Final report for ONE21-388
Project Information
This project evaluates the feasibility of producing a value-added fertilizer from WV-sourced poultry litter. This research was pursued for two possible benefits: one to determine if a pelletized product could be an additional profit-producing outlet the poultry industry, and two to determine if the product can be of use to high tunnel growers and gardeners – this could potentially distribute the high-phosphorus litter away from the high-phosphorus soils of West Virginia’s poultry-producing regions. Litter was transported from a WV poultry facility to Kreher Farms in New York where it was pelletized. Once returned to WV the litter was provide to each our of four partner specialty crop producers around the state who used the fertilizer to side dress cabbages. Cabbages were harvested in July or August of 2023 and data was collected on the weight of each cabbage and the sap nitrate concentration was recorded using a nitrate meter. Although sap nitrate readings did not show clear differences between treatments and control. Weight increased with amount of fertilizer applied. All rates of fertilizer applied produced marketable cabbages. Although, several growers expressed interest in our fertilizer product, due to some food safety concerns of the specific produce we produced additional marketability data is needed. Our research provides a beginning example of how poultry producers can work together with specialty crop producers to create a closed-loop system where a poultry byproduct can be used as a fertilizer for specialty crop growers. Our research was shared with vegetable and poultry producers in the state and presented in two different webinars and at our Extension Annual Conference.
This project evaluates the feasibility of producing a value-added fertilizer from WV-sourced poultry litter. To determine feasibility, we will conduct fertilizer response trials and evaluate pathogen reduction from the pelleting process. Response trials will be completed on the farms of our four partnership growers located around the state. We will also distribute bags of fertilizer to local farm and garden outlets to determine the product's marketability. Outreach will be focused on specialty crop growers and the poultry industry in the state.
We are pursuing this data for two possible benefits: one to determine if a pelletized product could be an additional profit-producing outlet for our poultry producers, and two to determine if the product can be of use to high tunnel growers and gardeners – this could potentially distribute the high-phosphorus litter away from the high-phosphorus soils of West Virginia’s poultry-producing regions.
Poultry litter is an excellent nutrient source for crop production. Especially for regions with phosphorus-deficient soils. A common analysis of poultry litter would yield nutrient levels of approximately 50-75-40-6 per ton, representing nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulfur. These analyses can be extremely variable depending on feed source, bedding used, the length of time to raise the birds, and the type of bird raised.
Commercial poultry production in West Virginia is in two geographic regions, the Eastern Panhandle and the Greenbrier Valley. In the northeastern portion of the state broiler production is the dominant industry. In 2019 WV ranked 17th in broiler production, totaling 75 million birds produced. Most of this production is based in a five-county area, with Hardy County, producing approximately half of the total production. The topography of the region is described as ridge and valley. This farmland topography typically leads to a large amount of cropland that has soil-test phosphorus levels in the excessive fertility range, contributing to excess phosphorus runoff.
In our Northeast SARE Partnership Grant, we requested funding to pelletize West Virginia poultry litter and evaluate its nutritional composition before and after pelletizing. Once the litter is in a pelletized form its bulk density decreases, which allows for more efficient transportation. Poultry litter is an inconsistent product, due to the location of waterers and feeders, the nutrient levels may differ throughout the poultry house. A pelletizing process allows for a more uniform consistency of the product.
This project seeks to facilitate nutrient removal from areas of high phosphorus concentration (locations with high levels of poultry production) to lesser areas of concentration (areas without excess phosphorus from poultry production) while providing solutions for poultry growers who need to dispose of the litter, and specialty crop growers who need the litter for fertility. We plan to promote the pelleted material to high tunnel growers and home gardeners.
Cooperators
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- - Technical Advisor
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Research
Pellet Evaluation
Poultry litter was collected from a broiler-producing farm in Hampshire County, West Virginia. This litter was evaluated for moisture content and then transported to Kreher Farms in New York to be pelletized. The litter was evaluated for changes in bulk density, percentage of crumbles or litter not remaining in pelleted form, pellet retention, durability, and stability during storage and transportation. Pelleted poultry litter from an operation in New York will be evaluated in a side-by-side comparison with West Virginia-generated pellets.
In our initial project proposal, we discussed pelletizing two litter types, broiler litter from the Eastern Panhandle, and turkey litter from the Greenbrier Valley. We evaluated turkey litter from several farms in the Greenbrier Valley, but could not find a litter source with a low enough moisture content to go through the pelletizing process at Kreher Farms. Small bags of poultry litter were transported to Kreher Farms to test out the pelletizing process before we transported the full amount, and these trial trips revealed the turkey litter would not be suitable for the pelletizing process. For this reason, we only pelletized one type of litter and we are starting our project with only 3 tons of pelletized litter.
