Abstract
Recycling broiler litter (BL) nutrients is an important strategy for sustainable forage production. However, BL can contain Clostridia bacteria that can contaminate forages at harvest, resulting in poor ensilage quality and botulism-related animal health risks. A better understanding of the effects of BL amendment on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) production and ensiling is beneficial for promoting manure-based alfalfa production. This 2-year study examined the effects of high-level BL (HBL) at 112 kg N ha−1 and low-level (LBL) at 56 kg N ha−1 on alfalfa forage production, fermentation characteristics, and Clostridium botulinum concentrations in silage and haylage produced from 350 g dry matter (DM) kg−1 forage and 500 g DM kg−1 forage respectively, and soil characteristics compared to a control treatment (CT). Results showed that the application of BL did not affect forage production (12.8–13.1 MG ha−1) and nutritive value. The alfalfa produced high forage yield with superior ensilabilty in the second year. The BL application increased soil NH4-N, Ca, Fe, and B, but did not affect fermentation characteristics or Clostridium botulinum concentrations in ensilage. Silage had superior fermentation quality, and Clostridium botulinum concentration was found to be higher than in haylage. Broiler litter fertilization for alfalfa is environmentally safe and has forge production, ensilage fermentation quality, and botulism risks similar to CT.
Highlights
IntroductionCommercial broiler production generates larger volumes of broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) litter (a mixture of chicken manure and the bedding materials) for disposal
Commercial broiler production generates larger volumes of broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) litter for disposal
It was assumed that alfalfa would produce 8.5 MG ha−1 y−1 dry matter (DM) yield with 20% crude protein (16% N) and require 272 kg N ha−1 y−1 for the targeted forage production
Summary
Commercial broiler production generates larger volumes of broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) litter (a mixture of chicken manure and the bedding materials) for disposal. Land application has been the key practice of animal manure disposal, many livestock producers do not possess sufficient land areas of row crop or forage grassland to apply manure at agronomic rates or rates complying with the manure management regulatory requirements. In such instances, producers have opted to find alternative crops to receive manure nutrients [8]. Alfalfa typically meets much of its N requirement through biological N2 fixation and the rest is obtained from soil N sources and residual fertilizers. Use of BL nutrients can provide economic and environmental justifications for incorporating into alfalfa forage production
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