1/13/99

Contacts:
Hongwei Xin, Ag & Biosystems Engineering, (515) 294-9778
Jeff Lorimor, Ag & Biosystems Engineering, (515) 294-9806
Barbara McManus, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0707

CHINESE AND ISU RESEARCHERS TO STUDY LIVESTOCK WASTE MANAGEMENT

AMES -- Reducing pollution globally may be one benefit of a $30,000 USDA grant awarded to Iowa State University researchers. The grant will allow ISU ag biosystems engineers to collaborate with Chinese researchers and evaluate waste management practices in both countries.

"We are looking at a global environment. Even if we do a good job in the United States, if other parts of the world are polluted it will adversely affect our environment eventually and that is another reason this project will benefit the world," said Hongwei Xin, Iowa State University ag and biosystems engineering professor.

Xin and Jeff Lorimor, ISU ag and biosystems engineering professor, were awarded the $30,000 USDA Scientific Cooperation Program grant to work with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing. The three-year project will focus on strategies and practices that reduce livestock waste pollution.

"China is moving toward larger-scale livestock production," Xin said. "That is one of the reasons that environmental issues are getting more and more attention in China."

The collaborative project will benefit both countries. ISU researchers hope to introduce the Chinese to products and practices that will benefit them and Chinese researchers have developed technologies that could be useful in the United States.

Chinese technologies related to waste management include a method of drying poultry manure into pellets and selling it as fertilizer, a method to separate liquid from solids in swine manure and a method to extract methane fuel from livestock waste.

"China is the first country in the world to utilize methane as a fuel to power its municipal utilities. We can learn from their experiences without making the same mistakes," Xin said. "Our hope is to evolve into a long-term collaboration with China."

The USDA grant evolved from a $1,500 ISU Dean of Agriculture International Research Grant awarded to Xin last year. That initial funding was used to bring a Chinese scientist from CAAS to ISU. Xin hopes the USDA grant will also lead to other opportunities.

Xin and Lorimor plan to visit China early this year to select research farm sites. After the research sites are selected, Chinese scientists will come to ISU to meet with researchers to discuss the project.

"We want to be sure the research will benefit both countries," Xin said. "We hope to identify cost-effective manure-handling systems and management practices that reduce environmental pollution while maintaining production efficiency."

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