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Home > AFO Strategies for Source Water Protection > Proactive Solutions for Reducing Waste Generation

*Source Water Protection

Feed Type Optimzation

Feed characteristics and quantity should be monitored to optimize the needs of the animals and minimize costs to the producer. Most animal wastes, including chicken litter, have an abundance of phosphorus versus nitrogen when compared to plant requirements. Diets low in phosphorus can help to make the N/P balance in the waste closer to the optimum balance for use as a fertilizer, and thus reduce phosphorus loadings to fields. As another example, chemical treatment of waste (Nahm, 2003) or use of feed supplements containing zinc (Kim and Patterson, 2003) has reduced ammonia emissions during poultry operations. This has not only reduced the potential for release of this possible contaminant, but has also improved poultry production.

The LPES Curriculum provides a series of articles on animal dietary strategies
A good source of information on dietary strategies is Chapter 8 in the USEPA Development Document for the Proposed Revisions to the NPDES Regulation and the Effluent Guidelines for CAFOs (USEPA, 2002c).