Project overview
The Australian chicken meat industry produces an estimated 1 million tonnes of poultry litter (manure and spent bedding material) every year.
This material is generally considered a by-product rather than a waste, and has a modest economic value to the industry.
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) engaged Premise to develop a user guide covering the range of best practice spent litter utilisation options.
Premise reviewed the findings of previous field studies and categorised this information within the following broad topics:
- Typical characteristics of poultry litter production in Australia
- Land application of poultry litter
- Reuse of poultry litter
- Energy generation from litter
This information was used to generate the following spent litter management guides for growers:
- A user’s guide for land application of litter
- An energy recovery user guide
- A litter reuse guide
The user guide provides advice on utilising litter to:
- Maximise a revenue stream
- Use as an energy source
- Provide nutrients and organic matter for crop or pasture production