Developing a user guide for poultry litter utilisation options

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