Selective harvest methods and chemical treatment of baled corn residue for utilization in growing calf and dry cow diets

Three studies were conducted to evaluate baled corn residue using selective harvest method and anhydrous ammonia treatments to assess utility in growing calf and dry cow diets. Baled corn residue was harvested using conventional rake-and-bale (CONV) method, or harvested using the New Holland Cornrower in which either eight rows (8ROW), or two rows (2ROW) of corn stalks were chopped into the windrow with tailings. Bales were either not treated or ammoniated at 5.5% DM. When fed to wether lambs in a mixed ration (65% residue, 30% wet corn gluten feed) to determine digestibility, the 2ROW residue had greater apparent DM, NDF, ADF digestibility, as well as in vitro DM and OM digestibility than either CONV and 8ROW, which were not different. Ammoniation resulted in a 20 to 26% increase in apparent DM, OM, NDF, and ADF digestibility and digestible energy content of the residue. When corn residue was baled as CONV, 2ROW, or using the EZ-Bale system (EZB) with a disengaged combine spreader (treated or ammoniated at 3.7% DM) and fed to growing cattle (65% with 30% wet distillers grains), only the 2ROW method increased (P \u3c 0.01) ADG (1.06 kg/d) compared to CONV (0.96 kg/d) and EZB (0.99 kg/d). Ammoniation increased (P \u3c 0.01) ADG from 0.75 to 1.26 kg/d and increased (P \u3c 0.01) G:F from 0.158 to 0.179. Selective harvest methods altered (P ≤ 0.01) plant part proportions, and ammoniation differentially increased the digestibility among the various plant parts. A third study used the same treatments fed as whole bales to dry cows and measured intake, waste, and refusals. Ammoniation increased (P \u3c 0.01) DM intake by 18% and waste including refusals ranged between 29.3 and 42.3% of offered DM. Ammoniated residues had sufficient CP to meet cow protein requirements throughout gestation, but only the ammoniated 2ROW and EZB residue had enough DOM to meet gestation energy requirements. Ammoniated corn residue increases digestibility and improves animal performance, and these effects can be enhanced when combined with some selective harvest methods due to changes in plant part proportion and increased susceptibility of cob to ammoniation. Advisor: Mary E. Drewnosk

Selective harvest methods and chemical treatment of baled corn residue for utilization in growing calf and dry cow diets

Three studies were conducted to evaluate baled corn residue using selective harvest method and anhydrous ammonia treatments to assess utility in growing calf and dry cow diets. Baled corn residue was harvested using conventional rake-and-bale (CONV) method, or harvested using the New Holland Cornrower in which either eight rows (8ROW), or two rows (2ROW) of corn stalks were chopped into the windrow with tailings. Bales were either not treated or ammoniated at 5.5% DM. When fed to wether lambs in a mixed ration (65% residue, 30% wet corn gluten feed) to determine digestibility, the 2ROW residue had greater apparent DM, NDF, ADF digestibility, as well as in vitro DM and OM digestibility than either CONV and 8ROW, which were not different. Ammoniation resulted in a 20 to 26% increase in apparent DM, OM, NDF, and ADF digestibility and digestible energy content of the residue. When corn residue was baled as CONV, 2ROW, or using the EZ-Bale system (EZB) with a disengaged combine spreader (treated or ammoniated at 3.7% DM) and fed to growing cattle (65% with 30% wet distillers grains), only the 2ROW method increased (P \u3c 0.01) ADG (1.06 kg/d) compared to CONV (0.96 kg/d) and EZB (0.99 kg/d). Ammoniation increased (P \u3c 0.01) ADG from 0.75 to 1.26 kg/d and increased (P \u3c 0.01) G:F from 0.158 to 0.179. Selective harvest methods altered (P ≤ 0.01) plant part proportions, and ammoniation differentially increased the digestibility among the various plant parts. A third study used the same treatments fed as whole bales to dry cows and measured intake, waste, and refusals. Ammoniation increased (P \u3c 0.01) DM intake by 18% and waste including refusals ranged between 29.3 and 42.3% of offered DM. Ammoniated residues had sufficient CP to meet cow protein requirements throughout gestation, but only the ammoniated 2ROW and EZB residue had enough DOM to meet gestation energy requirements. Ammoniated corn residue increases digestibility and improves animal performance, and these effects can be enhanced when combined with some selective harvest methods due to changes in plant part proportion and increased susceptibility of cob to ammoniation. Advisor: Mary E. Drewnosk