After the litter was pelletized and transported back to West Virginia, our team members scooped and weighed the litter into 40-pound bags that were distributed to our four partner farms: Mountain Harvest Farm in Morgantown, PowderKeg Farm in High View, West Farm in Lewisburg, and Charm Farm in Beverly. Laboratory analysis was completed to determine the nutrient composition of the pelletized litter. Each bag has a product label and a QR code for collecting feedback. Litter Bag Info Sheet
Evaluation of Marketing Product
After growers expressed concern over the food safety of our pelleted project we decided to re-evaluate the marketing portion of our product. The remaining bags were given away to individuals who expressed an interest in the product.
Poultry Litter Pellet Fertility Response Trials
An initial cabbage fertility response trial was planted at Mountain Harvest Farm in Morgantown, WV in 2022. We have changed our target crop to cabbage because of the faster maturity times and ease of harvesting and data collection. WVU Extension has shared a great deal of information on season extension and winter growing and we see the switch to cabbage as our target crop as another way to share these techniques with the producers in the state. Three response rates (75, 150 and 225 lbs N) and a control were evaluated in January of 2023. The harvested cabbage plants were evaluated for total and marketable yield(weight) and sap nitrate concentration was determined by chopping the cabbage wrapper leaves and squeezing the juices onto a nitrate meter.
After analyzing the cabbages harvested from the initial trial, we determined the rates applied to the cabbages were much higher than necessary and the amounts could be lowered for the fertility trials planted in spring of 2023.
In April of 2023, cabbages were planted at four farms across the state: Mountain Harvest Farm in Morgantown, WV, Powderkeg Farms in High View, WV, West Farms in Lewisburg, WV, and Charm Farm in Beverly, WV. In May, the ANR Agents involved with the project spread the pelleted poultry litter around the cabbage plants using 4 different treatments: 75 lb N/A; 100 lb N/A; 150 lb N/A; and a control with no fertilizer. At Mountain Harvest Farm in Morgantown, WV three additional treatments, 75 Lb N/A, 100 Lb N/A and 150 Lb N/A of a comparable commercial poultry litter from Kreher Farms in NY were added. The rate of pelleted litter needed was converted from the rate per acre to the amount of square feet in each replication. The applied amounts were then doubled to account for 50% organic N mineralization. For the 75 lb/A treatment 5.4 lbs of litter was applied equally throughout the planting space, for the 100 lb/A treatment 7.2 lb was applied and for the 150 lb/A treatment 16.2 lb was applied.
The cabbages were planted in 2 rows within a 30' wide garden bed, cabbages were planted every 18." Each farm needed approximately 480 feet of row space, the farm in Morgantown needed additional space due to the extra three treatments of Kreher Farm pelletized litter. It was requested that the farms left the ground bare; however, West Farm in Greenbrier County did apply plastic to the rows. A total of 20 cabbages plants were needed for each treatment, and we included the 4 treatments listed above and replicated each four times for a total of 320 plants needed for each trial. To alleviate any discrepancy between growing methods or seeds, we grew the cabbages ourselves and delivered them to each farm. The planting dates for each farm varied due to slight differences in climate at each location.
Data Collection
Cabbages were harvested in July and August depending on the farm and cabbages were cleaned, the outside leaves and stems were removed, then the cabbages were weighed, and the sap nitrate concentration was determined using a nitrate meter.
Evaluation of Pathogen destruction during Pellet Production
To determine the microbial composition of WV poultry litter and the resulting litter after it has been pelleted viable counts of bacteria will be cultured on selective media. Target organisms include Salmonella sp. and Escherichia coli. The 20 gram of poultry litter samples will be mixed 100 ml of buffered peptone water and stomached for 2 minutes. The filtered solution will be spread-plated onto XLT-4 and MacConkey agars for Salmonella and E.coli, respectively. Typical colonies from the plates will be further identified using latex agglutination test and multiple-channel biochemistry test such as Enterotube II and API 20e.
The poultry litter was easily applied to the treatment areas. It was weighed out in plastic bags labeled for each treatment and spread with cups. Growers might find this ease of use to their advantage. The growers who worked with us on this project were happy to receive the litter.
We measured the weight (lb) and the sap nitrate (ppm) of the cabbages planted at four different farms across the state. Due to the availability of help and other extension agent duties at the time the cabbages were all processed in slightly different manners. Unfortunately, the harvesting and data processing fell within the same time frame as the county fair and state fair for all agents involved. The cabbages in Monongalia County, Hampshire County and Greenbrier County were all harvested and processed immediately afterward, but the cabbages in Barbour County had to be frozen before they could be processed. This could account for some differences in the data.
The sap nitrate ratings of the harvested cabbages did not show the clear differences we expected (Graph 1 attached document). This could be a result of previous fertilizer applications to the treatment site or differences in soil types; however, we suspect the reliability of the sap nitrate meter may also be at fault. The biggest concern is the control treatment may not be statistically different from the other treatments indicating that the litter did not provide extra nitrogen. However, when observing the cabbage weights, there does seem to be a difference between the control and the litter treatment (Graph 2 attached document). According to the guide that accompanied the nitrate meter we used, at mid-heading stage, when our cabbages were harvested, the desired Sap N rating should be between 700-900 ppm. All the cabbages harvested were well above this amount. This indicates the soil where the cabbages were planted did not need additional nitrogen in the first place. We did ask the participating farms to plant the cabbages in new fields that had not been fertilized, but this type of field may not have been available.
