Award Data

Agricultural activities produce large quantities of animal wastes in the form of manures. Currently, the accumulation of manures from animal husbandry operations is a serious threat to water supplies. The technology for conversion of poultry manure into fuel gases by using heat can be integrated with internal combustion (IC) engines, microturnines, or fuel cells and have widespread agricultural us ...

Milk prices have steadily increased over the past two decades; however, the price paid to farmers has remained around $1.00 per gallon over the last two decades. This has resulted in many small dairy farmers getting out of the business. The purpose of this project is to design a system that a small dairy farmer can use to process milk so that he can send it directly to the consumer and avoid the a ...

Semi-automated analysis of citrus grove data from remotely-sensed devices can reduce groundsurveying for appraisal, crop recording, yield analysis, and grove management. Although theygenerally start with the same aerial infrared imagery for their data collection, grove managers andindependent appraisers each have their own independent requirements for data analysis. By making theanalysis of this ...

The proposed project seeks to identify superior strains and families of white bass for aquacultureby evaluating the progeny of three wild strains collected from a broad geographic range. Thecollections will be designed to evaluate the performance of genetically distinct strains. In orderto control for the effect of family differences, five families will be collected from each of thestrains and t ...

A water-borne net coating is described that will prevent biofouling of netting materials used inaquacultural applications. The novel composition functions through the use of trace quantities ofnaturally occurring antifouling compounds. In addition, it contains no volatile organiccompounds (VOC). The proposed technology is especially attractive since it involves onlyenvironmentally benign compon ...

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) causes an economically significant, untreatabledisease in salmonid fish. Immunization appears to be the most promising control method, butcommercial vaccines are not readily available. We have previously developed and tested arecombinant IPNV vaccine in rainbow trout and brook trout fry. Although the vaccinesignificantly reduced fish mortality, it di ...

Cytokines play a key role in the immunobiology of swine, and have the potential to improve themanagement of these animals. The pattern and tissue distribution of inflammatory cytokine expressionmay be indicative of the health or infectious status of the animal. Thus, the development of rapidcytokine tests is necessary to exploit this useful diagnostic information.Cytokines may also play another ...

The energy from the sun is the overall engine that drives our climate. Widespread concern over thedepletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, and the effect that this may have on UV-B irradiance levelsat the surface of the Earth, has highlighted the need for improved technology for precisely measuringsolar ultraviolet radiation. Instruments deployed in the field require frequent calibration to e ...

THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY, FROM AN ANIMAL PRODUCTION VIEWPOINT,IS INCREASINGLY USING CONFINEMENT SYSTEMS TO INCREASE PRODUCER EFFICIENCY. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THESE CONFINEMENT SYSTEMS TO HAVE A GOOD METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE ENVIRONMENT SURROUNDING THE ANIMAL. PRESENT VENTILATIONSYSTEMS SUPPLY VENTILATION BY USING ELECTRIC POWERED FANS AND/OR DOORS THAT ARE CONTROLLED BY ELECTRIC THERMOSTATS. TH ...