The Effect of Harvest Method and Ammoniation of Corn Residue on Growing Calf Performance

A growing trial was conducted to determine the effect of feeding baled corn residue harvested using three different methods, with and without ammoniation of the residue. Residue harvested with the New Holland Cornrower™ with two rows of chopped stem added to the windrow resulted in a 9% increase in ADG compared to conventional rake and bale harvest or turning off the combine spreader and baling tailing. Ammoniation of residue increased ADG 67% (increase of 1.1 lb/d) over non-ammoniated residue. Feed efficiency was not affected by harvest method, but ammoniation decreased F:G by 13% compared to cattle fed non-ammoniated residue. Although alternative harvest technologies can improve ADG, ammoniation of corn residue has a considerably greater impact on cattle performance

Effect of harvest method and ammoniation of baled corn residue on intake and digestibility in lambs

To determine the effect of harvest method and ammoniation on both in vivo and in vitro digestibility of corn residue, six corn residue treatments consisting of three different harvest methods either with or without anhydrous ammonia chemical treatment (5.5% of dry matter [DM]) were evaluated. The harvest methods included conventional rake-and-bale (CONV) and New Holland Cornrower with eight rows (8ROW) or two rows (2ROW) of corn stalks chopped into the windrow containing the tailings (leaf, husk, and upper stem) from eight rows of harvested corn (ammoniated bales of each harvest method resulted in treatments COVAM, 8RAM, and 2RAM). Nine crossbred wether lambs (49.2 ± 0.5 kg BW) were fed 64.2% corn residue, 29.8% wet corn gluten feed, 3.3% smooth-bromegrass hay, and 2.8% mineral mix (DM basis) in a 9 × 6 Latin rectangle metabolism study with a 3 × 2 factorial treatment to measure total tract disappearance. Six 21-d periods consisted of 14-d adaptation and 7-d total fecal collection, and lambs were fed ad libitum (110% of the previous day’s DM intake [DMI]) during days 1 to 12 and reduced to 95% of ad libitum intake for days 13 to 21. There was a harvest method by ammoniation interaction (P \u3c 0.01) for ad libitum DMI (days 7 to 11). Ammoniation increased (P \u3c 0.01) intake across all harvest methods, where 2RAM DMI was 4.1%, COVAM was 3.6%, and 8RAM was 3.1%, which were all different (P \u3c 0.01) from each other, but all untreated residues were consumed at 2.6% of BW (P ≥ 0.92) regardless of harvest method. There were no interactions (P \u3e 0.34) between harvest method and ammoniation for any total tract or in vitro digestibility estimate. Harvest method affected (P \u3c 0.04) DM, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibility, where 2ROW was greater than both CONV and 8ROW, which did not differ. The organic matter (OM) digestibility (P = 0.12) and digestible energy (DE; P = 0.30) followed the same numerical trend. Both in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) and in vitro OM digestibility (IVOMD) of the residue were affected (P \u3c 0.01) by harvest method, with 2ROW being greater (P \u3c 0.01) than both CONV and 8ROW. For IVDMD, 8ROW was not (P = 0.77) different from CONV, but 8ROW IVOMD was lower (P = 0.03) than CONV. Ammoniation improved (P \u3c 0.01) DM, OM, NDF, and ADF digestibility of all harvest methods, resulting in a 26% increase (P \u3c 0.01) in DE due to ammoniation. Similar digestibility improvements were observed in vitro with ammoniation improving IVDMD and IVOMD by 23% and 20%, respectively. Both selective harvest methods and ammoniation can improve the feeding value of baled corn residue

