Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Environmental impact assessment of an Italian vertically integrated

broiler system through a Life Cycle approach
V. Cesari, M. Zucali, A. Sandrucci*, A. Tamburini, L. Bava, I. Toschi

degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali, Universita

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Poultry meat represents one of the most popular meat products in the world and its production is ex-
Received 1 August 2016 pected to increase significantly in the next decades. The Italian broiler sector is characterized by a
Received in revised form vertically integrated intensive production system and a high final weight of broilers in comparison to the
5 December 2016
other European countries. The Life Cycle Assessment method was used to estimate environmental im-
Accepted 7 December 2016
pacts (Global Warming Potential; Acidification; Eutrophication; Terrestrial ecotoxicity; Non-renewable
Available online 13 December 2016
fossil energy) of 1 kg of broiler carcass weight at slaughterhouse gate in an Italian integrated broiler
group. Moreover, the effects of final live weight and stocking density on the impacts were studied. Broiler
Keywords:
Environmental impact
fattening resulted the most impactful phase for all the impact categories, contributing on average for 87%
Life Cycle Assessment of impacts. Conversely, the hatchery, breeder rearing and slaughtering phases moderately concurred to
Broiler production impact categories. Heavy broilers (roasters) showed the higher impacts per kg live weight compared to
Poultry meat light and medium live weight broilers mainly due to the worse feed conversion ratio. The main
contribution to environmental impacts in the fattening phase was feed production and processing; in
particular purchased protein feeds, mainly soybean meal, were the greatest single contributor to all
impact categories. The reduction of final live weight of Italian broilers from 2.6 kg to 1.6 kg could lower
the total Global Warming Potential of the Italian broiler sector by about 12%. In the scenario analysis the
increasing stocking density up to the maximum allowed determined only slight effects on the envi-
ronmental impacts per kg carcass weight.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction productions, despite their importance, contribute for just 8% to the

The world demand for animal products is increasing in response
to growing population and income, especially in developing
countries (Gerber et al., 2013). In particular, poultry meat repre-
sents one of the most consumed animal food products in the world
and the world poultry population is predicted to rise by over 90%
between 2005 and 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012).
The livestock sector significantly contributes to anthropogenic
environmental impact through the emission of pollutants and
greenhouse gases into soil, water and air and through the con-
sumption of non-renewable and limited resources, such as water
and land, mainly for the production of animal feeds.
In terms of greenhouse gas emission, animal productions are
responsible for 14.5% of human-induced Global Warming Potential
(GWP), expressed as CO2 equivalents; but poultry meat and egg
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: anna.sandrucci@unimi.it (A. Sandrucci).
livestock sector emissions (Gerber et al., 2013). Poultry meat, in fact,
is one of the most environmentally efficient productions in com-
parison to other animal meat products (Gerber et al., 2013; Nijdam
et al., 2012; Williams et al., 2006), mainly due to the excellent feed
conversion of poultry.
In 2014 in Italy approximately 1,261,000 t of poultry carcass
weight was produced, over 69% of which represented by broiler
meat (AVEC, 2015). With these figures, Italy is largely self-sufficient
(107%) with regard to the supply of poultry meat. Most of the farms
raising broilers are located in the Northern regions of Italy (Veneto,
Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia) and are characterized by modern
strategies of management and high production intensity
(NOMISMA, 2016).
Most of the Italian poultry production (96%, according to
NOMISMA, 2016) is characterized by a completely vertically inte-
grated production system that includes all stages of the production
process, from feed manufacturing to the delivery of poultry meat at
retail level. A high number of poultry farms are controlled by only

