Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-66000-002-008-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Sep 25, 2024
End Date: Sep 30, 2028
Objective:
Some poultry producers have started using locally produced, sterile Miscanthus x giganteus bedding for poultry houses. This on-farm bedding production could reduce the import of nutrients to the farm because of the very low nutrient requirement for sterile Miscanthus production and provide a profitable diversification of crop production.
The overall goal of this project is to carry out life cycle analyses under different scenarios using a dataset compiled from this project and previous work to support an interim conservation practice standard for on-farm poultry bedding production and associated improvements in P, N, and C cycling. These analyses will compare sterile Miscanthus crop production with imported wood-derived bedding products.
Approach:
Activities and approach used under this project:
1. Assess the escape potential of M. giganteus (sterile triploid) to surrounding ecosystem, size of natural buffer protecting blue line streams and ditches, removal of established M. giganteus fields on the Delmarva and in North Carolina. No escape has yet been reported.
2. Monitor on-farm nutrient levels in soil and plant material.
3. Examine P redistribution as a function of crop (shallow rooted annual versus deep-rooted, perennial).
4. Carry out APLE modelling of P cycle impacts from on-farm bedding production in fields and border plantings.
5. Evaluate composting options with UMES to produce finished product suitable for export from watersheds with excess P for use in life cycle analysis scenarios.
6. Characterize P removal associated with composting and transport of finished M. giganteus litter. Provide guidance to improve compost finishing techniques to produce a saleable product.
7. Conduct life cycle assessment of farm nutrient and carbon cycling (P, N, C) in M. giganteus use with comparison to current methods (e.g., wood chip poultry house bedding)