Impact of Grazing Spring Rye on Subsequent Crop Yields and Profitability

Steers (729 ± 19 lb BW) grazed in two November-planted cereal rye fields for 22 d in April, either with or without an ionophore in their free choice mineral supplement. Subsequent corn yields were measured to assess impact of planting cereal rye as a cover crop (not grazed) or grazing the rye compared to a no rye control. There was no statistical impact of rye or grazing on subsequent corn yield. Supplying an ionophore in the mineral did not uniformly improve gains across fields. However, gains were high at 3.2 lb/d and were able to offset the cost of planting rye

Effect of Harvest Method and Ammoniation on Digestibility and Intake of Corn Residue

The effects of three harvest methods, both with and without ammonia treatment, on the in vivo digestibility and intake of baled corn residue were assessed in a digestion trial with lambs. Treatments included three corn residue harvest methods (conventional rake and bale, New Holland Cornrower™ with eight rows or with two rows of corn stalks chopped into the windrow containing the tailings [leaf, husk and upper stalk] from eight harvested rows) and the effects of ammoniation at 5.5% of DM compared to no ammoniation of the residue. Th e 2- Row baled residue (51.7%) had greater dry matter digestibility than both 8- Row (47.3%) and CONV (44.7%). Ammoniation increased dry matter digestibility by 24% (10 percentage units) across all residue types. Additionally, ammoniation increased intake. Utilizing alternative harvesting technologies and ammoniation can improve the digestibility of baled residue. These effects are additive and combining the two technologies resulted in the greatest improvement in digestibility

Robust plasmon waveguides in strongly-interacting nanowire arrays

Arrays of parallel metallic nanowires are shown to provide a tunable, robust, and versatile platform for plasmon interconnects, including high-curvature turns with minimum signal loss. The proposed guiding mechanism relies on gap plasmons existing in the region between adjacent nanowires of dimers and multi-wire arrays. We focus on square and circular silver nanowires in silica, for which excellent agreement between both boundary element method and multiple multipolar expansion calculations is obtained. Our work provides the tools for designing plasmon-based interconnects and achieving high degree of integration with minimum cross talk between adjacent plasmon guides.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Searching for gravitational waves from Cassiopeia A with LIGO

We describe a search underway for periodic gravitational waves from the central compact object in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The object is the youngest likely neutron star in the Galaxy. Its position is well known, but the object does not pulse in any electromagnetic radiation band and thus presents a challenge in searching the parameter space of frequency and frequency derivatives. We estimate that a fully coherent search can, with a reasonable amount of time on a computing cluster, achieve a sensitivity at which it is theoretically possible (though not likely) to observe a signal even with the initial LIGO noise spectrum. Cassiopeia A is only the second object after the Crab pulsar for which this is true. The search method described here can also obtain interesting results for similar objects with current LIGO sensitivity.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; accepted to Classical and Quantum Gravit

Data compatibility in the addiction sciences: An examination of measure commonality

The need for comprehensive analysis to compare and combine data across multiple studies in order to validate and extend results is widely recognized. This paper aims to assess the extent of data compatibility in the substance abuse and addiction (SAA) sciences through an examination of measure commonality, defined as the use of similar measures, across grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Data were extracted from applications of funded, active grants involving human-subjects research in four scientific areas (epidemiology, prevention, services, and treatment) and six frequently assessed scientific domains. A total of 548 distinct measures were cited across 141 randomly sampled applications. Commonality, as assessed by density (range of 0–1) of shared measurement, was examined. Results showed that commonality was low and varied by domain/area. Commonality was most prominent for (1) diagnostic interviews (structured and semi-structured) for substance use disorders and psychopathology (density of 0.88), followed by (2) scales to assess dimensions of substance use problems and disorders (0.70), (3) scales to assess dimensions of affect and psychopathology (0.69), (4) measures of substance use quantity and frequency (0.62), (5) measures of personality traits (0.40), and (6) assessments of cognitive/neurologic ability (0.22). The areas of prevention (density of 0.41) and treatment (0.42) had greater commonality than epidemiology (0.36) and services (0.32). To address the lack of measure commonality, NIDA and its scientific partners recommend and provide common measures for SAA researchers within the PhenX Toolkit