How can we improve the environmental sustainability of poultry production?
The review presents results of recent life cycle assessment studies aiming to quantify and improve the environmental performance of UK poultry production systems, including broiler meat, egg and turkey meat production. Although poultry production has been found to be relatively environmentally friendly compared with the production of other livestock commodities, it still contributes to environmental impacts, such as global warming, eutrophication and acidification. Amongst different sub-processes, feed production and transport contributes about 70 % to the global warming potential of poultry systems, whereas manure management contributes about 40-60 % to their eutrophication potential and acidification potential, respectively. All these impacts can be reduced by improving the feed efficiency, either by changing the birds through genetic selection or by making the feed more digestible (e.g. by using additives such as enzymes). However, although genetic selection has the potential to reduce the resources needed for broiler production (including feed consumption), the changing need of certain feed ingredients, most notably protein sources as a result of changes in bird requirements may limit the benefits of this strategy. The use of alternative feed ingredients, such as locally grown protein crops and agricultural by-products, as a replacement of South American grown soya, can potentially also lead to improvements in several environmental impact categories, as long as such feeding strategies have no negative effect on bird performance. Other management options, such as improving poultry housing and new strategies for manure management have also the potential to further improve the environmental sustainability of the poultry industries in Europe.
['Leinonen|Ilkka|I|', 'Kyriazakis|Ilias|I|']
D000821:Animal Feed D000822:Animal Husbandry D000818:Animals D002645:Chickens D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources D004777:Environment D005524:Food Technology D057232:Global Warming D008372:Manure D011200:Poultry D014422:Turkeys
Life cycle assessment Environmental impacts Poultry systems Feed ingredients AP acidification potential CO2
                carbon dioxide DDGS dried distillers grains with solubles EP eutrophication potential GHG greenhouse gas GWP global warming potential LCA life cycle assessment LUC land use changes ME metabolisable energy NH3
                ammonia