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Concentrated poultry production in the State of Alabama, U.S.A. results in excessive poultry litter. Application of poultry litter to pastures and row crops serves as a cheap alternative to commercial fertilizer. However, over the years, poultry litter application to perennial forage crops in the Appalachian Plateau region of North Alabama has resulted in phosphorus (P) buildup in soils. Phosphorus index (P-index) and comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMP) are often used as a best management practice (BMP) for proper land application of litter. Because nutrient management planning is often not done for small animal feeding operations (AFOs), and also because, in case of excess litter, litter transportation infrastructure has not been developed, over application of poultry litter to near by area is a common practice. To alleviate this problem, optimal poultry litter management and transportation infrastructure needs to be developed. This paper presents a methodology to optimize poultry litter application and transportation through efficient nutrient management planning and transportation network analysis. The goal was accomplished through implementation of three important modules, a P-Index module, a CNMP module, and a transportation network analysis module within ArcGIS, a Geographic Information System (GIS). The CNMP and P-Index modules assist with land application of poultry litter at a rate that is protective of water quality, while the transportation network analysis module helps transport excess litter to areas requiring litter in the Appalachian Plateau and Black Belt (a nutrient-deficient area) regions. Once fully developed and implemented, such a system will help alleviate water quality problems in the Appalachian Plateau region and poor soil fertility problems in the Black Belt region by optimizing land application and transportation. The utility of the methodology is illustrated through a hypothetical case study.

Duroc-cross pigs (n = 25) were assigned to one of three experimental finishing diets containing 0 (control), 40,000 (40), or 80,000 (80) IU of supplemental vitamin D3/kg of feed (as-fed basis)to test the effects of vitamin D3 on pork quality traits. Experimental diets were fed for 44 or 51 d before slaughter, and days on feed were blocked in the experimental design. A trend existed for pigs receiving the highest concentration of vitamin D3 supplementation to have a lower (P = 0.08) ADG (0.77 kg/d) compared with pigs fed either the 40-diet (0.88 kg/d) or control (0.92 kg/d). Diet did not (P > 0.10) affect backfat thickness measured along the midline, 10th-rib fat depth, longissimus muscle area, muscle score, or hot carcass weights. Longissimus pH, measured at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 24 h postmortem, was higher (P 0.10) effect on Warner-Bratzler shear force values; percentage of cook loss; or trained sensory panel evaluations for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. Feeding the 80-diet increased (P 0.30) affected by diet. These results indicate that feeding supranutritional levels of vitamin D3 for at least 44 d improves pork color and increases pH, but may retard growth if fed at 80,000 IU/kg of feed.

The main focus of this study is to develop a poultry litter decision support system (PLDSS) integrated in a geographical information system (GIS) for land application and off-farm usage of poultry litter in the Appalachian Plateau and Black Belt regions of Alabama. The PLDSS is a comprehensive user-friendly system that consists of transportation and assessment tools for poultry litter management in Alabama. The system is developed by programming the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) with ArcObjects in ArcGIS. Important functional components and analytical capability of ArcGIS 9.1 are implemented in several sets of customized and user friendly tools. The system works on three levels. The first develops a comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP), the second performs the transport network analysis and the third evaluates travel cost associated with transportation. The CNMP plan is based on the methodology developed by Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES). The transportation analysis allows estimation of the best route, the closest route to fields within certain distance, and Origin -Destination matrix by using Network Model in ArcGIS. The assessment module performs the estimation of travel cost and other transportation analyses. Models are integrated in a GIS environment, which serves as the repository of the data as well as the user interface. Overall, the PLDSS will help provide an optimal, state-wide management of poultry litter, which is crucial for sustaining the poultry industry in Alabama. It will also help row crop agriculture and beef cattle industry to grow in the Black Belt region.