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.030
0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911
few firms, which provide animals, feedstuffs, technical and veteri-
nary support to the farmers; in this productive system farmers are
rewarded for their labour and the use of the farm structures (Cozzi
and Ragno, 2003). The advantages of the integrated production
system are the increased control of markets, the optimisation of
poultry production through modern management strategies and
technologies, the improvement of product quality and the reduc-
tion of the transaction costs of exchanges at different stages of the
value chain.
The Italian poultry sector, and in particular broiler production, is
characterized by medium-high slaughtering weight of birds, among
the highest in the EU according to van Horne and Bondt (2014).
Basile (2015) reported that in 2014 more than 80% of broiler live
weight (LW) slaughtered in Italy was covered by medium and
heavy broilers (3 kg LW on average) and the average final LW of
Italian broilers was 2.6 kg.
Intensive broiler production is dependent on concentrated feed
derived from crop production, processing and transportation that
take place mainly out of farm. As a consequence the upstream feed
production processes are responsible for the main part of the
environmental impacts associated with the broiler production
chain (Bengtsson and Seddon, 2013; Katajajuuri, 2007; Pelletier,
2008). For this reason the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach
is the most suitable method for evaluating the environmental
impact of poultry production. Several studies are available in the
international literature on the assessment of the environmental
impact of broiler meat production in intensive systems with a LCA
methodology (Baumgartner et al., 2008; da Silva et al., 2014;
Gonz alez-García et al., 2014; Katajajuuri, 2007; Leinonen et al.,
2012; Pelletier, 2008). However, most of the analyses are referred
to lighter broilers, and cover only the chain from ‘cradle to farm
gate’, excluding the downstream processes as slaughtering and
packaging.
Productive performances (feed intake, feed conversion rate, live
weight gain, mortality), manure management, energy costs and
stocking density are identified as drivers which play an important
role in the environmental impact of the broiler sector (Bengtsson
and Seddon, 2013; da Silva et al., 2014; Leinonen et al., 2014).
Concerning stocking density, the Council Directive 2007/43/EC
of the European Union, laying down minimum rules for the
protection of chickens kept for meat production, fixes the
maximum stocking density in the broiler farms that, at any time,
must not exceed 33 kg/m2. Chickens could be kept at a higher
stocking density (up to a maximum of 42 kg/m2) if additional
conditions regarding management, monitoring, animal welfare
and mortality can be guaranteed. Increasing stocking density can
have a positive economic impact for industry, as revenues per
unit of space increase linearly with density. Higher densities,
however, may compromise poultry health and welfare; as a
consequence, returns per unit of space in broiler production tend
to plateau if density is excessive (Estevez, 2007). The relationship
between stocking density and environmental impact of broiler
production in a Life Cycle Assessment perspective was investi-
gated in a few studies but only at low density levels (e.g.,
Leinonen et al., 2014).
The aim of the study was to evaluate the environmental impact
of Italian broiler meat production in a vertically integrated system
through a cradle to slaughterhouse gate Life Cycle approach.
Considering the high final live weight of Italian broilers, the effect of
slaughter weight on environmental impacts was assessed. More-
over, the mitigation potential of the sector’s Global Warming was
evaluated in the perspective of the reduction of slaughtering
weight. Lastly, a scenario analysis was performed to study the ef-
fects of increasing stocking density on the environmental impact of
broiler meat production.
905
2. Material and methods
2.1. Impacts of broiler meat production at slaughterhouse gate
2.1.1. Goal and scope definition
The goal of the study was to apply the attributional LCA meth-
odology in order to evaluate the environmental impact of broiler
meat production in Italy in terms of Global Warming Potential,
Acidification, Eutrophication, Terrestrial ecotoxicity potentials and
Non-renewable fossil energy use. The functional unit was 1 kg of
carcass weight (CW) at slaughterhouse gate.
2.1.2. System description
Data were collected in a vertically integrated broiler group
(Avicola Alimentare Monteverde S.r.l., Rovato, Italy) located in
Lombardy, that produced in 2015 about 15 million of broilers,
approximately 3% of the national slaughtered heads (Basile, 2015).
According to the data of NOMISMA (2016), the studied group can be
considered representative of the Italian broiler production system
both in terms of vertically integrated organization and for its
location (Northern Italy). The integrated system includes all stages
of production: a feed industry, 9 breeder farms, a hatchery, 80
broiler fattening farms and a slaughterhouse. The broiler hybrids
utilized were Ross 308. The details of production parameters, ob-
tained through personal interviews to the owners of the broiler
group, are showed in Table 1.
One-day-old parent birds, provided by a breeding company
located in Germany, were reared in the breeder farms on litter.
Commercial broilers were reared on sawdust as litter in environ-
mentally controlled houses. The animals had free access to water
and commercial pelleted diets, formulated to meet nutritional re-
quirements for all animal categories. The day-old hybrid broiler
chicks were grown to appropriate market age and weight. In
particular, broilers (Table 1) were slaughtered at 32 days with a LW
of 1.6 kg (light broilers), at 40 days with a LW of 2.5 kg (medium
broilers) and at 53 days with a LW of 3.8 kg (roasters, i.e. heavy
broilers).
Animal rearing followed the indication of European Directive
2007/43/EC that specifies the rules for the protection of chickens
reared for meat production, providing the minimal standards
required. In particular, the final stocking density applied was 25 kg/
m2 for pullets, 28 kg/m2 for breeders and 33 kg/m2 for broiler
production (Table 1).
The slaughterhouse produced rotisserie chickens from light
birds, chicken parts from medium broilers and whole chickens from
roasters.
2.1.3. System boundaries, allocation and LCA inventory
The system boundaries included the entire life cycle of broilers,
the upstream and the downstream processes (from parents rearing
to slaughterhouse and packaging), using 1 kg Carcass Weight (CW)
as functional unit as suggested by LEAP (2014) for the LCA assess-
ments at the stage of leaving the meat processing plants. All direct
and indirect inputs and emissions arising from the production and
processing of feeds, energy sources, bedding and packaging mate-
rials were considered. According to Pelletier et al. (2014), produc-
tion and maintenance of machinery and buildings were not
included. Similarly, animal drugs and the production of one-day-
old chicks entering the breeder farms were not considered in the
assessment. Details of the system boundaries are presented in Fig. 1.
Within the broiler system studied, manure produced by all
breeder and fattening farms followed two destinations: about half
of the total amount produced by the farms was given to make
compost (even if compost production was not considered inside the
system boundaries), the other 50% of the manure was utilized as
906 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911

