Nitrates Appearing in Crops

Sep 22, 2021

The Ministry of Agriculture is reminding producers to have their crops checked for nitrate.

Due to the warm summer and lack of precipitation, nitrate is popping up in crops all over the prairies.

"Both of those have caused nitrates to show up in grain feed and we have seen that already through testing that has been done," Catherine Lang, a livestock and feed extension specialist with the ministry of agriculture, said. "It is really important to get any kind of grain feed tested for nitrates. As well if you're trying to use something like a canola, it is important to remember that canola can also accumulate nitrates as well as sulphur. That's another thing that it needs to be tested for, just so we're pushing safe levels for the cattle."

The nitrate issue isn't just being reported in just one area specifically either, especially with such harsh growing conditions hitting the majority of the prairies this year.

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Video: What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima

In this special rerun episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, discusses how grow-finish pigs respond to high soybean meal diets. He explains the initial drop in feed intake, changes in backfat, later adaptation, energy efficiency, amino acid utilization, and the rise in nitrogen excretion at higher inclusion levels. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

“Once they got adapted to the diet, they can handle higher levels of inclusion of soybean meal.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University whose work focuses on swine nutrition, ingredient characterization, energy metabolism, caloric efficiency, and applied data analysis. With more than 15 years of experience in swine production across Latin America, Gustavo also brings expertise in environmental control, performance evaluation, barn ventilation, and grow-finish housing. Learn more from Gustavo Lima on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.