Duroc-cross pigs (n = 25) were assigned to one of three experimental finishing diets containing 0 (control), 40,000 (40), or 80,000 (80) IU of supplemental vitamin D3/kg of feed (as-fed basis)to test the effects of vitamin D3 on pork quality traits. Experimental diets were fed for 44 or 51 d before slaughter, and days on feed were blocked in the experimental design. A trend existed for pigs receiving the highest concentration of vitamin D3 supplementation to have a lower (P = 0.08) ADG (0.77 kg/d) compared with pigs fed either the 40-diet (0.88 kg/d) or control (0.92 kg/d). Diet did not (P0.10) affect backfat thickness measured along the midline, 10th-rib fat depth, longissimus muscle area, muscle score, or hot carcass weights. Longissimus pH, measured at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 24 h postmortem, was higher (P0.05) for pigs on the 80-diet than those fed the control diet. Longissimus muscle color, measured at 24 h postmortem, from pigs fed either the 40- or 80-diet were darker (lower L* values; P0.05) than those fed the control diet. Objective longissimus color scores were higher (P0.01), and firmness/wetness scores lower (P0.05), for pigs on the 80-diet as compared to those on the 40-diet or control diet. The diet had no (P0.10) effect on Warner-Bratzler shear force values; percentage of cook loss; or trained sensory panel evaluations for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. Feeding the 80-diet increased (P0.05) plasma vitamin D3 and calcium after 2, 4, and 6 wk on feed compared with the control diet. Vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 concentrations in the longissimus muscle increased (P = 0.001) with increasing vitamin D3 levels in the diet; however, muscle calcium concentrations and fiber type were not (P0.30) affected by diet. These results indicate that feeding supranutritional levels of vitamin D3 for at least 44 d improves pork color and increases pH, but may retard growth if fed at 80,000 IU/kg of feed.

Effects of age and diet composition on amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin activities in the pancreas and intestinal contents, pancreas weights and body weights were determined from birth to 56 d. A total of 120 pigs, five to seven pigs/litter from 18 litters, were slaughtered at birth, 14, 27, 29, 31, 42 and 56 d. Litters were allotted to dietary treatments (corn-soy, A; corn-soy + 20% dried whey, B; corn-soy + 5% lard, C) and offered these diets as creep feed at 14 d. All pigs were weaned at 28 d, placed in elevated nursery pens and fed their respective diets. Total activities of amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin in the pancreas and small intestine increased (P less than .05) with age. Both trypsin and amylase activities, measured per kilogram body weight or gram pancreas weight, were low at 29 d in the intestine and increased to 56 d. Pigs on diet B had the highest level of trypsin and chymotrypsin in the intestinal contents (P less than .05). Trypsin activity in the pancreas (units/kg body weight) was lowest (P less than .05) for pigs on diet B and highest (P less than .05) for those on diet C (units/g pancreas and units/kg body weight). Amylase activity (units/kg body weight) was lower (P less than .05) in the pancreas for pigs on diet B than for those on diets A and C. Pigs on diet A had lower (P less than .01) intestinal amylase activities than those on diets B and C. Enzyme activities in the intestinal contents and pancreas were low following weaning. In the pancreas, activities decreased at 31 d.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dried whole whey, lard or dried skim milk was added to a corn-soybean meal basal diet to determine the effect on apparent nitrogen (ND), energy (ED) and dry matter digestibility (DMD) in pigs weaned at 28 d. Four groups of four littermate barrows were allotted to the experimental diets and placed in individual metabolism pens for 12 d (3 d adjustment and three collection periods of 3 d each) after weaning. The study was a 4 X 3 factorial with diet and period as main effects. Addition of dried skim milk or dried whey to the diet resulted in higher values (P less than .05) for DMD and ED as compared with the basal or corn-soy and lard diet. Pigs fed added dried skim milk had improved (P less than .05) ND over pigs on other dietary treatments. All nutrient digestibility coefficients increased (P less than .05) from period 1 to period 2, and ND increased (P less than .05) from period 2 to 3. It was concluded that the young pig requires at least 6 to 9 d after weaning at 28 d to adjust to typical corn-soybean meal starter diets.