Table 1
Average performances of the broiler production system studied.

Item Breeder farms Fattening farms

Pullets Breeders Light broilers Medium broilers Roastersa

Animals no. 113,000 105,000 4,509,000 3,636,000 6,399,000

Rearing period d 154 294 32 40 53
Average final live weight kg 2.6 4.1 1.6 2.5 3.8
Dressing percentageb e e 67 68 70
Feed intake, as fed kg/head 10.6 45.8 2.40 4.08 7.14
FCRc e e 1.50 1.63 1.88
Mortality % 6.0 12.0 2.5 2.5 4.0
Production cycles no./year 1.88 0.92 4.8 4.8 4.8
Final stocking density kg LWd/m2 25 28 33 33 33
a
Heavy broilers.
b
Carcass weight/Live weight *100.
c
Feed Conversion Ratio expressed as g feed intake (as fed) per g weight gain.
d
Live weight.

All the information regarding activities at the slaughterhouse, in

Fig. 1. System boundaries (T ¼ transportation; dashed lines ¼ items out of the system).
organic fertilizer for maize production. All maize produced was
used as meal for chicken rations.
The majority of feeding ingredients (Table 2) came from Euro-
pean countries, whereas protein feeds, mainly soybean meal,
originated from Brazil. Direct land use change (LUC) for soybean
meal and soybean oil was considered in the assessment using the
value reported by the Agri-footprint database (Soybean, at farm/BR
Economic, Blonk Consultants, 2014). Transports of feeds and ani-
mals were included in the calculation.
particular energy consumptions, were considered. The packaging
phase was included in the system boundaries; in particular pack-
aging materials were expandable polystyrene (EPS), packaging film,
corrugate boxes and craft paper.
Primary data were collected through personal interviews to the
owners to gather information about: production performances
(feed intake, feed conversion rate, live weight gain, mortality), diet
composition (ingredients, protein, energy), housing system,
manure storage and management, external inputs (i.e: feeds, fer-
tilizers, bedding materials, etc) and energy consumption (hatchery,
breeder rearing, broiler fattening and slaughterhouse).
The environmental impacts were not allocated but they were
entirely attributed to chicken meat, the unique product of the
vertically integrated system. Wastes from slaughterhouse
addressed to pet food (neck, head, blood, skin and viscera), part of
manure (destined to compost) and unfertile eggs were not
considered because of their negligible economic value. The weight
of broilers dead during the fattening cycle was excluded from the
total live weight at farm gate.
2.1.4. Emission estimation
The number of animals reared was calculated as average annual
population as suggested by IPCC (2006), considering the following
lifetime cycles: 154 d for female chicks before the starting of ovo-
deposition, 294 d for breeders, 32 d for light broilers, 40 d for
medium broilers and 53 for roasters (Table 2). Methane, nitrogen
oxide, ammonia and phosphorous emissions were estimated for
each animal category. Enteric methane emissions were not

Table 2
Origin of the main feed ingredients and partition (%) of ingredients in the feeding rations of the different chicken categories.

