Greenhouse Gas Emissions of One-Day-Old Chick Production

We used life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to assess the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from one-day-old chick production. The system boundary was set from hatching to the farm gate and involved the three main processes as parent farms, chicken feed production, and hatchery processing. The two main objectives were first to accumulate essential data for green supply chain management throughout the three processes of one-day-old chick production, and second, to identify hotspots and find a holistic solution to reduce GHG emissions within the system boundary. Eight combinations of one-day-old chick production were identified. Results determined that GHG emissions varied between 337 and 383 g CO2 eq/day-old chick, depending on the combination. Chicken feed processing caused the highest impact at 45-55% as a result of the protein and energy-rich ingredients in the feed formulas. The replacement of chicken feed ingredients with dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS), peas, cassava root, and cassava leaves was investigated. The best alternative was cassava root, which reduced GHG emissions between 5% and 6%.