Predicting the environmental impacts of chicken systems in the United Kingdom through a life cycle assessment: Broiler production systems

Abstract

The aim of this study was to apply the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, from cradle to gate, to quantify the environmental burdens per 1,000 kg of expected edible carcass weight in the 3 main broiler production systems in the United Kingdom: 1) standard indoor, 2) free range, and 3) organic, and to identify the main components of these burdens. The LCA method evaluates production systems logically to account for all inputs and outputs that cross a specified system boundary, and it relates these to the useful outputs. The analysis was based on an approach that applied a structural model for the UK broiler industry and mechanistic submodels for animal performance, crop production, and major nutrient flows. Simplified baseline feeds representative of those used by the UK broiler industry were used. Typical UK figures for performance and mortality of birds and farm energy and material use were applied. Monte Carlo simulations were used to quantify the uncertainties in the outputs. The length of the production cycle was longer for free-range and organic systems compared with that of the standard indoor system, and as a result, the feed consumption and manure production per bird were higher in the free-range and organic systems. These differences had a major effect on the differences in environmental burdens between the systems. Feed production, processing, and transport resulted in greater overall environmental impacts than any other components of broiler production; for example, 65 to 81% of the primary energy use and 71 to 72% of the global warming potential of the system were due to these burdens. Farm gas and oil use had the second highest impact in primary energy use (12-25%) followed by farm electricity use. The direct use of gas, oil, and electricity were generally lower in free-range and organic systems compared with their use in the standard indoor system. Manure was the main component of acidification potential and also had a relatively high eutrophication potential. The LCA method allows for comparisons between systems and for the identification of hotspots of environmental impacts that could be subject to mitigation.

Framework for life cycle assessment of livestock production systems to account for the nutritional quality of final products

“…Global warming potential arising from broiler production was obtained from Leinonen, Williams, Wiseman, Guy, and Kyriazakis (2012), which employed a functional unit of expected weight of edible meat. As a result, no manipulations were made to derive the meat yield.…”

Breeding for efficiency in the broiler chicken: A review

“…Therefore if limiting, growth and function of the organs that make up the digestive system could be enhanced by selection, better diet and improved husbandry practices in order to change the birds' digestive efficiency and therefore the efficiency with which feed is utilised (Nitsan et al 1991). Since the nutrients that are not retained by the birds' body are responsible for the eutrophication and acidifying emissions produced by the poultry system (Pelletier 2008;Leinonen et al 2012), improved digestive efficiency can influence the provision and the excretion of important nutrients, thus affecting the environmental impacts at both ends of the poultry production chain.…”

“…1 can all be attributed to the advancements made in their genetics (Havenstein et al 2003a, b;Zuidhof et al 2014) and this has environmental impact implications. For instance, feed provision represents the industry's greatest environmental hotspot (Pelletier 2008;Leinonen et al 2012Leinonen et al , 2013Prudêncio da Silva et al 2014); as such, a bird that requires less feed to achieve the same slaughter weight will embody a lower environmental burden. This is a combined result of reduction of environmental impacts related to (1) production of feed (e.g.…”

A Public Survey on Handling Male Chicks in the Dutch Egg Sector

“…The meat is then, with respect to taste and structure, reasonably comparable to broiler meat. A disadvantage of reversing specialised egg production is that it is less efficient with regard to resource input and waste output (Leinonen et al 2012), and as a consequence the products will be more expensive. Moreover, it is questioned whether the quality of life of the males is good (enough) when they are kept alive longer.…”