Today was the day the hens finally arrived at the KPU Orchard for an experiment by faculty member Masoumeh Bejaei, testing the safety and efficacy of the use of a new feed ingredient, black soldier fly larvae, from Enterra Feed Corporation and the potential for the feed ingredient to become certified for use in animal feed in the future. The experiment will involve three treatment groups: hens fed with 0% feed ingredient (control), hens fed with 10% feed ingredient, and hens fed with 18% feed ingredient. Since feed production alone accounts for the second largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions (41%) arising from animal agriculture1, it would be useful to find alternatives that can help reduce the carbon footprint from that sector.
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| Exploring the coops and learning about Masoumeh's feed experiment |
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| Masoumeh with the Hens Photo Credits: Rebecca Harbut |
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| Hens let out in their coops |
After the orientation on the hens, we proceeded with our tasks of the day:
Irrigation installation:
We set up a drip irrigation system at the AB block and D block fields.
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| Jessica and Kirsten hammering the stakes |
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| Irrigation crew rolling out the T-tape |
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| Kirsten and Jordan aligning the T-tapes |
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| Nic setting up the irrigation system at D block |
Transplanting:
We also planted some sweetcorn. This year we are transplanting sweetcorn instead of direct seeding because of wireworm, Agriotes linneatus, issues encountered during previous years associated with direct-seeding. Commercially, corn transplants are typically done for obtaining an earlier corn crop. While that is not our main purpose, we hope that through transplanting, the sweetcorn will have established a strong root mass by the time it is planted so that they can have greater tolerance of wireworms.
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| Transplant crew taking out the sweetcorn transplants |
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| Jessica and Mike planting the sweetcorn transplants |
Since we will be using the BCS rototiller for weed management at that field, it will be crucial for us to precisely plant the sweetcorn transplants in straight rows.
We prepared the AB1 block for bean planting by making several passes with the BCS rototiller.
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| Jordan rototilling the AB block |
Planting:
We planted mixed beets and mixed carrots at the AB2/3 block and potatoes at the F block.
The potatoes are for an experiment Isabel is conducting through field trials testing the effectiveness of using the fungus Metarhizium bruuneum as a biological wireworm control for potatoes. The treatment groups include potatoes receiving no M. bruuneum (control), potatoes receiving rye grain with M. bruuneum, and potatoes receiving oats with M. bruuneum. Hopefully the experiment can help diversify options or ideas for dealing with the wireworm issue we are having with the sweetcorn and various crops in the past at the orchard.
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| Potato experiment field Photo Credit: Mike Bomford |
Weeding:
We weeded around the strawberries, celery, leeks, brassicas, and pears.
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| Rebecca, Jessica, and Jordan hand-weeding the AB block |
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| Stark and Emmalee weeding with the long-handled hoe around the leeks/celery |
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| Emily, Lindsay, and Emmalee hand-weeding around the pear trees |
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| Will weeding with the wheel-hoe around the pear trees |
We did our weekly harvesting and data collection of strawberries.
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| Strawberry harvest crew |
Tool time:
We gathered in the field for a tool-time presentation by Nic on fertilizer applicators.
From the presentation we learned that fertilizer applicators range in size from hand-held to large-scale tractor style implements and can be used to spread granular or liquid fertilizer, including mineral-based fertilizers such as bone meal or blood meal. Precision, labour/time inputs, and range, and equipment cost/availability are main considerations when choosing the type of applicator to use.
Whichever type is used, calibration should be done before application and the use of fertilizer applicators should be governed by the 4 Rs: the right source, right rate, right time, and right place.
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| image source: http://www.mosaicco.com/Who_We_Are/4100.htm |
References:
1. FAO. (2017). Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM).
Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/gleam/results/en/
Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/gleam/results/en/
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