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Animal mortality is an integral part of livestock farming and proper disposal of these mortalities is necessary for effective disease control measures. Various disposal methods are being used throughout the world depending upon the legislations which are followed in different countries. In developing countries like India the most widely used disposal methods are the traditional methods like: burying, burning, incineration, rendering and composting. There are some environmental, biosecurity, social and economic issues associated with these methods. Environmental constraints associated with these disposal methods are like: contamination of air, soil and water particularly due to persistency of some infections like TSE (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalitis) and other prion infections. Social concerns with these traditional disposal methods are: odour and fly menace and contamination of drinking water. Similarly the economic constraints are associated with the alarming increase in the costs of raw materials like: kerosene, diesel and wood for burning. Issues are also related with the labor cost, availability of land and transportation of mortalities to site of disposal. In this review, environment and social issues, biosecurity risks and economic constraints will be discussed for each of these traditional methods.

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Background: Feed is the single largest input which accounts for 60-70% of the total cost of poultry production. Sheep manure is an unconventional feed relatively high in protein and energy levels and can be used in poultry diet to reduce the cost of production. Inclusion of exogenous enzymes will improve its nutritional value as it contains relatively high fibre and utilization by birds. The performance of broiler chicken fed with heat treated sheep manure (HSM) based diets supplement with or without enzyme was studied. Methods: 210 broiler chicks were randomly distributed to five groups viz. T1 (Control), T2: 5% HSM without enzyme, T3: 5% HSM with enzyme, T4: 10% HSM without enzyme and T5: 10% HSM with enzyme containing 42 chicks in each group having three replicates of 14 chicks each. Result: The chemical composition of HSM like Dry matter, Organic matter, Crude protein, Ether extract, Crude fibre, Total ash, NFE, Calcium and Phosphorus were estimated as 90.15±1.85, 71.88±1.62, 15.24±1.23, 4.22±0.86, 17.09±0.92, 28.12±1.32, 35.33±1.28, 1.15±0.08 and 0.48±0.03%. The ME (Kcal/kg) was 1565.33. The final body weight at 6 weeks of age was highest in T3 (1998.25±13.29g) and lowest in T4 (1949.22± 15.14 g). The cumulative feed conversion ratio ranged between 1.79 ± 0.083 in T1 to 1.83 ± 0.078 in T4. The cost of production per kg live weight was highest (Rs. 89.78) in T1 and lowest (Rs. 83.76) in T5 group. The benefit cost ratio was 1.14, 1.17, 1.19, 1.20 and 1.22 for T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 groups respectively.

Present work was carried out in the Department of LPM, FVSc and AH (SKUAST- Kashmir) to assess the feasibility and compost maturity in terms of temperature and bio-mineral (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) changes due to composting of poultry waste under the temperate agro-climatic conditions of Kashmir Valley. Poultry waste in the form of poultry carcass (including feathers) and litter manure was used for this study. Four treatment groups with four replicates each were formulated as: G1: Poultry carcass; litter manure, G2: Poultry carcass; litter manure; Paddy straw, G3: Poultry carcass; litter manure; effective microbes (Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus casei, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Rhodopseudomonas palustris) and G4: Poultry carcass; litter manure; Paddy straw; effective microbes. During the primary stage of composting the group G4 had attained a significantly (P<0.05) highest peak temperature (0C) of 59.0±5.04 and 59.50±5.04 respectively during winter and summer seasons. Significantly (P<0.05) highest nitrogen content of 24.7 g/Kg was observed in group G4 at the end of secondary stage during summer season. The phosphorus content in end product of composting was significantly (P<0.05) highest (1.0 g/Kg) in group G4 during summer season. Similarly significantly (P<0.05) highest K content of 10.23 g/Kg was observed in group G4 during summer season. It was concluded that the addition of paddy straw and effective microbes assistant the composting process and yield better bio-mineral values and higher temperature gain.