At Mountain Harvest Farm in Monongalia County, we trialed poultry litter from Kreher Farms (labeled NY litter in the graphs) in addition to the litter from our WV broiler farm. This litter had slightly higher rates of Sap N (ppm) but these rates were similar to our WV litter (Graph 3 attached document). The cabbages grown with the WV litter also had similar weights to the cabbages grown with NY (Graph 4 attached).
The trial was not repeated in 2025 due to concern of the food safety of the product.
When evaluated the chicken litter used for the trial had generic E. coli counts of 1.80 log10CFU/gram and a total aerobic plate count of 4.55 log10CFU/gram. No Salmonella was detected, but Campylobacter was detected at 100%.
Litter processed at pelleting facilities goes through a heating and kill step, however, we found out later our litter did not go through a kill step only a pelleting step, hence the increased food safety concern.
From the time the grant was awarded in 2021, until now, we have been gaining information that will hopefully lead to a positive change for poultry growers, specialty crop farmers, and nutrient management. In 2022, we evaluated a pelletized poultry litter from a broiler farm in West Virginia, we also weighed and bagged that litter for distribution to four specialty crop growers around the state. Our specialty fertilizer was used on an initial cabbage trial at Mountain Harvest Farm in Monongalia County. This trial was used to determine the final fertilizer rates for the cabbage trials we completed at four different farms around West Virginia in 2023.
Although, our results from the 2023 fertility trial were not as clear as we hoped. The fertilizer showed similar results to a commercial litter purchased from a New York facility that also sells pelletized litter as a fertilizer.
The concern over food safety led to a halt in the goals of this project. We've had interest from the poultry growers in the state on this potential byproduct. A better approach for this research would be a financial feasibility study on developing a heating processed pelletizer near West Virginia's poultry growing regions so a local product can be developed.
Education & Outreach Activities and Participation Summary
Participation Summary:
Consultations:
Several local West Virginia growers reached out to our project team about using poultry litter in their high tunnel operations as a result of our study. We shared with them the results of the project and the rates of pelleted fertilizer we recommend.
Webinars/Talks/Presentation:
Throughout the project we gave four webinars to local conservation district and conservation agencies on the goals of our project and how our findings could be used in the future. We also shared our research with the WVU Extension community at our Annual Conference where agents from around the state were briefed on our study.
Learning Outcomes
The specialty crop farmers who participated in the study are now aware of the poultry litter fertilizer source, and have used it successfully.
Project Outcomes
We are still working on a hopeful change in practices, and promoting an additional income source to poultry growers from a current byproduct. Our local fertilizer produced similar results to a commercial pelletized poultry litter; however, we discovered some food safety concerns with our WV produced litter that halted some of our project goals.
We had several specialty crop farmers express interest in the product simply because it is a local source, we just need to take additional steps to ensure a product that is the best fit for growers. With this research, we have provided an example of a potential local product exchange; local poultry litter producers can turn a by-product, poultry litter, into a profit that benefits other specialty crop growers.
The premise of this project, taking a local byproduct and turning it into a profit that fills a need for other farmers, has a great deal of potential. The additional benefit of moving the poultry litter (a source of excess phosphorus) to farm soils with lower phosphorus levels is a potential bonus, especially here in the Chesapeake Bay region. While we showed the litter had the potential to become an important fertilizer source, more time was needed to fully develop these ideas. In a way this project planted the seed and simply needs more time and personnel to help with it's growth.
Through our research, we answered half of our original question. We established fertilizer rates for the effective use of this product, but should have spent additional time collecting data from our farmers on their thought on the product. Due to the food safety concerns we are missing the marketability data and that information is essential for any next steps taken. To take this research one step further, we should have spent time researching the viability of a local pellet mill to produce the fertilizer. This was not part of our original idea, but would have been more useful in convincing poultry producers to invest additional time in distributing excess poultry litter. It's unlikely producers have enough time to transport litter to pellet mills found in other states so a local mill would be essential.
The idea researched with this product remains one that can be beneficial to both poultry producers and local specialty crop growers. Our team will continue to recommend poultry producers investigate best management practices for their excess manure, and consider using the byproduct as a source of income, but also as a way to move the excess phosphorus found in the manure to farms and gardens that do not have soils high in phosphorus. Pelletized poultry manure is also a viable soil amendment option for specialty crop producers, and recommending this practice will still be encouraged. The most important recommendation developed from this research is one that encourages producers to work together using one producers byproducts as an essential fertilizer for another producer. This would be a great tool for similar regions with large numbers of specialty crop and poultry producers as a pellet mill could be established as a potential co-op benefiting both groups and creating an economic opportunity. From our experience, several local organizations involved in water quality, including land trusts and conservation agencies, have expressed interest in this project and could be potential collaborators.