Lingjuan Wang-Li

This project will address the food animal production industry������������������s need for professionals and extension specialists who possess the skills needed to thrive in today������������������s data-rich world. The long-term goal of this project is to meet increasing meat demands across the global market through sustainable intensification, thereby also broadening export opportunities for American meat producers. To meet this goal and address a critical shortage of personnel who are data analytics-aware, the food animal production workforce needs to be modernized with professionals and extension specialists who possess data literacy and holistic problem-solving skills. We will create a 10-week summer program dedicated to supplying the workforce with students trained in these three proficiency areas. This summer program, titled the Pigs, Poultry, the Planet, and data-driven Problem Solving (P4) Summer Fellowship Program, will prepare undergraduate students for contemporary careers in food animal production, and specifically target the swine and poultry production industries.

Overview: In the United States, animal feeding operations (AFOs) emit approximately 2.5 million tons of ammonia (NH3) per year, contributing to about 85% of total NH3 emissions in the nation. Emission, fate, transport and transformation of AFO NH3 have become an increasing concern due to the associated adverse effects on air/water/ soil health/quality and ecosystem. Ammonia emissions contribute to the formation of secondary inorganic particulate matter (iPM2.5), and NH3 deposition contributes to the eutrophication of surface water and acidification of the ecosystem. While the scientific community has a fundamental understanding of the N cycle, the reduced N form is the least known part of the cycle. Scientific understanding of the reduced N in the environment needs to be strengthened to quantify the dynamic exchange of N species (e.g., from NH3 gas to NH4+ particulate) across air-soil-water interfaces. The overall goal of the project is to advance our understanding of ecological and environmental impacts of atmospheric ����������������N��������������� on air-soil health by (1) establishing a science-based understanding of fate, transport, and transformation of AFOs NH3 emissions; (2) transferring the new knowledge to students, industry, regulators, and the public through various educational and outreach programs. The project will accomplish the following specific objectives: (1) Quantifying NH3 and particulate NH4+ dry deposition as impacted by NH3 emissions, land usage and meteorological conditions in AFO environments; (2) Estimating transformation of emitted NH3 to secondary iPM2.5 as impacted by NH3 emissions, distance from source, atmospheric chemical & meteorological conditions; (3) Quantifying the impacts of NH3 and NH4+ depositions on soil chemical and biological properties, including microbial biomass, stoichimetry of nitrogen transformations, pH.

Due to regulations and animal welfare concerns, cage-free (CF) egg production is expected to greatly increase. Because CF egg layers have access to litter, conditions in the barn are very dusty which affects bird health and performance as well as the health of the workers. Liquid spraying has been tested to control dust but it can increase ammonia levels and make the floor eggs dirty. We propose to use a recirculating air-cleaner that uses electrostatic precipitation (EP) to reduce dust (hence, dust-bound ammonia) levels. The trapped dust will be collected using a timer-operated mechanical rapper in a garbage bag. The EP air cleaner will be tested in a CF layer house in Orange County for 6 months. Once every week, the EP cleaner's removal efficiency for heterotrophic bacteria, total fungi, and ammonia will be measured. It is expected that a commercial CF layer house with 17,000 birds will require seven such units.

This project is to address AFRI Foundational Program Area Priority in "Agricultural Engineering [A1521]". Through an environmentally controlled study and a field investigation, this project will develop and evaluate an engineering product to mitigate heat stress in heavy broilers and ammonia emission for improved broiler production performance and welfare. The specific objectives are to: (1) Obtain heat and moisture production values for heavy broilers under different temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and air velocity (AV) set points; (2) Assess impact of the high AV for different T and RH set points under summer conditions on the performance and welfare of heavy broilers; (3) Develop a retractable baffle system to re-distribute ventilation air, thereby increasing airflow at the bird height in the grow-out cycle to mitigate heat stress in heavy broilers; (4) Evaluate the effects of the baffle system and the resultant improved airflow on the existing housing ventilation system, ammonia and particulate matter concentrations as well as broiler performance and welfare. The project will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in broiler production and welfare, housing environmental control, air quality, and waste management. This project will produce (1) new knowledge on heat and moisture production of heavy broilers under different T/RH/AV combinations; (2) a cost-effective engineering solution for mitigating heat stress and air quality to improve heavy broiler performance and welfare. Knowledge obtained will help guide the poultry industry to improve engineering design of housing ventilation system for welfare friendly and sustainable production systems.

