Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Broiler Production Systems: Effects of Low-Protein Diet and Litter Incineration

Akifumi Ogino, Kazato Oishi, Akira Setoguchi and Takashi Osada
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Akifumi Ogino: Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0901, Japan
Kazato Oishi: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Bioscience, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
Akira Setoguchi: Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Bioscience, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
Takashi Osada: Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba 305-0901, Japan

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: We conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare environmental impacts of conventional (CNV) broiler chicken production in Japan with those of three mitigation options: a low-protein diet supplemented with more crystalline amino acids (LP), incineration of broiler litter (IC), and their combination (LP + IC). Feed production, feed transport, broiler housing, and manure management were included in the LCA, with 1 kg of liveweight of broiler chicken as the functional unit. The CNV environmental impacts were: climate change, 1.86 kg CO 2 e; acidification, 52.6 g SO 2 e; eutrophication, 18.3 g PO 4 e; energy consumption, 18.8 MJ. Since broiler manure management has a lower N 2 O emission factor, the LP diet’s effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were limited. Because a large amount of ammonia is emitted from broiler-litter composting and the LP diet reduced nitrogen excretion and consequent NH 3 emission, the LP showed lower acidification and eutrophication potentials than CNV. The IC system reduced fuel consumption by utilizing the generated heat for broiler-house heating and thus had lower GHG emissions and energy consumption; it reduced ammonia emission from the manure-management process by incineration and thus had lower acidification and eutrophication potentials even when including NO X generation by litter incineration. The LP + IC system had lower environmental impacts than CNV: for climate change (by 16%), acidification (48%), eutrophication (24%), and energy consumption (15%). Mitigation opportunities for broiler chickens remain, and broiler production systems with mitigation options help produce chickens more sustainably.

Keywords: broiler; poultry; life cycle analysis; environmental impact; evaluation; biomass energy; nitrogen; sustainable food production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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