An Assessment Of The Nutrient Profile Accumulated Laying Hens Manure And Ammonia Emissions Reduction Strategies For Quality Of Egg Production, Resident Safety And Environment In The Rivers West Senatorial District, Nigeria

Unused nitrogen in the manure in the form of uric acid has contributed immensely to ammonia emissions. However, diet manipulation and management (an ideal dietary crude protein) as well as litter treatment with acidifiers and manure removal have been recognized as a means to reduce ammonia emissions from poultry operations. This study was an assessment of the nutrient profile accumulated laying hens waste and ammonia emissions reduction strategies for quality of egg production, resident safety and environment in Rivers West Senatorial District, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to 21 egg producers to obtain relevant information. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result indicated that egg producers had high understanding of choke/offensive odour (57.14%) and air-borne infections (28.5%) respectively. The study also revealed that farmers are aware of the adverse effects of the ammonia emission but lack the ability to easily adopt new innovations and possible ways to reduce ammonia emissions. Training on emission reduction strategies will be a great assistance to farmers. Most egg producers were between the ages of 30 and 50 (57.14%) and had more involvement in egg production and operated small-scale farm. Keyword: Accumulated manure, ammonia emission reduction, egg production and environment. Introduction Over the years in most developing countries including Nigeria, egg producers are usually more concerned with the health and productivity of their flock than the impact of the environmental hazards (ammonia emissions) the egg production process had caused on them, their employee, egg quality and the environment. It is obvious that the inability of the farmers to regulate the level of protein as well as amino acid in the diet is a threat to quality of egg production, resident safety and healthy environment [1]. Ammonia emission is one of the major air quality concerns in the global, national and regional level reported by [2], but does not have any effect on global warming. It has been reported by [3], [4] that ammonia significantly compromises poultry welfare, and in addition to that, it impacts hazardous effects on the health of caretakers and to the environmental ecology. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia is of particular importance because of its potential to create odour and negatively impact air and water quality, animal and human health. However, manipulation of diet formulation and diet management as reported by [1],[5] have been recognized as a means to reduce ammonia emissions from poultry operations. Since chickens can only utilize about 40% of the dietary protein, it seems logical to decrease the level of protein in the diet and the only way to do so, is that the synthetic amino acids must be used to meet the requirement of the limiting amino acid as dilution of amino acids reduces the dietary protein [6]. An ideal protein concept is the only way to reduce dietary protein which in turn decrease fecal N while maintaining egg production parameters as well as environmental sustainability. Ideal protein concept has been used in turkeys by [7], broilers by [8],[9] to determine the optimal level and the proper ratio of each limiting amino acid on retention basis to reduce interactions between amino acids and exclusive feeding of amino acids. There has been a limited research in laying hens in this regard. But an optimal protein diet was reported by [10] for Dekalb Delta Layer at 52 weeks of age supplied a total sulfur amino acid lysine ratio of around 0.85, which was similar to that reported by [11] in Dekalb Delta hens from 40 to 60 weeks of age. So many researchers have succeeded in reducing N excretion by decreasing Cp content in the diet with or without supplemental amino acids [12],[13]. About three to five percentage unit reduction in dietary crude protein reported by [14], [15], [16] has resulted in up to 60% reduction in the total nitrogen excretion from broilers and laying hens with concomitant reductions in ammonia emission [17],[18]. Although, the typical reduction in the crude protein content is around one percent unit. But in laying hen diets, ammonia emission can be reduced by 8-10% [18], [19]. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the level of awareness by egg producers on ammonia emissions and the possible ways to reduce ammonia volatilization from poultry manure to minimize the International Journal of Advanced Research and Publications (IJARP) ISSN: 2456-9992 79 Volume 1 Issue 3, Sep 2017 www.ijarp.org harmful effects of ammonia on animal, human health and the environment. Methodology This study was carried out in the Rivers West senatorial district, Rivers State, Nigeria. Located within longitude 6o50E-7o50E and latitude 5o05N – 5o06N in the low land area of the Niger Delta with dense and thick tropical rainforest vegetation. It is characterized with high atmospheric (ambient) temperature of 27oC and high relative humidity with an average annual rainfall ranging from 2500mm to 3000mm. The study commenced with a structured questionnaire designed to obtain relevant information from 21 egg producers that were randomly selected from 7 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the Rivers West Senatorial District with 3 laying hens houses in each LGA. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of the egg producers Characteristics Frequency Percentages (%)