Feeds Country of origin Amount (t/year) Breeders Broilers

Pullets (%) Breeders (%) Light broilers (%) Medium broilers (%) Roastersa (%)

Maize meal Italy/Europe 24,715 3.21 12.8 12.8 17.4 53.8

Soybean meal (48% CPb on DMc) Brazil 24,340 0.65 2.60 14.7 20.1 62.0
Sunflower meal Europe 9416 15.2 20.8 64.0
Wheat Italy/Europe 9416 15.2 20.8 64.0
Sorghum Italy/Europe 2300 2.58 10.3 13.2 18.1 55.8
Wheat bran Italy 240 37.5 62.5
Calcium Italy 350 100
Fish meal Europe 100 20.0 80.0
Maize gluten meal Italy 1680 3.54 5.31 13.8 18.9 58.4
Soybean oil Brazil 2060 0.48 2.40 14.7 20.2 62.2
Animal fat Italy 2000 15.2 20.8 64.0
a
Heavy broilers.
b
Crude Protein.
c
Dry Matter.
 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911
considered according to the guidelines of LEAP (2014) and IPCC
(2006).
Manure methane emission was calculated using the equation
proposed by IPCC (2006) and LEAP (2014). Volatile solid excretion
was predicted using feed intake obtained from the interviews, fixed
diet digestibility (80%) and ash content in the manure (15%; Bolan
et al., 2010) using the formula no. 5 from LEAP (2014). The conver-
sion factor for solid storage was 0.67 for all categories (IPCC, 2006).
Nitrogen (N) excretion was calculated starting from dry matter
intake, protein content of the ration and nitrogen retained by animals
following indication of LEAP (2014), which suggested values of N
retained of 0.602 for broilers and 0.588 for hens. Emission of N2O
from manure management was calculated considering the equation
of TIER 2 of IPCC (2006) for solid storage and 0.001 as emission factor.
Ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions from animal housing and
manure management were calculated using the TIER 2 equations of
EEA (2009) on the basis of total N excreted by animals. The N
emission factors, as a proportion of total ammonia nitrogen, were
specified for solid manure and each step of manure handling. Also
N content of bedding material was considered.
Ammonia and NOx emitted during manure spreading and urea
application (100 kg N/ha) on maize were estimated according to
EAA guidelines (2009). The amount of N leached was estimated
following the IPCC (2006) model. To estimate emissions of PO3 4 ,
the amount of phosphorus lost in dissolved form to surface water
(run-off) and leached was considered as proposed by Nemecek and
Ka€gi (2007), considering P excretion of each animal (0.26 g/d).
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fuel combustion were
estimated on the basis of fuel consumption declared in all processes
of the vertically integrated farming system. Emissions occurring
during field operations for maize cultivation were estimated
modifying the processes of the Ecoinvent (2013) database. Emis-
sions from livestock respiration and the variation in soil carbon
stocks were not taken into consideration.
The emissions related to the production of commercial feed
materials (from crop growing to feed factory processing), bedding
material, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, diesel and electricity used
in the integrated farming system were quantified mainly using data
from Ecoinvent V3 (2013) and Agri-footprint (Blonk Consultants,
2014) database.
2.1.5. Impact assessment
The selected environmental impact categories were Global
Warming Potential, Acidification, Eutrophication, Terrestrial eco-
toxicity potentials and Non-renewable fossil energy use. These
impact categories were evaluated using the CML-IA baseline
method (V3.01). In addition, Non-renewable fossil energy was
calculated with Cumulative Energy Demand (V1.08) methods. The
 Consultants, 2014) was used to process
SimaPro 8.0.3 software (PRe
the inventories.
2.2. Impacts of broilers of different live weight at fattening farm
gate
In order to compare the impacts originated from the different
final LW categories of broilers a separate impact assessment per kg
of LW was performed limiting the system boundaries to broiler
fattening farm gate excluding breeder rearing, hatchery, slaugh-
