Feeding Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles to Lactating Dairy Cattle: Whole Animal Energy Utilization and Manure Biogas Production

When DDGS are fed to lactating dairy cattle, the observed response in energy supply, milk production, and methane production varies among studies. One potential reason for these observed discrepancies is the nature of the diet formulation itself. Furthermore, little research has been conducted to examine how dietary changes can affect dairy cattle manure composition and methane production in an anaerobic manure digester. In order to gain a better understanding of these topics, we conducted two experiments. The first experiment was conducted to test how the manipulation of lactating dairy cattle diets affects energy utilization, milk production, methane production, and manure output. Twelve lactating Jersey cows were arranged in a triplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design consisting of 4 periods of 28 days. Cows were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: CON (0% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS)); R-Alf (13% DDGS with alfalfa hay (AH) inclusion reduced from 16.6% to 8.36% of the diet); R-Gc (13% DDGS with ground corn (GC) inclusion reduced from 19% to 9.53% of the diet); R-GcAlf (6.5% DDGS with AH inclusion reduced from 16.6% to 13.9% of the diet and GC inclusion reduced from 19% to 16.3% of the diet). Treatments did not affect milk fat yield or methane production. Compared to CON, both DMI and gross energy intake increased when cows consumed R-Alf. We observed an increase in both ECM and milk protein yield and concentration compared to CON when cows consumed R-Alf. Manure output increased compared to CON when cows consumed R-Gc. When cows consumed R-Alf, manure volatile solids (VS) output was observed to increase compared to CON. The second experiment was conducted to test how diet manipulation may affect the chemical composition of manure and its subsequent methane production in an anaerobic digester. Manure samples were collected from lactating dairy cows in the first experiment. A biochemical methane potential test was conducted over two runs averaging 32 d. Observed methane production was corrected for the inoculum methane production. Manure substrate aNDFom was higher when cows consumed R-Gc or CON, and lower when cows consumed R-Alf or R-GcAlf. Compared to CON, Manure VS output increased when feeding R-Alf. Treatments did not affect manure methane or biogas production on a VS basis. Total manure methane potential increased when cows consumed R-Alf and R-Gc compared to CON. Advisor: Paul J. Kononof

Vibratory Noise Impacts the Sensory Ecology of a Funnel-Weaving Spider

Animals experience their world through diverse sensory systems, leveraging information from prey, predators, and potential mates to inform behavioral decisions. Environmental noise disrupts information via spectral or amplitude masking, degradation, or distortion, potentially leading to costly errors in responses. Critically, urbanization has accelerated the proliferation of novel noise sources, triggering significant shifts in communication, foraging, and predator-prey dynamics among urban wildlife. While vertebrate studies have illuminated urban animals’ flexibility to anthropogenic acoustic noise, a comprehensive understanding requires broader investigations across diverse animal taxa and sensory modalities. To address these gaps, my dissertation explored the impacts of anthropogenic substrate-borne (vibratory) noise on the sensory ecology of the funnel-weaving spider, Agelenopsis pennsylvanica. Field observations in the first chapter revealed that A. pennsylvanica spatial patterns were associated with urban features, notably decreasing spider abundance in areas with indicators of potential traffic disturbance, suggesting the possibly disruptive effects of vibratory noise. I tested this hypothesis in chapter two by recording ambient field vibrations across A. pennsylvanica’s urban-rural span and season. I found spatial variation in urban vibratory noise linked to potential traffic disturbance and seasonal variation in rural noise related to peaks in harvest activity. Despite significant differences in rural-urban noise levels, spiders did not avoid noisy microhabitats in a two-choice noise experiment with similar differences, suggesting alternative forms of behavioral plasticity. In the third chapter, I investigated A. pennsylvanica’s capacity to modulate the transmission of vibratory information across their webs in anthropogenic vibratory noise. Webs constructed under high-noise conditions exhibited divergent transmission properties based on natal noise environments: rural spiders reduced energy loss potentially aiding prey and mate detection in temporary noise, while urban spiders attenuated noise to prevent sensory overload. In chapter four, I measured the costs of detecting and assessing prey and mates under rapidly changing vibratory conditions. Urban spiders or their webs displayed greater flexibility to environmental shifts compared to rural spiders, potentially buffered by the discovered web transmission differences or real-time behavioral responses. Altogether, funnel-weaving spiders adjust to rapidly changing urban environments using previous and current experiences with vibratory noise levels and consistency to modulate web properties and behavior

