Microbial Diversity Associated with Odor Modification for Production of Fertilizers from Chicken Litter

Abstract

Litter from the chicken industry can present several environmental challenges, including offensive odors and runoff into waterways leading to eutrophication. An economically viable solution to the disposal of waste from chicken houses is treatment to produce a natural, granulated fertilizer that can be commercially marketed for garden and commercial use. Odor of the final product is important in consumer acceptance, and an earthy odor is desirable. By understanding and manipulating the microbial processes occurring during this process, it may be possible to modify the odors produced. Geosmin and related volatiles produced by soil actinomycetes are responsible for earthy odors, and actinomycetes are likely to be present in the composting manure. Bacterial communities at each stage of the process were analyzed by culturing studies and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The processing steps changed the culturable bacterial community, but the total community was shown by DGGE to be stable throughout the process. A local agricultural soil was analyzed in parallel as a potential source of geosmin-producing actinomycetes. This agricultural soil had higher microbial diversity than the compost at both the culturable and the molecular levels. Actinomycete bacteria were isolated and analyzed by AromaTrax, a gas chromatography-olfactometry system. This system enables the odor production of individual isolates to be monitored, allowing for rational selection of strains for augmentation experiments to improve the odor of the final fertilizer product.

Effect of organo-mineral fertilizer and poultry litter waste on sugarcane yield and some plant and soil chemical properties

“…Chicken litter is usually recycled as an organic fertilizer or soil amendment for direct application to agricultural land (Enticknap et al, 2006). This residue can be used to improve physical and chemical properties of soil and the productivity of some cultures (Silva et al, 2009).…”

Thermal Inactivation of Desiccation-Adapted Salmonella spp. in Aged Chicken Litter

“…More than 14 million tons of chicken litter is produced annually in the United States (2). Chicken litter is usually recycled as an organic fertilizer or soil amendment for direct application to agricultural land (3). However, chicken litter may contain loads of human pathogens, such as Salmonella spp., that have great potential to directly or indirectly contaminate fresh produce and cause food-borne disease outbreaks (1).…”

The Potential of Antibiotic Alternatives for Enriching Beneficial Microbiota in Litter

“…However in this study, we evaluate the abundance of putative pioneer colonizers in the litter in an effort to explain why multiple flock cycles are usually needed to realize full effects on gut health and performance. A number of reports have described the physiology of poultry litter in regards to nitrogen and carbon cycling including the major microbial groups involved in the processes [37,46,55]. But it is not known how these processes affect persistence or abundance of pathogens or of intestinal bacteria that may be important as pioneer colonizers for chicks.…”

“…Members of the Actinobacteria are likely involved in the decomposition of organic material like wood shavings [45]. They have been found to be key microbes for composting of litter in culture-based studies [37,46] and the shift in bacterial communities over multiple production cycles is not unexpected given the physical differences between fresh and used litter.…”

“…This observation indicates that the litter microbiota is important in developing a healthy intestinal microbiota. While there have been many cultivation-based studies focusing on the presence of specific bacteria in chicken litter [36][37][38][39], it has been difficult to thoroughly characterize the composition of litter due to inadequate traditional culture techniques. Selective media is often not as specific in some instances and too selective to allow certain bacteria to be detected.…”