Poultry manure may not immediately be associated with innovative food production, but within the BIOBOOST-PRO project co-funded by the Interreg North-West Europe Programme, which supports transnational cooperation to accelerate the transition to more sustainable agricultural models, it becomes a valuable resource in creating a more circular and sustainable food system. The Experimental Poultry Centre (EPC) is one of the Belgian partners helping connect the poultry sector with innovative food production methods such as bioponics: growing plants with organic nutrient solutions instead of conventional chemical fertilisers.
Giving Poultry Manure a Second Life
One of EPC’s contributions to BIOBOOST-PRO is supplying poultry manure for the pilot installation at the University of Liège in Gembloux. For the purpose of the project, the manure is processed and transformed into nutrients that can be used to grow crops in bioponic systems. In this way, valuable nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are recuperated and reused locally to support more sustainable food production.
The EPC has its own poultry research facilities, housing up to 30,000 laying hens and 42,000 broiler chickens. Layers are kept for egg production, while broilers are raised for meat production, and differences in their housing and management also influence the type of manure they produce.
From Hen House to Greenhouse
Laying hens are housed in modern multitier systems where they can move freely between different levels equipped with feeding lines, drinking systems, nesting areas, and perches. They dispose of enrichment materials to encourage natural behaviour. An important advantage for the BIOBOOST-PRO project is that manure can be continuously collected via manure belts underneath the tiers. An aeration system at the level of the manure belts ensures the manure is already partly dried before it leaves the hen house. As a standard practice at the EPC, the manure is automatically removed from the belts twice a week, resulting in a relatively dry and clean manure stream that is well suited for nutrient recovery and further processing in the project’s pilot installation.
Broilers, on the other hand, are housed in floor systems with bedding materials such as straw or wood shavings. Their manure becomes mixed with this additional organic material and is only removed after each production cycle (i.e. every 6–7 weeks), making it more difficult to process in the digestion system used within BIOBOOST-PRO. For this reason, the project focuses on using manure from laying hens in the pilot installation.
Why This Matters
Agriculture is facing growing pressure to reduce waste, improve nutrient efficiency, and become less dependent on synthetic fertilisers. Developing circular fertilizers derived from livestock manure is one of the pathways that projects like BIOBOOST-PRO are actively exploring. They show that solutions can often be found by reconnecting sectors that traditionally operate separately. In this case, poultry farming and horticulture become part of the same circular story.
EPC helps make that connection possible by turning poultry manure into a valuable resource for bioponics to further sustainable crop production and support the transition towards a more circular food system.
Want to learn more about BIOBOOST-PRO and its pilot sites? Follow the project’s progress and explore our resources here.