Project: Gogi

“Project: Gogi” is a fully playable video game in the style of Japanese Role-Playing games (jrpgs) from the late 1980s through the early 1990s. This project is available for consumption with either Windows PC or Mac systems. This project features an original score, sound design, art, story, and gameplay systems. Three acts serve as the organizational structure, the first “character prologues” features a collection of stories introducing the playable characters and setting to the player. The second is an adventure though a dense unexplored forest culminating in a visit to a wise wizard. The third and final section is a long “dungeon” in which the party fights their way through a monster infested mine. The short epilogue has the party end in a new town deep in the woods where they can find some respite before embarking on future adventures. The game is playable at the following address in a web browser.https://joshaguiarmusic.itch.io/progect-goj

User’s Perceptions and Expectations with H.U Beg Library Services: A Study of Service Quality Measurement

The purpose of this study is to measure the service quality at the FAST H. U. Beg Library in Islamabad from the perspective of its users. The study also aims to report on the perceptions and expectations of users regarding the library\u27s services. The methodology used was a survey approach, and data was collected from students, teachers, and staff members using a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire. The findings indicate that the library offers high-quality services and that users are satisfied with a range of its service quality qualities. The practical implication of this study is that it will encourage library professionals to evaluate and improve library services in their libraries. The research is limited to the FAST University H.U. Beg Library Islamabad Campus, and the originality and value of the research lie in its usefulness for professionals who would like to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges faced by their library services and improve their quality. The research suggests that SERQUAL can be used to offer a systematic, regular evaluation of university libraries\u27 performance in satisfying user expectations in Pakistan

2024 Nebraska Custom Rates: What to Charge?

The 2024 Nebraska Custom Rates Report, which offers insights for agricultural producers and service providers, is now available through Nebraska Extension and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability. The report, published at cap.unl.edu/customrates, compiles survey data from 159 respondents, providing current market rates for 138 different custom operations and services across Nebraska. This comprehensive resource serves as an essential guide for those offering and seeking custom agricultural services. While the report offers a detailed overview of market trends, custom service providers are encouraged to consider their own operational costs when determining their rates. Agricultural custom rate charges can vary across the state. Therefore, the Nebraska Custom Rates Report provides rate details from survey responses grouped by Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Districts. Several factors contribute to rate differences reported by survey participants, including field and job sizes, soil conditions and the number of responses for the various operations. Some operators may charge lower than market rate prices to neighbors or relatives. Rates can change from year to year due to expense differences and local market forces. Determining appropriate charges for custom machine hire and agricultural services includes consideration of various elements such as current market rates reported in the custom rates survey report, market demand in the area for specific types of custom work, and availability of services

Redox-Driven Inorganic Nitrogen Species Transformation in the Vadose Zone: Insight from Column Experiments

Long-term and excessive fertilizer application has continuously increased nitrate in the vadose zone-groundwater integrated system. Nitrate, a highly miscible and mobile inorganic nitrogen species, leaches through the vadose zone to groundwater, posing human health implications when continuously consumed. This study aims to evaluate the redox-based transformation of inorganic nitrogen species in a vadose zone under a row-cropped, sprinkler-irrigated field in central Nebraska. Undisturbed sections of deep vadose zone cores were packed in columns representing the entire vadose zone, and a groundwater table was simulated. The biweekly collected porewater and sediment representative samples were analyzed for nitrate-N and ammonia-N transformations. The average ammonia-N concentrations under rainfed (13.0 ± 2.8 µg g-1) were significantly higher than in sprinkler-irrigated systems (12.7 ± 2.5 µg g-1) and pre-experimental soil (4.6 ± 0.5 µg g-1, p-1) were significantly higher than in rainfed (2.2 ± 0.2 µg g-1) and sprinkler-irrigated systems (2.2 ± 0.3 µg g-1,p \u3c 0.05). In biweekly analyzed porewater, the simulation beneath the sprinkler irrigation showed significantly higher rootzone nitrate-N concentration (NO3-N = 6.6 ±1.5 mg L-1, p3-N = 2.6 ± 0.5 mg L-1). At capillary fringe and groundwater, no significant difference in nitrate concentration was observed throughout all the sampling events (p \u3e 0.05). Furthermore, at the root zone, the rainfed system porewater produced significantly higher ammonia-N concentration (NH4-N = 3.5 ± 0.9 mg L-1, p 4-N = 2.3 ± 0.6 mg L-1), with comparable concentrations in the capillary fringe. Interestingly, the sprinkler-irrigated systems had higher NH4-N levels than the rainfed system, whereas the NO3-N concentrations were comparable in both irrigation systems, and the trends were observed as dissolved oxygen fluctuated. This study suggests that differences in water volume input can impact nitrate transformation in the vadose zone. Advisor: Arindam Malaka

