Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Levels in Outdoor Runs in Organic Laying Farms

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Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Levels in Outdoor Runs in Organic Laying Farms
by Michele Zoli 1,*ORCID,Paolo Mantovi 2,Paolo Ferrari 2,Lorenzo Ferrari 1ORCID andValentina Ferrante 1ORCID
1
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy
2
Fondazione CRPA Studi Ricerche, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2023, 13(3), 401; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13030401
Received: 28 November 2022 / Revised: 16 January 2023 / Accepted: 19 January 2023 / Published: 25 January 2023
(This article belongs to the Section Animal System and Management)
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Organic egg production is growing more and more, and consumers are increasingly attentive to sustainability issues and animal welfare. In organic production, laying hens must have continuous daytime access to outdoor runs. However, the management of this area is not always easy due to the high load of nutrients due to the feces of the hens. This work, including the FreeBirds project, aims to assess the nutrient load of the free range of three different Italian organic farms in three different contexts. The results show that, in all three farms, there is a high load of nitrates and phosphorus in the areas closest to the hen house, while for other chemical parameters, no clear trend was identified. This study shows that further developments are necessary to make the use of free range more homogeneous to avoid nutrient overloads that could cause high impacts, especially freshwater eutrophication.