Utilization of hydrolyzed feather meal and chicken manure treated with micro-thermal method as recycled organic fertilizer

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The by-products of egg production are one of the most usable raw materials for organic fertilizer. Currently they are not used as effective fertilizers. The most of chicken manure is used as fertilizer on egg production farms in combination with mineral fertilizers. Such utilization of by-products is causing significant local environmental problems. The feathers are delivered to rendering companies which are in many cases mixing them with other animal by-products. However, then it is not possible to get optimal benefit from this high value protein.

There have been several projects focusing on recycling of food industry by-products. We have processed chicken manure (Fertilex Ltd) with micro thermal method developed by DTS Finland Ltd. At the first time we got chicken manure with about 4 % total nitrogen but in later trials it was possible to get a product which contained 6-7 % total N (Canasta project 2021-2023).

In another project (Honkajoki Ltd) feather meal was hydrolyzed and it contained 14,2 % of total nitrogen. Previous studies have shown that 90 % of feather dry weight consists of crude keratin protein, and feathers contain about 15 % total N (Papadopoulos et al., 1985, 1986). Keratin N is not usable as nitrogen fertilizer because keratin is a stable protein.

Pot trial in research greenhouse

We prepared a pot trial to find out what kind of fertilizers these developed products are. The treatments were hydrolyzed feather meal, meat bone meal (MBM), chicken manure pellets, DTS chicken manure and mineral fertilizer as control fertilizer. Hydrolyzed feather meal gave 80 % yield of mineral fertilizer which was as good as with MBM. The yield of DTS chicken manure was 5 % less compared to MBM but it was better than pelletized chicken manure.

In this trial we were not able to use mixture of DTS chicken manure and hydrolyzed feather meal but if it is possible to make this kind of product. It would be suitable fertilizer at least for organic farming. Consequently, recycling of egg production nutrients becomes much more efficient.

These projects were funded by the Programme for nutrient recycling of the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry and Environment in Finland as well as Honkajoki Ltd.

 

How to cite: Kivelä, J. et al: Utilization of hydrolyzed feather meal and chicken manure treated with micro-thermal method as recycled organic fertilizer, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 April 2024, EGU24-,