This study elucidates the present scenario of poultry litter management practices and development of a technique for safe management of litter at farmer’s level. Survey-based data were collected through pre-tested questionnaires from some purposively selected 42 poultry farms erected within the areas of Mymensingh, Gazipur, Netrokona, and Jamalpur districts. A large amount of poultry litters were generated from broiler and layer farms daily. Most of the farmers dumped this litters in open places (50%) which caused a serious environmental and health hazards. A self-aerated composting technique was designed and developed to effectively manage and mitigate the environmental and health hazards evolving from poultry litters. A compost heap was prepared with rice straw, water hyacinth, and poultry litters with the proportion 1:2:4 respectively by weight at the optimum C:N ratio of 30:1 incorporating the provision for air entraining into the bulk compost heap. Temperature and moisture contents at time interval of three days, and pH, C/N ratio, volume, and microbial properties at time interval of seven days were observed throughout the composting period of 60 days. Analysis was accomplished taking representative samples from the compost heap using the random sampling technique. The quality of compost in terms of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and organic carbon was evaluated in accordance with the Indian and Australian Standards. This technique is found environmentally safe, functional and cost-effective. The developed self-aerated composting technique would be an alternative option for safe management of poultry litters for the farmers in the rural areas.
Key words: Poultry litter, water hyacinth, rice straw, litter management, composting
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