Abstract
This study evaluated stability, maturity and the efficacy of different poultry litter for possible use in container plant production. Three types of poultry manure- Battery cage (BC), Deep litter (DL) and Free range (FR) were used, with Kraal manure (KM) as a comparison. The experiment was set up as a Split- split design with 6 replications. Composting period was main plot, poultry manure type the split plot and mixing ratio as the split- split plot. The litter was mixed with garden soil in 2 ratios (3:1 and 1:1 soil: manure ratio) and tested for up to 12 weeks. Rape (Brassica napus) was used as a bioassay for maturity, which was determined at 1 month, 2 months and 3 months. The pH declined slightly from 7 to about 6 for all treatments except for the kraal manure. Respiration trends were similar to electrical conductivity. Within 2 weeks of curing the respiration rate for all manures declined to below 4 mg CO2- C/ kg. At the end of 12 weeks curing Battery cage had highest total nitrogen (2.32 %), followed by Free range (1.25 %), Deep litter (0.73 %) and Kraal manure was lowest at 0.35 %). Maturity (rape survival) increased with compositing time. After 3 months of curing Kraal manure had highest survivability of rape. The DL at 1:1 ratio had the lowest survival of 67%. At 12 weeks except for BC at 3:1 all treatments had 100 % survival. The results showed that nitrogen rich manures (DL and BC) needed longer curing in order for them to reach maturity.
Highlights
The world population has continued to grow and it is projected to plateau at 9 billion in the middle of this century (Godfray et al, 2010)
The soil electrical conductivity differed among the different manures from the start and all materials exhibited different trends (Figure. 1B)
The Deep litter and Free range was intermediate between Battery cage and Kraal manure
Summary
The world population has continued to grow and it is projected to plateau at 9 billion in the middle of this century (Godfray et al, 2010). Together with this growing population and increased incomes comes higher consumption and greater demand for processed foods and meat, all of which add to pressure on the food supply system. In Zambia, annual poultry production was estimated at 175 million in the year 2015 (Anonymous, 2016). With an annual output of 25 kg of fresh manure per bird this represents 4,375 million metric tons of manure (Mohamed, 2007). Waste recycling especially in the informal sector has emerged as a livelihood and poverty reduction strategy in the absence of official recycling systems (Uddin & Gutberlet, 2018)
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