1. Meeting Environmental Requirements of Animals
Problem Area 6
Meeting Environmental Requirements of Animals
Reminder: student learning activities are at the end of this power point.

2. Managing Livestock Waste
Lesson 2

3. Next Generation Science/Common Core Standards Addressed
RST.11‐12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible. (HS‐LS3‐1)

4. Agriculture, Food, and natural resource standards addressed!
AS Design and implement methods to reduce the effects of animal production on the environment.
AS a. Identify and summarize the effects of animal agriculture on the environment (e.g., waste disposal, carbon footprint, air quality, environmental efficiencies, etc.).

5. Bell Work! Describe qualities of manure.
List uses and value of manure.
Discuss environmental concerns with manure.

6. Terms Fertilizer Global climate change Greenhouse effect Manure
Methane
Nitrate
Organic matter

7. What qualities does manure have?
Manure is a byproduct of raising animals.
It is used for energy, organic matter, and as a fertilizer for crops.
Manure has value because of its contents.

8. Since manure is produced by all animals raised, it is very available and inexpensive.
One ton of manure contains an average of 500 pounds organic matter, 10 pounds nitrogen, 5 pounds phosphoric acid, and 10 pounds of potassium.
Since plants need all of these to grow successfully, it is a great source of fertilizer.

10. Manure requires equipment and time to utilize in the fields to grow crops.
Commercial fertilizers have taken the place of manure on many fields.
The advantage of manure over commercial fertilizers is that it contains organic matter in addition to nutrients.
                           

11. Since fertilizers are oil and petroleum based some are concerned that the energy crisis will lead to high priced fertilizer.
Manure is being used more often in recent years by farmers that are returning to organic means.
Spreading manure in place of fertilizers

12. What are uses and value of manure?
There is about 1.3 billion tons of manure created annually in the U.S.
Acre for acre, you could put ¾ of a ton on each acre of land in the U.S. each year.
Compared to the value of commercial fertilizers and the pounds produced, the manure produced is worth over 10 billion dollars.

13. The value of manure depends on a couple specific factors:
Kinds of animals producing the manure.
What feed the animals are consuming and how much of the nutrients are going to the animals.
How the manure is handled.
How the manure is managed during application to crops.
What kind of soil, crops, and slope the manure is applied to.

14. Uses of manure vary but include:
Fertilizer
Organic matter
Methane gas used for electricity and petroleum replacement.
Increased crop yields for many years.
Can be used on both crop fields and pasture or range areas.
Liquid Manure Applications

15. Organic matter is dead plant and animal matter that originates from living organisms.
Methane is a gas that is given off from organic matter.
Fertilizer is a material that contains nutrients needed by plants.
Care needs to be taken with applying too much manure because excess application can lead to salt problems and nitrate problems.
Nitrate is the form of nitrogen used by plants.

16. What environmental concerns are there with manure?
There are some environmental concerns with the production of manure.
The greenhouse effect is the term used to describe trapping of radiation in the lower atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases have been increasing and therefore trap more heat.

17. This may cause global climate changes over a period of time.
Global climate change describes changes in global temperature and precipitation patterns.

18. Major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and methane.
The increase of manure causes increase of methane in the atmosphere.
In addition to manure, many other sources of methane production exist including landfills, oceans, coal, and many others.

19. Currently and in the future, regulations are being made to decide how manure is stored and distributed.
It is important to remember that global warming may or may not be in progress.
For centuries there have been many trends in temperature including the ice age.
In addition to domesticated animals, manure from wild animals also produces methane so it is difficult to track the problem. Do today’s cows produce more methane than the bison herds of a century ago?

20. Review/Summary Describe qualities of manure.
List uses and value of manure.
Discuss environmental concerns with manure.

21. The End!

22. Student Learning Activities
Sample tests are available in the Lesson Plan tab.

24. Fill in the table with the qualities of manure.
Name: ___________________________________
Fill in the table with the qualities of manure.
500 Pounds
10 Pounds
5 Pounds
10 Pounds

25. KEY

26. Hands-on activity: Digest your food!
In a multi-week experiment, student teams gather biogas data from the mini- anaerobic digesters that they build to break down different types of food waste with microbes. Using plastic soda bottles for the mini-anaerobic digesters and gas measurement devices, they compare methane gas production from decomposing hot dogs, diced vs. whole. They monitor and measure the gas production, then graph and analyze the collected data. Students learn how anaerobic digestion can be used to biorecycle waste (food, poop or yard waste) into valuable resources (nutrients, biogas, energy)

27. To share with the entire class:
Materials List
Each group needs:
6 2-liter soda bottles
3 2-liter bottle caps
3 500-ml plastic water bottles with caps
1.5 meters (5ft) thin tubing, such as fish tank aeration tubing,
1.5 liters cow manure, or sediment from the bottom of a pond, swamp or other consistently wet area
1 hot dog
lab gloves, one pair per student
safety goggles, one per student
lab coat, one per student
sharpie or similar marker for labeling plastic bottles
graduated cylinder
Anaerobic Digestion Data Sheet, one per group
Anaerobic Digestion Worksheet, one per student
To share with the entire class:
hot glue gun and glue sticks
drill and a drill bit that is slightly larger than the aeration tubing diameter; alternatively, use a knife to cut holes in bottle caps
measuring cup
bucket of tap water that has been left sitting out at room temperature for 24 hours (to help the chlorine dissipate); need at least 1.5 liters per group
scissors, for cutting plastic bottles and tubing
knife and cutting board, to cut hot dogs
graph paper, colored pencils/markers, for plotting graphs

28. Before the Activity
In the weeks before the activity, ask students to bring in the two sizes of rinsed plastic bottles with caps.
figure 1.
To measure gas production in the mini-anaerobic digesters, make a gas measurement bottle from a graduated water bottle.
Gather materials, tools and lab supplies.
Cut the tubing into 0.5 meter (~1 foot) sections, enough for three sections per group. Alternatively, have students do this themselves during the activity.
Make copies of the Anaerobic Digestion Data Sheet, one per group, and the Anaerobic Digestion Worksheet, one per student.
Leave the experimental water supply sitting out overnight to rid it of chlorine.
Divide the class into groups of four students each.

