Objective of Pellet Production from Lignocellulosic material Developing a resource and energy efficient technology to produce pellets from lignocellulosic material as bedding for livestock farming such as poultry or cattle is one important aim of the Organic-PLUS project. Conventional bedding pellets for poultry usually consist of a mixture of wood shavings or wood chips and chopped straw which is not certified organic and can contain considerable amounts of herbicides and pesticides, which would be seen as contentious by organic consumers. For cattle often chopped and baled straw is used which can be longer and rougher than the one used for poultry. An additional worry is that cattle may eat conventional bedding straw and the pesticides may get in the organic food chain. Therefore, there is urgent need for alternatives. Organic straw is usually not produced in high quantity, therefore more expensive and difficult to source. In addition, transportation costs of organic straw can be high when shipped from locations far away. Because of a favourable climate, arable farming and straw is often found in dry and lowland areas while livestock farming is more frequent in rainy or mountainous areas. However, trees and agroforestry systems can equally be grown in rainy or mountainous areas and therefore local processing supply chains can be established to produce pellets to replace straw with processed woody (lignocellulosic) plant material. This is also true in areas too dry for cereals like in many parts of Southern Europe were woody material is available from draught tolerant trees like olives. Here again livestock is used e.g. in the Dehesa system and although free-range grazing requires little straw some is still necessary for raising young stock in cattle and poultry (calf and pullet rearing). To achieve this a variety of plant sources across the Organic-PLUS European partners is tested for is suitability as a straw replacement in bedding. Using existing technology, properties of bedding pellets can be improved if processed from lignocellulosic material with an extruder and pelletising plant at exact settings. An additional line of inquiry is if the plant sources have beneficial properties for animal health, and if so specific agroforestry plantings with trees or shrubs suitable to provide this additional benefits could be planted. As leader of task 4.3, “Development of alternative/new bedding materials from agroforestry” the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) is leading this wo...