The likelihood of the EPA regulating air pollutant emissions and local pressure to control odors necessitates the use of cost-effective methods to treat swine barn exhaust. Currently there are no cost-effective technologies for treating exhaust from livestock barns. We propose an engineered windbreak wall - vegetative strip system where the exhaust from the barn would be partially treated in a vegetative strip causing the free- and particle-bound gases to settle out, permitting the soil and plants to assimilate these pollutants. The windbreak wall would also facilitate dilution of the exhaust to reduce odors. The system would be designed using computational fluid dynamics software, then tested in the lab, and finally installed and monitored over 24 months at commercial swine and broiler farms in Lillington, NC. In addition to evaluation reduction in gas and particulate matter concentrations in the exhaust, changes in chemical concentrations will be monitored in the plants and soil will be compared with "control treatment" samples. The cost-effectiveness of this system, expressed in $/kg of pollutant reduced will be calculated.

Animal production is the largest sector of agriculture, plays important roles in the U.S. economy with an output of $252 billion in 2009. Building and facility technology development in the past decades has made animal production in larger scale, concentrated, and energy intensive for high production efficiency. However, these large facilities cause significant environmental concerns and have difficulties in achieving healthy indoor environment. Recently raised climate change concerns, animal welfare issues, and increasing energy costs present significant challenges for the viability and sustainability of animal production. Environmental control of animal facilities plays a critical role in animal production. Knowledge and technology development in environmental control can provide potential solutions to these emerging challenges that the animal industries are facing. Unfortunately, fewer land-grant universities offer courses on "environmental control for agricultural facilities" than did in the past, due to declining faculty resources, which means many students in land grant universities do not have opportunity to take such a course. The courses that are offered focus primarily on meeting thermal comfort needs of animals and plants through ventilation and use a 22-year-old textbook written by Dr. Lou Albright, Environment Control for Animals and Plants; meaning emerging challenges are not addressed in current courses. On the other hand, research has been continuously conducted in the challenge areas in the past decade. There is a critical need to capitalize upon recent research findings and integrate the resulting knowledge and technology into the curricula of educational programs involving environmental control of animal production. The animal industries need workforces and professionals that are trained with new knowledge and technologies to transform the industries' challenges into opportunities for sustainable operations. We propose to address this need by developing new eLearning modules that addresses both traditional and emerging challenge areas of interest for Controlled Environment Animal Production (CEAP). In addition, students in a digital age learn and access information in significantly different ways from students a decade ago. Mobile devices, internet, and other eLearning tools are spreading exponentially on higher education campuses. College students are eager to embrace the new communication technologies for their effective and convenient learning. Therefore, it is a necessity to develop new digital leaning curriculum and materials for effective learning and outreach of new generation students. This project is to meet the critical needs through advancing educational curriculum materials in NIFA challenge areas and adoping new eLeaning and teaching methods in CEAP. Our long-term goal is to support U.S. animal production industries in achieving sustainable operations by connecting research and educational efforts in CEAP. The specific objectives are to: (1) develop new eLearning educational modules in the NIFA challenge areas related to Controlled Environment Animal Production (CEAP); (2) establish an eCEAP online education platform for educational material exchange and distance delivery ; (3) write a digital textbook on ''Environmental Control of Animal Fcilities for Sustainable Operation" with online epub standards, and further develop the textbook for ipad tablet interactive delivery; (4) develop and conduct professional trainings on the new eLearning course materials and delivery methods; and (5) Develop and offer experiential learning internship opportunities for underrepresented, minority, and woman students. The target audiences of this project are faculty members interested in teaching topics related to CEAP and students enrolled in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Animal Science, and Vet degree programs that are interested in learning of the topics. With special consideration in curriculum development and online distance delivery capacity, we anticipate tha

