VALORIZATION OF POULTRY WASTES BY AEROBIC COMPOSTING FOR THE ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

Abstract

One pilot-scale experiment was conducted out to produce good quality compost using poultry litter (PL) with different bulking agents such as rice husk ash (RAH) and sawdust (SD). For this experiment, three square-shaped bins were used with the dimensions of 0.95 m long, 0.93 m wide and 0.83 m high and a total volume of 0.679 m3 . The study was conducted at the research field of the Department of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh from March to June, 2016. To monitor the composting process and evaluate compost quality, some physicochemical parameters such as temperature, moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, volatile solids, total solid, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, potassium were measured at different composting phases. The composting period lasted 75-80 days. Experimental results showed that the final products had excellent physicochemical attributes (carbon and nitrogen ratio, C/N:15.31-24.03, germination index, GI: 84.03–135.13%, total kjeldahl nitrogen, TKN: 1.445-1.72%, organic matter, OM: 41.94-62.24%, total organic carbon, TOC: 24.33-36.10%, pH: 6.96-7.08, EC: 13-14 μS/cm). To achieve good quality compost poultry litter should be used in higher ratios (1.5:1) with bulking agent (RHA and SD). The amount (volume of humidifying agents) and time (frequency) of moisture addition also played an important role during composting. Poultry litter can produce a high quality soil amender having no phytotoxicity. Nevertheless, composting duration and bulking agents and their ratios are crucial factors that determine the quality of the final product. For a typical small-sized poultry farm, having 1500-2000 number of poultry birds, a total area of about 10 m2 is needed to compost the entire annual produced poultry waste.