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The main focus of this study is to develop a poultry litter decision support system (PLDSS) integrated in a geographical information system (GIS) for land application and off-farm usage of poultry litter in the Appalachian Plateau and Black Belt regions of Alabama. The PLDSS is a comprehensive user-friendly system that consists of transportation and assessment tools for poultry litter management in Alabama. The system is developed by programming the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) with ArcObjects in ArcGIS. Important functional components and analytical capability of ArcGIS 9.1 are implemented in several sets of customized and user friendly tools. The system works on three levels. The first develops a comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP), the second performs the transport network analysis and the third evaluates travel cost associated with transportation. The CNMP plan is based on the methodology developed by Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES). The transportation analysis allows estimation of the best route, the closest route to fields within certain distance, and Origin -Destination matrix by using Network Model in ArcGIS. The assessment module performs the estimation of travel cost and other transportation analyses. Models are integrated in a GIS environment, which serves as the repository of the data as well as the user interface. Overall, the PLDSS will help provide an optimal, state-wide management of poultry litter, which is crucial for sustaining the poultry industry in Alabama. It will also help row crop agriculture and beef cattle industry to grow in the Black Belt region. |
