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Innovation: Can you turn manure into protein?

Can you turn manure into a cow, chicken or fish?

Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are looking to do just that, in a roundabout, circular economy, kind of way.

A three-year, $618,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture is funding a study by scientists in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Science Department of Entomology and Mississippi State University to explore dairy manure clean-up via black soldier flies. The team would then examine the flies’ value as a potential ingredient in livestock, poultry and aquaculture feed.

The project will concentrate on both environmental health and economic benefits of converting dairy waste into protein that could be used for feed. Early data indicate probiotics could be used to accelerate the digestive process in fed animals, increase conversion of waste to insect biomass, decrease greenhouse gases and noxious odors, and reduce concerns about pathogens that might be present in the manure. | READ MORE