Raising animals for food on a large scale is not the most environmentally friendly of activities. A major problem is phosphorous pollution, which occurs because animals like chickens and pigs cannot make efficient use of the naturally occurring phosphates in feed grains (instead, inorganic phosphates must be added to feed as a supplement). It would be better for all concerned if the animals could metabolize the organic phosphates found in the grains - that would mean less phosphorous in the manure. That's the goal of research by scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario.