Toyota Roof Garden Co., Ltd., a TMC subsidiary, is manufacturing and distributing the product for its 'resQ45' series of manure-composting systems. Sales, starting today, are being conducted through the fertiliser sales routes of Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

In the development process, TMC collected compost samples from around Japan and selected microbes with the strongest deodorising effects, thereby creating a deodoriser with microbes that effectively break down malodorous components such as ammonia as well as butyric acid, propionic acid and other short-chain fatty acids – the sources of the offensive odour unique to swine manure – reducing them by up to 90 per cent. The deodoriser can also break down organic materials such as plant fibres that are slow to degrade, thus hastening the composting process.

In Japan, livestock generates about 90 million tons of manure annually, of which about 20 million tons is swine manure. Composting swine manure creates odours that can have a negative impact on residential areas, thus making the reduction of such odours unique to swine manure an important task.

Besides generating offensive odours, livestock manure can contaminate water supplies and exacerbate global warming, making it essential for livestock farmers to effectively use and appropriately process manure. To aid this process, in 2006 TMC and Aichi-Prefecture-based Menicon Co., Ltd. jointly developed and launched resQ45, which reduces the composting period from 90 days or more to about 45 days and reduces environmental impact.

The newly developed deodoriser will be sold in 9.5-kg bags with a recommended retail price of ¥5,500 per bag. (One bag is roughly appropriate for 10 cubic metres of manure.) TMC projects sales in Japan to reach 3,000 bags in fiscal 2011 and has set annual sales targets of 50,000 bags to be attained by fiscal 2015.

TMC is active in business areas that contribute to environmental preservation, with part of its biotechnology and afforestation businesses—through the development of green technologies—promoting the greening of buildings. Through these activities and through developing new businesses centred on biotechnologies and livestock biomass, TMC intends to continue developing livestock-related products that contribute to enriching the lives of communities and to developing a recycling-based society.

For more information on this product and its efficacy, click here.