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Farm-Scape, Episode 2262

Researchers at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute at Humboldt expect to begin full scale field testing of a new prototype solid manure injection system this coming spring.

As part of a project initiated by the University of Saskatchewan in 2001 scientists with PAMI are further developing technology to improve the handling and land application of solid manure.

The prototype uses a series of discharge screw conveyers to auger solid manure to flexible injectors which deliver the material to coulters that open trenches in the ground into which the manure is deposited. Project leader Dr. Hubert Landry says preliminary field tests last fall were encouraging but a number of necessary modifications were identified.

"We were able to achieve product distribution at the coulters. We were quite pleased with the results but obviously what we realized is we had a number of technical issues we had to address before we could reach a level of functionality that would allow us to run a proper full fledged testing program like we intend to do next spring.

Obviously, this sort of novel technology, you have to go out in the field and try it under different conditions to learn a little more and observe its behavior and we've identified some minor bridging issues in our transfer distribution system that we want to address as well as some problems with the bends in those flexible screw conveyers.

We want to modify, a bit, our tool bar and coulters so those flexible conveyers can be operated a little straighter and that should improve their performances."

Full scale testing is expected to get underway prior to spring seeding in April and will continue for three years but preliminary indications of the implement's functionality are expected in early spring.

Staff Farmscape.Ca