Soil scientist Matias Vanotti monitors conditions in a bioreactor that uses immobilized bacteria to remove nitrates from agricultural effluents. In 2006, farmers in North and South Carolina earned some $10 billion from crops and livestock, but it wasn’t easy money. Like elsewhere in the country, livestock and crop producers in this region struggle with managing agricultural pollutants that can affect the quality of surface water and groundwater. Excess rainfall can also be a problem—and so can damaging droughts. These droughts, which can start as short dry spells, are exacerbated by the region’s sandy soils, which have a limited capacity for holding water. Agricultural engineer Ken Stone and soil scientist Patrick Hunt joined colleagues at the Coastal Plains Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center in Florence, South Carolina, to make the job a little bit easier. They’re finding ways to clean up nitrogen that escapes to drainage water and ways to use pretreated swine wastewater for crop irrigation. As part of
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Nitrate is present in high levels in wastewater due in part to the high nitrates present in human sewage but also from some types of industrial effluent entering the municipal sewer system. There now...
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A True, Stand-Alone Solids, Slurries, Sludges & Liquids Analyzer
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The Real Spectrum PL/GL Series is ideal for measuring multiple parameters in water including nitrates. For hassle free maintenance, Real Tech recommends the use of Real Tech's specially designed Pump...
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Provides timed sequencing of functions such as liquid dispensing, moisture purging, stirring, controlled lighting, feed distribution, water and air circulation, and many more.
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Topics of Interest
The environment and hog producers alike should benefit from a new way developed by scientists and collaborators to treat swine-production wastewater. In fact, researchers at ARS's Coastal Plains Soil,...
Soil scientists Matias Vanotti (left) and Ariel Szögi (right) and Lewis Fetterman, CEO of Super Soil Systems, discuss construction drawings of a lower cost version of the manure treatment system...
left) and Matias Vanotti examine a sample of nitrifying pellets. "Large-scale swine production is increasing in the United States at a very rapid rate," says ARS soil scientist Patrick G.
Agricultural engineer Dean Evans inspects young peanut plants. In the background, water is being automatically applied on an as-needed basis (note that some sprinklers are on, some off) to specific...
Senior scientist Vladimir Zavyalov (left), electrical engineer Jason Swasey (middle), and senior scientist Tom Wilkerson (right) of the Space Dynamics Laboratory monitor data measurements of...