terhouse and packaging.
2.3. Mitigation potential of the Italian sector’s global warming
through the reduction of final broiler live weight
To quantify the mitigation potential of Global Warming of the
Italian broiler meat sector achievable through the reduction of the
907
slaughter LW of broilers, the GWP obtained for the category of light
broilers was applied to the entire Italian broiler production.
2.4. High stocking density scenario analysis
The aim of the scenario analysis was to study the effects of
increasing stocking density on the environmental impact of broiler
meat production. Following the indications of European Directive
2007/43/EC, a stocking density of 42 kg/m2 in the fattening phase
was applied. The higher stocking density was assumed only for
roasters, the most impactful and most represented broiler category
in the system, whereas for the other weight categories (light and
medium broilers) stocking density was not modified. Rearing
period was assumed as the same of the baseline scenario and,
following the indication of Dozier et al. (2005, 2006), dressing
percentage and mortality were supposed to be equal to the baseline
scenario. Conversely, according to Dozier et al. (2005, 2006) a
decrease of feed intake (3.5 g/head), a slight worsening of feed
conversion ratio (þ1.4%) and a decrease of the average final live
weight of roasters (0.13 kg/head), in comparison to the baseline
scenario, were assumed.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Impacts of broiler meat production at slaughterhouse gate
Environmental impacts of the entire integrated broiler produc-
tion system at slaughterhouse gate (including packaging) per kg of
carcass weight are showed in Table 3. According to other studies
(Bengtsson and Seddon, 2013; Katajajuuri, 2007; Pelletier, 2008),
the broiler fattening, and the related feed production, was the
phase that gave the most important contribution to the environ-
mental impact of the broiler production, followed by the breeder
compartment.
The average GWP of the broiler production system, including
slaughtering and packaging, was 5.52 kg CO2 eq. per kg of carcass
weight. In the international literature GWP values per kg of chicken
carcass weight vary approximately from 2.5 to 4.4 kg CO2 eq.
(Bengtsson and Seddon, 2013; da Silva et al., 2014; Gonza lez-García
et al., 2014; Leinonen et al., 2012). However, in some studies
slaughtering and packaging burdens were not considered
(Leinonen et al., 2012) and the effect of land use change for soybean
production was generally omitted or not mentioned. Moreover,
most of the previous analyses were focused on the production of
light-medium broilers: in these studies the average live weight at
slaughtering ranged from 1.9 to 2.5 and the duration of the
fattening cycle from 31 to 42 days. In the present study heavy
broilers (roasters) represented approximately 44% of slaughtered
animals and their average slaughtering LW was very high,
approximately 3.8 kg. The worse Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of
heavy broilers in comparison with light and medium ones is
probably the main cause of the high GWP per kg of carcass weight
of the Italian broiler.
In accordance with the findings of other authors (Bengtsson and
Seddon, 2013; da Silva et al., 2014), the contributions of hatchery
and slaughterhouse compartments to GWP/kg CW were very low
and mostly related to electricity consumption.
Acidification was significantly lower than that reported by da
Silva et al. (2014) and Leinonen et al. (2012, 2014). In particular,
da Silva et al. (2014) pointed out that, in the scientific literature,
large ranges of acidification are reported, mainly because of
different methods used for the estimation of nitrogen and phos-
phorous emissions; due to these differences, comparisons are
difficult. However, the main contribution, also for the acidification
category, was represented by the production of purchased feeds.
908 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911

