Hot weather raises inevitable concerns about heat stress of animals. Heat stress affects animal production performance, well-being and health. The projected climate change and variability is expected to result in more extreme weather, which will likely worsen the heat stress problems in animal production. The total annual loss of the U.S. livestock and poultry industries due to heat stress could amount to $2.4 billion without abatement, but could be reduced to $1.7 billion with current ventilation and evaporative cooling abatement systems.
Anaerobic digestion breaks down organic wastes in the absence of oxygen and produces biogas. Methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are the two major components of the produced biogas, accompanied by many other impurities such as nitrogen (N₂), oxygen (O₂), hydrogen (H₂), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and ammonia (NH₃). Conversion of biogas to bio-CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or injection into a natural gas pipeline usually requires a much higher CH₄ purity, thus calling for feasible technologies to clean up raw biogas generated from either anaerobic digesters or landfills.
The disease gray mold, caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, is the most commonly encountered disease of herbaceous ornamentals. It can affect almost every type or variety of floral crop, as well as many other types of plants. Depending on the host and the conditions under which the crop is grown, this disease can either be a common nuisance or an economic disaster.
There are 2,000 or more kinds of wild mushrooms in Ohio. Some are poisonous, and some are edible and delicious when properly prepared. The edibility of the majority is either not known or they are not considered for food because of their small size or poor flavor or texture.
Most of us participate in groups in different aspects of our lives. These groups have many different forms. Group forms can be formal, informal, organized, structured, ad-hoc, local, or national. Groups may range from having a narrowly defined to a broad focus. One of the ways a group addresses its purpose is by having structural guidelines. Bylaws are tools for doing this.
Every day of our lives, we participate in groups. Groups have many different forms: formal, informal, organized, structured, ad-hoc, local, national and every other form imaginable. Groups may range from having a narrowly defined to a broad focus. One of the ways a group addresses its purpose is by having guidelines for how the organization makes decisions and does its work.
Disinfection of water in the fresh-cut produce industry is a critical step to minimize the potential transmission of pathogens from a water source to produce, among produce within a given batch and from batch-to-batch over time. Foodborne illnesses happen from eating contaminated food. These illnesses rank among the most common forms of disease in the world and cause more than one million deaths per year.
About 27.6 million tons of used bedding materials are generated every year in the U.S. Handling these wastes is a technical and economic challenge. Solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) of used horse bedding materials for bioenergy production could be an appropriate solution to this problem. This fact sheet discusses the feasibility of using SS-AD to convert used bedding materials from horse stalls into biogas, a source of methane.
Time of grape harvest is probably the most important and challenging viticultural decision for grape producers due to the difficulty of assessing grape maturity in the vineyard and predicting wine quality. The yearly dilemma is whether to delay harvest until desired quality parameters are reached since, once picked, grapes do not improve in flavor, color or sugar content.
The development of Ohio's shale oil and gas resources raises concern among many Ohioans about potential impacts on groundwater. While the process of shale development is tightly regulated and closely monitored, some argue that released gas, salts, minerals, metals or chemicals could contaminate private water supplies. Proper water tests are valuable tools for addressing concerns about contamination. If a water test reveals potential contamination, a landowner can take steps to protect health and safety.
