Recycling Nutrients in Animal Waste Liquids Through Highly Productive Tropical Grasses

Animal production in Hawaii is threatened as never before. There is a need to find win-win scenarios to wisely manage the waste products of animal production. While animal waste concerns are prevalent throughout animal production systems in the continental U.S., the concern and intensity of the problem is greater in island environments of the Caribbean and Pacific Basins, where the coastline is nearly always hydrologically linked to lands used in animal production, and where impressively large amounts of precipitation can increase the potential for nutrient runoff and leaching. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate and evaluate an effluent irrigation system in which highly productive tropical grasses utilize nutrients while producing large amounts of quality forage for livestock. Small-scale testing has indicated success—this project will install the system on a larger, commercial scale.