ManureDB, a Nationwide Manure Test Database
Crops can benefit from application of manure, which provides nutrients. Unfortunately, manure can also contaminate the environment if over-applied. Further, the published values of manure nutrient contents for various kinds of livestock are several decades old. In 2020, the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) received a National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant to create a new tool to update those values. In partnership with CFANS, MSI helped develop ManureDB, a tool to update manure laboratory analyses. The website for this new tool officially went live in November 2023 after a soft launch earlier in the year.
Data in ManureDB allows users to manipulate the data in many ways, including by year, by animal type, by storage type, and by location (state or region). The database meets FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles.
The project was led by Associate Professor Melissa Wilson (Soil, Water, and Climate) and Associate Professor Erin Cortus (Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering). Dr. Kevin Silverstein, Scientific Lead Informatics Analyst in MSI’s Bioinformatics group, was also a member of the project team. MSI’s Application Development group created the website and database.
Project team member PhD Candidate Nancy Bohl Bormann (Soil, Water, and Climate) presented a poster about this project at the Research Computing Exhibition in April 2023: ManureDB: Creating a nationwide manure test database. Nancy L. Bohl Bormann, Melissa L. Wilson, Erin L. Cortus, Kevin Janni, Kevin Silverstein, Larry Gunderson.
