Intensive poultry production in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia has
resulted in large quantities of poultry manure being spread on limited land space. This
manure is spread on land situated above the Abbotsford aquifer. Due to the high amount
of nitrogen and phosphorus present in poultry manure, there is a danger of these nutrients
leaching into the groundwater of the aquifer as nitrates. High levels of nitrates in drinking
water have been linked to various health hazards such as Methemoglobinaemia, stomach
cancer, and gastric cancer. The leaching problem is further compounded by the fact that
the region has porous soils, a high water table, and very high annual rainfall.
This problem was addressed by analyzing several dietary treatments having varying
levels of crude protein from a high of 25% CP (crude protein) to a low of 18% CP and
supplemented with the commercial amino acids L-LYS , DL-MET , L-THR, and L-TRY . A
linear programming model was used to determine the least cost diet from the various
dietary treatments. The most efficient dietary treatment was then identified by Manure
disposal options such as storage, land application, and transportation were also considered
along with their associated costs. Linear programming was used to identify the least cost
manure disposal strategy complying with British Columbia environmental regulations by
using a combination of the three options. The results from the two models above were
then combined to identify the optimum manure management strategy for a poultry farm in
the Fraser valley complying with environmental regulations.
The results indicate that diets containing lower levels of crude protein and
supplemented with amino acids costs less than those containing higher levels of crude protein. These diets perform better because the nitrogen in the protein is utilized more
efficiently thereby resulting in less nitrogen excretion in the manure. Manure that contains
low amounts of nitrogen costs less to dispose than that having high amounts of nitrogen.
Use of diets containing low levels of crude protein and supplementing them with
commercial amino acids can lower the costs of poultry farmers significantly while
complying with environmental regulations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/4408 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Mpyisi, Edson Rurangwa |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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