Economic Feasibility of Substituting Fresh Poultry Litter for Ammonium Nitrate in Cotton Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chicken broilers are Alabama's number one agricultural commodities, based on total state cash receipts of $1.7 billion in 1997. As of the beginning of the fourth quarter of 1998, the number of broiler chicks hatched was approximately 4 percent greater than in the previous year and total egg production in Alabama was 1.4 percent above the 1997 level. This poultry industry produces enormous amount of litter, which has been utilized as a fertilizer in crop production. The paper evaluates the economic feasibility of substituting broiler litter for ammonium nitrate in cotton production. Data utilized was from a field experiment conducted at Bell Mina Research Station, Alabama 1996–97. Simple linear programming was used for the analysis and sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the level of stability of the results of the basic models. The results indicate that at a maximum distance of 124 miles, fresh litter is a feasible substitute for ammonium nitrate in northern Alabama.