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

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 CO2e; acidification, 52.6 g SO2e; eutrophication, 18.3 g PO4e; energy consumption, 18.8 MJ. Since broiler manure management has a lower N2O 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 NH3 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 NOX 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.

Assessing Carbon Emissions from Animal Husbandry in China: Trends, Regional Variations and Mitigation Strategies

“…In summary, the separation of production and consumption brought about by increased urbanization has resulted in the expansion of the livestock industry's downstream industrial chain. Nevertheless, the majority of recent research studies on estimating carbon emissions from animal husbandry have focused on the breeding stage of livestock and poultry, while paying little attention to downstream processing, particularly transportation [12,14]. The total carbon emissions from the livestock industry could be significantly underestimated if transportation is excluded.…”

“…This method has shown significant applicability in research practices [13]. The environmental effects of feed production and transportation, broiler house operations, and broiler production manure management were examined by Ogino et al using life cycle analysis [14]. Using a life cycle assessment methodology, Rosen et al assessed the carbon emissions of the entire cattle business chain, accounting for feed cultivation, meat processing, and transportation [15].…”

An Overview of Poultry Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Mediterranean Area

“…The combustion of poultry litter can be a sustainable form of manure management [134]. Ogino et al [135] reported a 42% reduction in GHG emissions by applying a low-protein diet combined with litter incineration compared to a conventional farming system.…”

Carbon Footprint: The Case of Four Chicken Meat Products Sold on the Spanish Market

“…Finally, it is worth mentioning that future initiatives to reduce the impact of chicken meat production should focus on developing lower impact diets for broilers, such as low protein diets supplemented by amino acids [ 32 ] and on sustainable meat packaging systems to prevent food waste across the chicken meat supply chain (for instance, reducing food waste at the retailer and consumer level by 5% could decrease the climate change impact due to associated chicken meat production by 4%).…”