Composting reduces the risks of resistome in beef cattle manure at the transcriptional level

Transcriptomic evidence is needed to determine whether composting is more effective than conventional stockpiling in mitigating the risk of resistome in livestock manure. The objective of this study is to compare composting and stockpiling for their effectiveness in reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance in beef cattle manure. Samples collected from the center and the surface of full-size manure stockpiling and composting piles were subject to metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses. While the distinctions in resistome between stockpiled and composted manure were not evident at the DNA level, the advantages of composting over stockpiling were evident at the transcriptomic level in terms of the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the number of ARG subtypes, and the prevalence of high-risk ARGs (i.e., mobile ARGs associated with zoonotic pathogens). DNA and transcript contigs show that the pathogen hosts of high-risk ARGs included Escherichia coli O157:H7 and O25b:H4, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Salmonella enterica. Although the average daily temperatures for the entire composting pile exceeded 55°C throughout the field study, more ARG and ARG transcripts were removed at the center of the composting pile than at the surface. This work demonstrates the advantage of composting over stockpiling in reducing ARG risk in active populations in beef cattle manure

Field Research Report: Results from the ENREEC VRI Field for the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Crop Seasons

Long-term irrigation management research has been conducted from 2014 to 2023 for corn and soybean at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension, and Education Center (ENREEC) Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) Field located in subhumid east-central Nebraska (in the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District). The objective of this report was to present the overall results from the VRI Field for 2021 to 2023. Across the three growing seasons, there were the following irrigation treatments: Best Management Practice (BMP), 50% BMP, 125% BMP, rainfed, Spatial ET Modeling Interface (SETMI), SDD1, SDD2, machine-learning-based Cyber-Physical System (CPS), a student team recommended rate, and industry trials from Irriga Global’s Aluvio. Results showed that from 2021 to 2023, only 2022 was dry enough to have a significant yield response to irrigation in both corn and soybean. The distribution of precipitation in 2023 resulted in a significant difference in yield for corn but not soybean. Over 9 years of corn production, the mean seasonal irrigation was 4.4 in (for full irrigation treatments), corresponding to a mean yield of 246 bu/ac compared to a mean rainfed yield of 227 bu/ac. For 8 years of soybean research, the average seasonal irrigation was 4.0 in; the mean irrigated soybean yield was 70 bu/ac compared to 66 bu/ac for rainfed plots. The long-term average increase in gross revenue (from irrigation) was 104 $/ac/yr for corn and 46$/ac/yr for soybean

Increased Dietary Trp, Thr, and Met Supplementation Improves Performance, Health, and Protein Metabolism of Weaned Piglets under Mixed Management and Poor Housing Conditions

A sanitary challenge was carried out to induce suboptimal herd health while investigating the effect of amino acids supplementation on piglet responses. Weaned piglets of high sanitary status (6.33 ± 0.91 kg of BW) were distributed in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement into two similar facilities with contrasting sanitary conditions and two different diets. Our results suggest that increased Trp, Thr, and Met dietary supplementation could support the immune systems of piglets under a sanitary challenge. In this manner, AA+ supplementation improved the performance and metabolism of piglets under mixed management and poor sanitary conditions. No major temporal microbiome changes were associated with differences in performance regardless of sanitary conditions or diets. Since piglets often become mixed in multiple-site production systems and facility hygiene is also often neglected, this study suggests that increased Trp, Thr, and Met (AA+) dietary supplementation could contribute to mitigating the side effects of these harmful risk factors in modern pig farms

2024 Nebraska Agricultural Custom Rates with Statewide Survey Summary

The 2024 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Custom Rates Survey indicates that rate increases are the norm since the latest survey was completed in 2022. Table 1 provides a summary and percentage change for several common custom operations from 2022 to 2024. Custom field operations such as drilling and planting show increases in 2024 from seven to twenty-seven percent and harvesting rates for various crops indicate state average rate increases from fourteen to twenty-three percent, with the irrigated corn harvest now at $47.84 per acre for the state average. Other custom services, such as spraying for weed control using a self-propelled sprayer, increased by just over one dollar per acre. Baling and swathing state average rates increased overall. Hauling grain to storage or elevator on a per bushel basis jumped from$0.08 to $0.15 per bushel