Table 3
Environmental impacts of the vertically integrated broiler system, expressed per kg of carcass weight at slaughterhouse and as percentage contribution of each system phase.

Impact categories per kg CWa Contribution of the different phases (%)

Breeders Hatchery Broiler fattening Slaughterhouse and packaging

Global warming kg CO2 eq 5.52 4.14 0.42 93.0 2.82

Acidification g SO2 eq 28.4 8.38 0.41 89.1 2.50
Eutrophication g PO3-
4 eq 18.4 6.98 0.15 92.1 0.93
Terrestrial ecotoxicity g 1.4-DCB eq 9.56 4.62 3.34 76.8 18.6
Non-renewable fossil energy MJ 20.3 5.36 1.55 82.0 11.1
a
Carcass Weight.

Eutrophication potential per kg of CW was similar to those re-
ported by da Silva et al. (2014) and Leinonen et al. (2012, 2014).
Terrestrial ecotoxicity was 9.56 g 1,4 DCB eq. per kg CW, in line with
the result obtained by da Silva et al. (2014). Breeder farming,
hatchery and slaughterhouse/packaging compartments contrib-
uted significantly to the impact category of terrestrial ecotoxicity,
with 4.62%, 3.34% and 18.6%, respectively, of total impact.
The total Non-renewable fossil energy use was slightly lower
than the results of Leinonen et al. (2012, 2014). Hatchery and
slaughterhouse gave important contributions to Non-renewable
fossil energy consumption: 1.55% for hatchery and 11.1% for
slaughterhouse. In particular, the latter is similar to the result ob-
tained by Thevenot et al. (2013).
On the basis of impact potentials per kg of carcass weight,
broiler production is confirmed to be a low impact meat produc-
tion, even if the Italian broiler seems to be more impactful of
broilers reared in other countries. According to De Vries and De
Boer (2010) and Nijdam et al. (2012), for climate change, energy
use and land use, the production of 1 kg of beef protein has the
highest impact, followed by pork, whereas chicken has the lowest
impact. Similar conclusions were recently reported by Zucali et al.
(2016) with specific reference to the GWP of livestock sector in
Lombardy.
3.2. Impacts of broilers of different live weight at fattening farm
gate
A separate impact assessment per kg of live weight was per-
formed limiting the system boundaries to broiler fattening farm
gate, excluding breeder rearing, hatchery, slaughterhouse and
packaging.
Roaster was the most impactful chicken production with respect
to all the impacts evaluated (Table 4). This result is due to the longer
production cycle (roasters were slaughtered at 53 d, whereas light
and medium broilers at 32 and 40 d, respectively) and, conse-
quently, to the worsening, with ageing, of FCR, expressed as g feed
intake per g weight gain (1.88 for roasters vs 1.63 and 1.50, for
medium and light broilers, respectively; Table 1). Other authors
observed a reduction of feed efficiency as broiler slaughtering age
increased (Castellini et al., 2012). Nevertheless, the results for GWP
of all broiler categories, including roasters, fall in the range between
2.0 and 5.5 kg CO2 eq/kg LW, reported by Bengtsson and Seddon
(2013) for LCA studies from cradle to farm gate.
The result of GWP for medium broilers was very close to the
value reported by Baumgartner et al. (2008) on chicken of the same
life cycle duration (3.31 kg CO2 eq./kg LW at farm gate; 41 d) with
ration based on soybean meal from Brazil.
Global warming potential reported by da Silva et al. (2014) for
1.92 kg of LW broiler reared in standard intensive conditions in
France (2.22 kg CO2 eq./kg LW at farm gate) was lower than those
obtained for light and medium broilers in this study probably due
the fact that in the French scenario they assumed that soybean
production was not associated with any deforestation-related
emissions. Conversely, for acidification and eutrophication poten-
tials, the results found by da Silva et al. (2014) for French standard
intensive scenario were higher because of worse feed conversion
ratio, despite the similar rearing period.
Feed production gave the most important contribution to all
environmental categories in the broiler fattening (Fig. 2); in
particular production of purchased feeds (both energy and protein
feeds) accounted for 92% of GWP and 76% of acidification potential.
Similarly, Pelletier (2008) found a very important contribution of
feed provision on all impact categories considered in his study.
Analysing the environmental performances along the US broiler
poultry chain, the study showed that the feed production phase
accounted for 80% of the energy use, 82% of greenhouse gas
emissions, 98% of ozone depleting emissions, 96% of acidifying
emissions, and 97% of eutrophying emissions associated with the
cradle-to-farm gate production of broiler. Nguyen et al. (2012) re-
ported that environmental impacts of poultry feed increased with
energy and protein content of the formula but feeds with high
energy and protein contents tend to result in better feed conversion
ratios.
Among the purchased feeds, protein feeds (especially soybean
meal) gave the most important contributions to the environmental
impacts: from 42 to 79% of total impact in the five categories
considered. The high contribution to environmental impact of soy
products was due to land use change and transport. For fishmeal
the high environmental impact was due to the fuel inputs for
fishing and the production of fishmeal, as pointed out by Pelletier
(2008). According to Baumgartner et al. (2008), using grain le-
gumes grown in EU as a protein source in animal feed instead of

Table 4
Environmental impact of broiler production, expressed per kg of live weight (LW) at fattening farm gate.

