% of the respondents (130) collected for other use as cattle feeding, cooking fuel, animal bedding, roofs of house making etc. There was a good sign for the environment as a few number of respondents used their rice residues as burning. About 33.66% of the respondents (95) reported that burning is harmful for environment, create breathing problems, 48.33% of the respondents (145) have no idea about this and 9.33% of the respondents (28) said burning produce toxic gas. About 47.66% of the respondents (143) had given opinion to increase soil fertility, 15% of the respondents (45) said increases soil productivity, 13.3% of the respondents (41) said reduce chemical fertilizer using and 9% of the respondents (27) said decrease soil erosion. Some of the respondents said that, rice residue incorporation in soil saves money (5.66%), easy to apply (18.66%), eco-friendly (3.66) and have no idea about it (72%). About 55% respondents were satisfied in existing residues management system whereas 45% have given negative responses. Management of rice residues have faced the problem as lack of available labors (48%), costly (9%), lack of storing place (25.66%), lack of modern technology (12.66%). Most (70.66%) of the respondents (212) were collected information of residue management and environment pollution by the television and radio programmes. Finally, it can be said that, with the highest production of rice in our country, a huge number of residues are also produced. Rice residues may cause environmental pollutions and soil health degradation. Proper management is needed to overcome this environmental pollution as well as soil health degradation through enhancing suitable and environment friendly residue management practices. Progressive Agriculture 31 (3): 178-189, 2020

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Biorefineries Based on Low-Value Feedstocks Using the BioSTEAM Software: A Case Study for Animal Bedding

Biofuels are still too costly to compete in the energy market and it has been suggested that low-value feedstocks could provide an opportunity for the production of low-cost biofuels; however, the lower quality of these feedstocks requires the introduction of a conditioning step in the biorefinery process. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether feedstock savings cover the cost of conditioning in the case of animal bedding. The BioSTEAM software was used to simulate a wheat straw biorefinery and an animal bedding biorefinery, whose economic performance was compared. The wheat straw biorefinery could deliver ethanol at a minimum selling price of USD 0.61 per liter, which is similar to prices in the literature. The cost of producing ethanol in the animal bedding biorefinery without water recycling was almost 40% higher, increasing the minimum selling price to USD 1.1 per liter of ethanol. After introducing water recycling in the conditioning step, the animal bedding biorefinery could deliver ethanol at a minimum selling price of USD 0.38 per liter, which is 40% lower than in the case of the wheat straw biorefinery. This demonstrates that low-value feedstocks can be used to reduce the biofuel price, as feedstock savings easily cover the additional conditioning cost.

Introducing low-quality feedstocks in bioethanol production: efficient conversion of the lignocellulose fraction of animal bedding through steam pretreatment

Background Animal bedding remains an underutilized source of raw material for bioethanol production, despite the economic and environmental benefits of its use. Further research concerning the optimization of the production process is needed, as previously tested pretreatment methods have not increased the conversion efficiency to the levels necessary for commercialization of the process. Results We propose steam pretreatment of animal bedding, consisting of a mixture of straw and cow manure, to deliver higher ethanol yields. The temperature, residence time and pH were optimized through response-surface modeling, where pretreatment was evaluated based on the ethanol yield obtained through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of the whole pretreated slurry. The results show that the best conditions for steam pretreatment are 200 °C, for 5 min at pH 2, at which an ethanol yield of about 70% was obtained. Moreover, the model also showed that the pH had the greatest influence on the ethanol yield, followed by the temperature and then the residence time. Conclusions Based on these results, it appears that steam pretreatment could unlock the potential of animal bedding, as the same conversion efficiencies were achieved as for higher-quality feedstocks such as wheat straw.

Evaluation of a Synthetic Bedding Substrate for Mice (Mus musculus)

This study compared a synthetic bedding substrate (SBS), which has the potential to be a particulate-free animal bedding system, with the standard woodchip bedding. The objective was to demonstrate that the SBS is habitable for mice and reduces particulates to levels that would not contaminate the eye or potentially induce ocular (corneal) injury. Newly weaned mice were placed in either standard woodchip bedding or SBS. All mice were monitored regarding overall health (appearance, food and water intake, natural behavior, clinical signs, and provoked behavior) to verify their ability to adjust to the bedding. At 8 to 10 wk of age, the mice underwent slit-lamp evaluation for ocular (corneal) abnormalities. Results showed significant differences in body weight and overall health between bedding groups. The incidence of ocular abnormalities did not differ significantly between groups. We conclude that, without modifications and more testing, SBS is not a favorable bedding for mice, and results were inconclusive regarding its use as a bedding to preclude ocular contamination.