Environmental impacts of broiler production - A literature review

In Germany, broiler production is practiced almost exclusively in conventional production systems with a couple of tenthousands up to more than twohundredthousand birds per production unit. In the last few years, however, alternative/ecological production systems have gained increasing importance. So far, research has been done on the environmental impact of this conventional production type only. In view of the recent discussion about the environmental impacts of animal production in general, it appears to be necessary to attempt a complexe scientific comparison of the environmental relevance of the different production systems practiced today. The aim of this paper is to summarize available information regarding the environmental consequences of broiler production. Based on this overview, the following important environmental impact categories should be considered when comparing the different production systems: impact on soils (eutrophication and acidification, nutrient regime/soil fertility and increase of heavy metals in the soil); impact on surface and ground waters (nitrate pollution and eutrophication); impact on air quality (concentration of ammonia inside and around the production unit) and climate (concentration and emissions of greenhouse gases); resource depletion (mineral and energetic resources); toxicity for man and environment (use of antibiotics and other feed additives, concentration and emission of ammonia, dust and endotoxins, nitrate pollution of ground water, use of herbicides for feed production).