Impact categories Broiler production

Light broilers 1.6 kg LW Medium broilers 2.5 kg LW Roastersa 3.8 kg LW

Global warming kg CO2 eq 3.03 3.25 3.84

Acidification g SO2 eq 14.3 15.8 19.2
Eutrophication g PO3-
4 eq 10.0 10.6 12.8
Terrestrial ecotoxicity g 1.4-DCB eq 4.80 4.69 5.00
Non-renewable fossil energy MJ 10.2 10.7 12.4
a
Heavy broilers.
 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Global Warming Acidification
Bedding material
Crop production at farm
Purchased protein feeds
Fig. 2. Contributions of different compartments to environmental impact categories (per kg live weight) for broiler production at fattening farm gate.
soybean-based ingredients could decrease the environmental im-
pacts of animal products, especially in terms of GWP, mainly
because of reducing emissions from transports, land trans-
formation and mineral fertilizer application.
In terms of terrestrial ecotoxicity (expressed as g of dichloro-
benzene equivalent) feed production gave a high contribution
(70%) due to emissions of heavy metals during production and
application of fertilizers (da Silva et al., 2014).
3.3. Mitigation potential of the Italian sector’s global warming
through the reduction of final broiler live weight
Starting from the results obtained for broiler production in the
integrated system, a quantification of mitigation potential of GWP
of chicken production at national scale by reducing slaughtering
weight of broilers was performed.
According to Basile (2015) in 2014 the Italian broiler production
was 1248 Mt of live weight; 18.7% of slaughtered birds were light
broilers (1.6 kg LW on average) and 81.3% medium and heavy
broilers (3.0 kg LW on average). The average final LW of Italian
broilers was 2.6 kg. Adopting the GWP values per kg LW obtained
from the system studied (including also breeding and hatchery
phases) the total GWP of the Italian broiler sector at fattening farm
gate is 4.33 Mt CO2 eq.
In the hypothesis that the entire broiler LW production in Italy
was obtained from light broilers (1.6 kg LW), the total GWP for the
Italian broiler sector would be reduced by about 12% (3.81 Mt CO2
eq.) in comparison with the current situation. A final LW of 1.6 kg is
common in tropical areas (Thevenot et al., 2013) and represents
approximately 30% of the US broiler market (Dozier et al., 2006). In
most European countries, the slaughter LW of broiler is between 2
and 2.5 kg. Exceptions are France with a slightly lower LW (1.9 kg)
and Spain with a LW of 2.7 kg (van Horne and Bondt, 2014).
Conversely, in Italy light broilers cover only a small part of total
slaughtered broiler LW (18.7%) and according to the figures of Basile
(2015), the average final LW of Italian broilers is 2.6 kg on average.
The results suggest that reducing life cycle duration and final LW
909
Eutrophication Terrestrial Non-renewable
ecotoxicity fossil energy
Energy use at farm
Purchased energy feeds
Manure and enteric emissions
of broilers could have a mitigation potential in terms of greenhouse
gas emission of the Italian broiler industry. This solution could
permit to optimize the productive efficiency with an improvement
of feed conversion ratio.
3.4. High stocking density scenario analysis
A scenario analysis was performed to assess the effects of
increasing stocking density up to 42 kg/m2 final live weight, the
maximum density allowed by the European legislation, on envi-
ronmental impact of broiler production in the integrated farming
system. The different stocking density was applied only on roaster
production, the most impactful and most represented broiler
category in the studied system. In Table 5 both the impacts of the
sole roaster production at fattening farm gate on kg LW and of the
whole system at slaughterhouse gate on kg CW are reported.
As a consequence of the increased stocking density, the number
of heavy roasters produced in the integrated broiler system could
rise from 6,399,360 to 8,144,640 and the total meat production
could increase from 27,445 t to 31,242 t.
The studies of Dozier et al. (2005, 2006) reported that increased
stocking density, above 25e30 kg/m2, results in decreased weight
gain, reduced feed intake, and worsened feed conversion ratio.
Accordingly to these studies, in the scenario analysis a decrease of
feed intake, a slight worsening of feed conversion ratio and a
decrease of the average final live weight of roaster, in comparison to
the baseline scenario, were assumed.
As a result the increased density caused slightly higher values
(5%, on average) of all impact categories for roaster production per
kg LW at fattening farm gate in comparison with the baseline sce-
nario (Table 5).
