Sanjay Shah’s research while affiliated with North Central State College and other places

This study investigates Miscanthus biochar’s potential to reduce ammonia (NH3) emissions in poultry production. Biochar from lignocellulosic biomass has proven a versatile tool in environmental remediation for water, soil, and air quality applications with ample opportunity for inclusion in agricultural systems. Ammonia emissions present a concern for animal/human health and the environment. The impacts of biochar production temperature (400 and 700 °C), organic acid activation (acetic acid, citric acid), and application rate (0.24 and 0.49 kg m⁻²) on broiler litter NH3 emissions were evaluated. Biochar production parameters, i.e., temperature, and acid type were found to significantly impact its performance as an NH3 control measure. The following factors, ranked by magnitude of impact, were found to statistically impact the NH3 emission rate: biochar application rate (p < 0.001), biochar production temperature (p = 0.003), and lastly acid type (p = 0.007). The best performing biochar was produced at 400 °C, activated with acetic acid, and applied at a high addition rate (0.49 kg m⁻²). This treatment reduced cumulative NH3 volatilization after 2 weeks by 19.7%.

Heat stress is a concern for turkeys in naturally ventilated houses. Chamber and room studies were used to assess heat stress at moderate temperatures (<25 °C) and low airspeeds on grown tom turkeys. In the chamber study, four ventilation rates × two temperatures (thermal comfort and thermal stress, 11 °C above thermal comfort) were applied to 13- to 19-week birds. Very small differences in airspeeds among the four treatments masked subcutaneous, cloacal, and infrared (IR) temperature differences at both temperatures. In the room study, four ventilation rates (0.07 m³·min⁻¹·kg⁻¹ or 100%, 75%, 50%, and 30% or Control) were applied to 21-week toms housed at <23 °C. The Control treatment had significantly higher whole-body and head temperatures vs. the other treatments. Only 100% had higher weight gain vs. 50%; hematology was unaffected by treatment. Higher ventilation rates reduced heat stress due to lower room temperatures, not airspeed differences, which were very low. The low-cost IR camera detected a heat stress difference ≥ 0.8 °C, corresponding to wind chill of 0.8 °C due to an airspeed of 0.8 m·s⁻¹ vs. still air on the USDA broiler wind chill curve. Machine vision combined with IR thermography could alleviate real-time poultry heat stress.

Lagoon sludge, a byproduct of swine operations in the Southeast United States, poses a management challenge due to its high mineral and metal content. Composting is a low-cost, scalable technology for manure management. However, limited information is available on composting swine lagoon sludge in terms of recipes, greenhouse gas emissions and end-product quality. Moreover, due to its high Zn and Cu content, high inclusion of sludge in composting recipes can potentially inhibit the process. To address these knowledge gaps, in-vessel aerated composting (0.4 m3each) was carried out to evaluate impacts of sludge inclusion, at 10% (Low Sludge, LS-Recipe) and 20% (High sludge, HS-Recipe) wet mass-basis, on composting process and end-product quality. Comparable maximum temperatures (74 ± 2.7 °C, 74.9 ± 2.9 °C), and organic matter loss were observed in both recipes. Similarly, sludge inclusion ratio had no significant impact on cumulative GHG emissions. The global warming potential (20-year GWP) for swine lagoon sludge composting using LS and HS recipes was observed to be 241.9 (±13.3) and 229.9 (±8.7) kg CO2-e/tDM respectively. Both recipes lost 24–28% of initial carbon (C) and 4–15% of nitrogen (N) respectively. Composting and curing did not change water-extractable (WE) phosphorus (P) concentrations while WE Zn and Cu concentrations decreased by 67–74% and 55–59% respectively in both recipes. End compost was stable (respiration rates <2 mgCO2-C/g OM/day) with germination index >93 for both recipes.

Highlights Simple, low-cost infrared camera calibration method proposed. Calibration equation can improve accuracy for a narrower range of surface temperature. Infrared camera moderately sensitive to both emissivity and reflected air temperature. Abstract. Infrared (IR) or thermal cameras are being increasingly used in livestock research and management. An IR camera’s accuracy is specified over its entire surface temperature measurement range, whereas in livestock research and management, a narrower range suffices. A camera’s accuracy could be higher in a narrower range of temperatures. Hence, a novel low-cost method was used to calculate the FLIR E8 camera’s accuracy in a range of 24°C to 37°C, representative of surface temperature of poultry birds. Sensitivity analyses were also performed to evaluate the impact of three user specified parameters, namely, emissivity (e), distance between camera and surface (d), and reflected air temperature (tair). A linear regression model was used to correct the camera’s absolute error of 2.8°C (greater than its published error). However, the camera possessed precision and hence, repeatability. The IR camera was moderately sensitive to e, and slightly sensitive to tair and d, but its error could increase with the difference between the measured and assumed tair values. Attention is required to accurately characterize e and tair. This simple calibration method can reduce cost and could improve accuracy in a narrower temperature range than the IR camera’s published range, which could be useful for applied research. Keywords: Absolute error, Accuracy, Emissivity, Heat stress, IR, Precision, Reflected air temperature, Sensitivity analysis.

Animal production is a significant contributor of organic and inorganic contaminants in air, soil, and water systems. These pollutants are present beginning in animal houses and impacts continue through manure storage, treatment, and land application. As the industry is expected to expand, there is still a lack of affordable, sustainable solutions to many environmental concerns in animal production. Biochar is a low-cost, sustainable biomaterial with many environmental remediation applications. Its physicochemical properties have been proven to provide environmental benefits via the adsorption of organic and inorganic contaminants, promote plant growth, improve soil quality, and provide a form of carbon sequestration. For these reasons, biochar has been researched regarding biochar production, and application methods to biological systems have a significant influence on the moisture content, pH, microbial communities, and carbon and nitrogen retention. There remain unanswered questions about how we can manipulate biochar via physical and chemical activation methods to enhance the performance for specific applications. This review article addresses the positive and negative impacts of biochar addition at various stages in animal production from feed intake to manure land application.

Ammonia (NH3) produced inside livestock houses can adversely affect animal welfare and performance and degrade the environment. In broiler houses, NH3 levels are mitigated by applying acidifiers to the litter but acidifiers provide short-term NH3 suppression requiring heavy or repeated applications. Microbial additives may provide longer-term NH3 control through nitrogen (N) immobilization and nitrification. The objective of this 50-d lab study was to evaluate the impact of two microbial additives (Environoc 301 and Environoc 501), 2% glucose, and distilled water (control) treatments applied to broiler litter on NH3 emissions and litter properties. During the first 34 d, glucose significantly but modestly reduced NH3 emissions vs. the other treatments which were not significantly different from one-another. For the entire study, when glucose was excluded (due to lost replicates), the three treatments were not significantly different. The unreplicated glucose treatment had higher final litter nitrate concentration than the other treatments. Litter properties were unaffected by the two microbial additive and control treatments. The effectiveness of glucose in reducing NH3 emission could have been due to greater N immobilization and nitrification vs. the other treatments. More research on cost-effective labile carbon sources and higher application rates to achieve greater NH3 reduction is required.