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Effect of Poultry Litter Amendment on Hatchery Waste Composting

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-4435

Correspondence: K. C. Das, E-mail:kdas{at}engr.uga.edu

Continuous growth of the poultry industry is accompanied by a need to manage large quantities of by-products such as hatchery wastes. Hatchery wastes contain nonfertile eggs, dead chicks, and broken eggshells. Although rendering plants currently use a portion of hatchery waste, large amounts are sent to landfills, which cost the poultry industry millions of dollars each year. As a potential alternative to landfilling, composting was investigated as a method to convert the nutrient rich waste into a stable product for beneficial use.

Hatchery waste was amended with sawdust and yard trimmings and in one treatment with poultry litter (broiler) to determine the feasibility of composting hatchery wastes. Hatchery waste co-composted with poultry litter maintained higher temperatures during the experiment resulting in higher dry matter and volatile solids and greater losses of nitrogen by the end of the composting process. The composted product containing poultry litter had higher levels of plant nutrients such as P, K, and many of the other micronutrients than the product without poultry litter. Both treatments were effective in eliminating 99.99% of Escherichia coli; however, more Salmonella reduction was observed in the treatment containing poultry litter than the treatment without poultry litter.

Key Words: compost • pathogen reduction • hatchery waste • waste management