Considering the entire integrated broiler system, the high
stocking density scenario determined a slight increase of GWP,
Acidification and Eutrophication per kg CW at slaughterhouse gate
(þ3%, on average) but did not affect the other two impact categories
(Terrestrial ecotoxicity and Non-renewable fossil energy) probably
because the increased production reduced the energy expenditure
910 V. Cesari et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017) 904e911
Table 5
Environmental impacts of the roaster production and of the entire integrated broiler system in the high stocking density scenario.
Impact categories Roastera production at fattening farm gate
High density
b c
kg LW
Global warming kg CO2 eq 4.10
Acidification g SO2 eq 20.2
Eutrophication g PO3-
4 eq 13.4
Terrestrial ecotoxicity g 1.4-DCB eq 5.27
Non-renewable fossil energy MJ 13.0
a
Heavy broilers.
b
Live Weight.
c
Carcass Weight.
per kg CW.
The results obtained from this scenario analysis showed that the
increase in stocking density up to the maximum allowed by the
European legislation increased the total meat production of the
integrated broiler system but did not significantly modify the
environmental impact per kg CW. This means that the intensifica-
tion, even if producing higher yields per unit area, and probably
higher farm revenues, does not lead to advantages in terms of
unitary environmental impacts. Moreover some possible disad-
vantages of high densities in terms of animal welfare have to be
considered. Several authors have reported worsening of health
conditions and animal welfare by increasing bird density (Estevez,
2007). Conversely Dawkins et al. (2004) in a large experiment
concluded that chicken welfare is influenced more by housing
conditions than by stocking density.
4. Conclusions
In conclusion, this study confirmed that the production of
broiler in Italy is more impactful than in other countries, mainly
due to the high age and weight at slaughter. Nevertheless in com-
parison to other meat productions, broiler meat has lower unitary
environmental impacts. This result could suggest the opportunity
of national or supranational policy interventions to promote pro-
duction and consumption of poultry meat, instead of beef and pork,
to reduce GHG emissions from livestock productions; however care
is needed because different meat products have different nutri-
tional properties and fill different roles for consumers.
Along the production chain, broiler fattening, and the related
feed production, is the most impactful phase; on the contrary
hatchery, slaughterhouse and packaging impacted slightly, espe-
cially in terms of Global Warming, Acidification and Eutrophication
per kg of carcass weight. Heavy broilers (roasters) showed the
higher impacts per kg of live weight compared to light and medium
broilers mainly due to the worse feed conversion ratio. The main
contribution to environmental impacts in the fattening phase was
represented by feed production and processing; in particular pur-
chased protein feeds, especially soybean meal, significantly affected
global warming potential. For this reason, it could be interesting to
evaluate the partial substitution of soybean meal with other protein
sources although the high protein and amino acid requirements of
modern broiler hybrids make difficult to implement this strategy.
The results confirmed that feed production, type of protein feed,
feed conversion ratio and slaughter weight have a strong influence
on the environmental impact of broiler production. One of the
strategy to decrease the environmental impact of the Italian broiler
sector could be the reduction of slaughter weight and age in order
to improve feed efficiency. This strategy, applied at national level,
could reduce the global warming potential of the broiler industry
by approximately 12%. However, at the moment, the major
Integrated broiler system at slaughterhouse gate
High density vs baseline scenario High density High density vs baseline scenario
% kg CW %
5.31 5.72 3.41
4.64 29.2 2.57
4.91 19.0 3.10
5.08 9.52 0.47
5.17 20.6 1.47
limitation is represented by the Italian market demand for heavy
broilers.
The intensification of broiler production through increased
stocking density up to the maximum allowed did not lead to a
significant reduction of the unitary environmental impacts, mainly
because of the worsening feed conversion ratio. Moreover some
possible disadvantages of high densities in terms of animal welfare
have to be considered.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Avicola Alimentare Monteverde
S.r.l. (Rovato, Italy) for having made available theirs company’s data.
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