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Biochar is a porous, carbon-rich material used in livestock production as a feed supplement and for bedding and manure management. Farmers in several countries have used it routinely since 2010, while researchers continue to test when it improves animal health or feed efficiency.
One reason for interest is that biochar fed to animals passes into manure, where it may help retain nutrients before the manure is applied to soil. This guide sets out where biochar is used in animal husbandry, what the evidence supports, and what Malaysian commercial buyers should specify.
Key takeaways
- Biochar is used in livestock production in four ways: as a feed supplement, a litter or bedding amendment, a manure and slurry additive, and a composting input. Each has different quality and regulatory requirements.
- A widely cited 2019 review assessed 112 publications, including 27 studies of regular feeding for performance and animal health. It reported promising effects but noted that many results were not statistically significant and biochar products were often poorly characterised.
- Some feeding trials report improvements in growth, feed efficiency or other measures, while others find little or no effect. Long-term use needs further study, including possible binding of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamin E.
- Published trials have used roughly 0.2–4% of the basal diet by weight. These are study inclusion rates, not a universal recommended dose.
- Activated carbon is not the right material for feed. Activation opens micropores too small to trap the mycotoxins and pathogens that matter in digestion — adding substantial cost without adding function.
- For feed use in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan, buyers should check the Feed Act 2009 and current DVS regulations. Requirements for Sabah and Sarawak should be confirmed with the relevant authorities.
What Is Biochar?
Biochar is a solid, carbon-rich material produced by heating biomass under limited oxygen through pyrolysis, at temperatures typically between 350°C and 1,000°C. Feedstocks include agricultural residues such as palm kernel shell, coconut shell, wood and forestry residues, bamboo and crop wastes.
Importantly for livestock buyers, Schmidt et al. found no scientific basis to prefer one biomass source over another for feed-grade biochar. What matters instead is that the material meets guidelines for degree of carbonisation (H/Corg ratio), carbon and heavy metal content, and PAHs. Both woody and non-woody feedstocks may be suitable for co-feeding when the finished product meets applicable quality and feed requirements.
For a fuller explanation of how biochar is made and how its properties are measured, see our guide to what biochar is.
Where Biochar Is Used in Animal Husbandry
Biochar enters livestock production through four pathways, plus a fifth that links them into a cycle. Evaluate them separately — their objectives, application methods and quality requirements differ.
| Application | How biochar is used | Main benefit | Key consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed supplementation | Mixed into feed or total mixed ration | Digestion, feed efficiency, toxin adsorption, animal health | Feed-grade quality, inclusion rate, regulatory status |
| Litter & bedding | Spread onto bedding or poultry litter | Ammonia control, moisture, hoof health, housing climate | Application rate and particle size |
| Manure & slurry treatment | Mixed into stored manure | Ammonia mitigation, nutrient retention, odour and crust reduction | Biochar chemistry and manure conditions |
| Manure composting | Added during composting | Nutrient retention, lower emissions, compost quality | Composting conditions and application method |
| Feed-to-manure pathway | Consumed, excreted, then land-applied | Nutrient and carbon recycling into soil | Biochar must first be feed-grade |
For commercial buyers this distinction is the most important one: biochar intended for ingestion carries quality and regulatory obligations that litter, manure and soil-application biochar does not.
Can Biochar Be Fed to Livestock?
Yes. Biochar has been fed to cattle, poultry, pigs, sheep, goats and farmed fish in published research, and some producers use feed-grade products commercially. The European Biochar Certificate provides a voluntary feed-quality standard; it does not establish a product's regulatory status in Malaysia.
Schmidt et al. (2019) reviewed 112 publications on biochar in animal feeding, of which 27 were in-vivo studies of regular feeding for performance and animal health. The authors reported a general pattern of positive findings and considered feeding periods of several months to have a low apparent risk with quality-controlled material. They also found many statistically non-significant results, poor characterisation of the biochar used and insufficient evidence for broad long-term recommendations.
Individual studies have reported improvements in growth, digestion, feed efficiency and other measures, but outcomes vary by animal, diet, biochar and study design. The review did not identify statistically significant adverse animal-health effects in the included studies; it nevertheless highlighted possible binding of fat-soluble nutrients and called for more research on long-term feeding. Later trials also include neutral results. Treat the figures below as examples from particular studies, not expected results for every farm.
