A recently announced three-year project will see researchers with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry investigate practical dietary strategies to reduce ammonia emissions associated with egg production. The project, which could be the most comprehensive study of the issue ever conducted in Canada, will seek to find practical and cost-effective dietary strategies to reduce ammonia emission intensity by as much as 25 per cent.
The project will be led by Eduardo Beltranena, research scientist with the Livestock Research Section, who sees environmental footprint of feed as one of the emerging frontiers in animal nutrition. According to Beltranena, feed costs represent 70 per cent of the cost of production for poultry producers, but feed is also responsible for a considerable part of the environmental footprint of livestock production. Beltranena adds, “Ammonia emissions are heavily influenced by decisions made at the farm-level, specifically the feeding program. We’re trying to identify practical things that farmers and nutritionists can do tomorrow to reduce ammonia emissions, but still increase profitability.”
In 2013, Environment Canada reported that approximately 65 per cent of the nearly 500,000 tonnes of ammonia emitted from human activities in Canada was attributable to food animal production. While chicken and egg production together account for only two per cent of total livestock emissions, ammonia is still an important environmental issue for the poultry industry.
“Managing environmental footprint - which includes ammonia emissions, is a key feature of the egg industry’s comprehensive sustainability strategy’” says Jenna Griffin, industry development officer with the Egg Farmers of Alberta. “Our producers recognize that for the industry to be truly sustainable, we need to take a holistic view that includes economic, social, and environmental elements,” says Griffin. “Our research committee saw a really good fit between this project and the ‘Healthy Farms’ pillar of our Sustainability Strategy.” The Egg Farmers of Alberta Sustainability Strategy is publicly available through their website.
Ammonia emissions are known to be affected by housing system, with free run systems generally emitting more ammonia than cage systems. Many Alberta egg producers are in the process of planning barn renovations and are carefully weighing their housing options. Matt Oryschak, research associate and co-investigator on the project, also with the Livestock Research Section, points out that a dietary approach to reducing ammonia emissions should prove effective across all housing systems. “The biochemical and nutritional principles don’t change, so we’re confident that what works in one system should work in others,” says Oryschak. In 2013, the Alberta egg industry became the first in Canada to introduce a policy that would phase out conventional cage systems beginning in December of 2014, and is eager for options to address the potential ammonia impact of the shift.
Source : Agriculture and Forestry