Animal feeding operations (AFOs), while a vital link in America?s food supply, pose a major risk to the environment. There is a critical need to study the fate and transport of hazardous aerosol emissions from AFO facilities. This will provide a basis for further study of health effects and risk assessment associated with AFO aerosols. The dynamics of animal housing/biological systems make the characteristics of aerosols emitted from AFOs different from other industrial pollutants. Although the science community has a fundamental understanding of aerosol formation, fate and transport, significant knowledge and technology gaps still exist regarding fate and transport of AFO aerosols/bioaerosols. The objectives of the proposed work are to (1) quantify the impact of particle size distribution (PSD) on the federal reference method (FRM) PM10 sampler?s measurements such that it will lead to improvements of the FRM PM sampler measurements for broader applications; (2) characterize the spatial and temporal variations in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of aerosols emitted from AFO facilities such that it will result in improved understanding of the mechanism of generation, fate and transport of those aerosols; and (3) develop an interactive simulation model to predict the fate and transport of bioaerosols emitted from AFO facilities. The proposed work involves theoretical and field experimental studies on FRM PM measurement technique and on the fate and transport of AFO aerosols/bioaerosols. The field study will be conducted on two commercial AFO farms. The proposed work will yield (1) theoretical/empirical models to correct measurement errors of FRM PM samplers caused by interaction of PSD and performance characteristics of the sampler; (2) valuable knowledge on the fate and transport of AFO aerosols and bioaerosols; and (3) Bio-Aerosol Responding/Notifying System (BARNS).

Currently, there are no accurate and cost-effective ammonia and oxygen monitoring systems for use in livestock barns for farmers. We propose to use off-the-shelf, low cost metal oxide and electrochemical sensors and couple them to scrubbers to remove vapor and interfering gas scrubbers to obtain more accurate gas levels and prolong the lives of these sensors. Because the sensors are low-cost, they can just be discarded instead of requiring expensive calibration. Gas concentrations will be corrected for humidity and temperature effects. In the first stage we will identify three each of ammonia and O2 sensors and select one of each type after intensive testing in chamber with poultry litter. Then, we will build a 6-volt battery powered sensor system weighing <3 lb. In the last stage, this system will be tested in a poultry house against established, more expensive sensors. We expect to develop a system that will be suitable for use by both producers and researchers.

This proposed Phase I project aims to develop a low-cost ammonia sensor. The specific objectives are : 1. Determine the sensitivity and limiting noise source for a bare-bones open path detection of ammonia using wavelength-modulated photoacoustic spectroscopy with a near-infrared diode laser. 2. Measure the sensitivity improvement due to adding multipass optics and an acoustic reflector. 3. Determine the performance of the Phase I ammonia sensors in a poultry barn.

The primary objective of this research project is to leverage, expand, and commercially apply knowledge derived from previous, ongoing, and presently sponsored air quality initiatives targeting ammonia and particulate emission reduction from livestock and poultry production facilities. These studies will employ a complete integrated systems approach to partition all aspects of nitrogen contribution to ammonia emissions including nutritional aspects (feed formulation and physical attributes), digestive physiology of the animal, gastrointestinal and broiler litter microbiology, production practices including manure and litter waste management, production building design, and emitted air treatment technologies that are affordable. The results of these studies are expected to be novel integrated applications that significantly mitigate ammonia and particulate emissions that are currently impacting the long term sustainability of poultry production in the state and nation. This research will involve an investigation of the effects of various blends of large and small particle sizes of corn used in the manufacture of broiler feeds on feed intake, growth, feed conversion, livability, and gastrointestinal tract function and microbiology. This will be coordinated with an investigation of the interaction of various types of litter and flooring with the digestion and utilization of feed that possesses different physical attributes. This coordinated work will provide a means to develop an optimized physical attribute strategy for the production of broiler feed that will result in lower feed production costs while contributing to reduced ammonia and particulate emissions from broiler facilities. Finally, this work will provide operational support for the continued operation of the Waste Processing and Air Quality/Waste Management R&D Facilities at NC State University. The expected outcomes will include lower broiler feed production and litter costs, more efficient and healthy broiler growth and feed conversion, improved broiler gastrointestinal tract function and health that will lead to reduced emissions of ammonia and fine particle particulates (PM-fine) as well as potential greenhouse gases and odors from broiler facilities that will be readily adapted by the commercial broiler industry on a cost-neutral basis.