29. With the Students: Preparing the Gas Measurement Bottles
Cut 2.5 cm off the bottoms of the three 500-ml water bottles.
With the cap on, invert the bottle so the cap is on the table. Use a graduated cylinder to measure 50 ml of tap water and put the 50 ml of water in the inverted bottle. Mark the water line with a permanent marker and label it "50 ml."
Continue to fill the water bottles, 50 ml at a time, marking each new 50-ml water level until the bottles are full. The three bottles should look like the one in Figure 1. These are the "gas measurement bottles" for the experiment.
Cut 3 of the 2-liter bottles in half. Recycle the tops; they are not needed for the experiment. The bottom halves serve as water traps to keep the gas in the gas measurement bottles (see Figure 2).
Fill the three 2-litter bottoms three-quarters of the way with regular tap water.
Uncap each gas measurement bottle and place it within a water bath with the bottle cap side up. Let the bottle fill completely with water, as shown in
Figure 2. figure 2. Prepare the gas measurement bottle by placement in a water bath.

30. With the Students: Preparing the Anaerobic Digesters
Now let's build our reactors! Take the six bottles caps (three from the 2-liter and three from 500-ml water bottles) and use a drill to make one small hole in the center of each cap. The hole must be large enough to permit the tubing to slide through it.
Cut the tubing into 0.5 meter (~1 foot) sections, enough for three sections per group. Place the end of one section into the cap of the 2-liter bottle used as the anaerobic digester. The tubing should only go into the cap about 2-3 cm (~1 inch).
Use hot glue to secure the tubing in place with no air leaks. It is critical to have a tight fit because if any air enters the bottle, the microbes won't be happy and the biogas will escape. Figure 3 summarizes these steps.
figure 3. Bottle cap preparation using a drill, tubing and hot glue.
Place the other end of the tubing in the hole of a 500-ml bottle cap.
Glue the tubing in place. Refer to Figure 4 to see the final experimental setup composed of an anaerobic digester and a gas measurement device.
Repeat these steps for the remaining two sections of tubing so that three experimental setup are prepared.

31. With the Students: Food Preparation
Cut the hotdog in half. Dice one half as finely as possible; leave the other half unchanged.
Place the diced hotdog in one anaerobic digester bottle and label it "Diced Hotdog."
Place the remaining hotdog section in the second anaerobic digester bottle and label it "Hotdog."
The last/third anaerobic digester bottle serves as a blank (control); do not add any food to it. Label it "Blank."
Place 500 ml of cow manure or pond sediment into each of the three bottles. This is the source of the microbes.
To each bottle add 500 ml of the water that has been standing out overnight.
Seal the filled anaerobic digester bottles using the caps that have tubing attached to them. Refer to Figure 4.
Take the opposite ends of the tubing and use them to cap the gas measurement water bottles. Refer to Figure 4.
Your three experimental setups (diced hotdog, hotdog and blank) are complete!
At this stage, verify student understanding by assigning students to each draw the experimental setup, labeling all components and writing a brief description/prediction of what is expected to happen.

32. With the Students: Observation and Data Recording
Figure 4. The experimental setup in progress: mini-anaerobic
digester (left) and gas measurement device (right).
Over the course of two to three weeks, observe the bottles (see Figure 4).
As gas is produced, it pushes the gas measurement bottle up from the water bath. Each day (or as often as possible), measure the amount of gas produced by reading the marked line at the level of water inside the gas measurement bottle.
Once the gas has been measured, uncap the gas measurement bottle. This permits the bottle to completely refill with water from the water bath and resets the bottle so it is ready to collect more gas. It may not be necessary to reset the bottle every day, as it depends on the amount of biogas being produced. The point of refilling, or resetting the gas measurement bottle, is so that it never overfills with gas. If it overflows with biogas, then gas measurements are lost.
Hold groups accountable for monitoring, measuring and recording the amounts of gas produced. Have them record data on the team data sheets.
Once done, empty the bottles into the toilet, and rinse and recycle them.
Give students some time to plot and analyze their collected data, as described in the Assessment section.
Lead a class discussion to share results and guide students in the interpretation of their data. See the Assessment section for suggested questions.
Hand out the worksheets. Have students individually complete and hand them in for grading.

33. Safety Issues
Wash hands after touching anything in this system. Always wear gloves when handling cow manure.
The gas inside the bottles is flammable. While it does not pose a large risk, do not keep open flames near the gas. With the correct safety equipment (gloves, safety goggles, lab coat) this gas can be flared once gas collection has been completed.
Do not fill a reactor bottle to more than 50% of its volume. If large particles clog the tubing, extreme pressures can build up within the reactor. If this happens, place the clogged bottle in a trash bag and unscrew the bottle cap through the bag to prevent the reactor contents from spraying in the classroom.
The bottles may have on odor, like rotting eggs or cow manure. Be sure adequate ventilation is available when conducting the activity.

37. KEY