Whether a product may be supplied or used as animal feed is a separate question. Buyers should confirm the applicable requirements for their location and intended use with the relevant authority.
How Much Biochar Is Used in Animal Feed?
Published trials have used approximately 0.2–4% of the basal diet by weight; around 1% of dietary dry matter appears in several cattle studies. These are reported study rates rather than a recommended dose. The suitable amount, if any, depends on the species, base diet, product specification and regulatory status, and should be set with qualified animal-nutrition advice.
The findings below come from individual studies or field observations. They show what has been reported, not a performance guarantee or a single dosing guide.
| Species | Rate used in cited studies or practice | Illustrative findings |
|---|---|---|
| Cattle | ~0.6–1% of dietary dry matter | 25% higher weight gain over 98 days with 0.6% rice-hull biochar (Leng et al., 2013). A 1% rice-husk biochar supplement increased live weight gain and feed conversion rate by 15% each (Phongphanith & Preston, 2018). |
| Dairy cattle | 100–400 g per cow per day | A survey of farmers managing 21 large herds reported lower somatic cell counts and improvements in milk measures, hoof problems and manure handling. These field observations were not a controlled feeding trial (Gerlach & Schmidt, 2012). |
| Broiler poultry | ~0.3–0.6% of feed | Doses up to 0.6% produced greater, mostly significant weight gain (Kana et al., 2010). A Polish study reported positive results at 0.3% hardwood biochar: higher weight gain, better feed efficiency, higher pectoral muscle protein and significantly lower mortality. |
| Laying hens | ~1% of feed | Improved eggshell strength; ~5% increase in egg production and a 33% increase in egg collagen content with a bamboo biochar–wood vinegar blend. |
| Goats & sheep | ~1% of basal diet | 27% increase in daily weight gain over 100 days (Silivong & Preston, 2016). A separate trial found 20% higher weight gain and improved crude protein intake with bamboo biochar. |
| Pigs | 0.2–4% of diet | Improved gut villi development, cell surface area and cell mitosis compared with controls. |
Where the Evidence Is Still Developing
Two things are worth stating plainly, because a supplier who glosses over them is not a supplier worth trusting.
Enteric methane reduction is not yet a reliable claim. Biochar alone has produced inconsistent results for reducing methane from cattle. A comprehensive University of Edinburgh in-vitro study found a consistent ~5% reduction across five feedstocks and two pyrolysis temperatures, but a feedlot trial at realistic rates of 0.8% and 3% found no significant reduction. Where large reductions have been reproduced, biochar was combined with nitrate as a terminal electron acceptor — methane fell by up to 49%. Treat methane mitigation as a promising research direction, not a purchase justification.
Long-term liposoluble vitamin binding needs monitoring. One study found vitamin E in egg yolk reduced by about 40% in hens fed 0.5% biochar daily, with fat-soluble vitamins A and D3 unaffected. This is the clearest caution in the literature and the reason feeding programmes should be designed with qualified nutrition advice rather than run open-endedly without review. In context, Schmidt et al. judge the risks of quality-controlled biochar feed to be low compared with the pesticide and mycotoxin contamination already ubiquitous in animal feed.
More recent findings also differ by setting. A 2023 ruminant meta-analysis reported improvements in feed conversion and nutrient digestibility, while a 2024 controlled dairy-cow trial found no improvement in performance or methane emissions. For buyers, the practical step is to assess the specific product and feeding programme, with qualified nutrition advice and a plan to monitor results.
Is Biochar the Same as Activated Charcoal?
No — and for feed applications biochar is the more appropriate material, not the cheaper compromise. This surprises buyers who assume activated carbon is simply “better biochar”, so it is worth being precise.
Activated carbon is biochar that has undergone an additional activation step — steam or CO2 above 850°C, or chemical treatment — which raises specific surface area dramatically, from roughly 300 m²/g to over 900 m²/g. That sounds like an advantage until you look at which pores are created.
Activation mainly opens micropores smaller than 2 nm. Mycotoxins, bacterial pathogens and the other higher-molecular-weight substances that matter in animal digestion are too large to diffuse efficiently into pores that size. The research bears this out:
- Biochar dominated by micropores showed lower adsorption capacity for mycotoxins, because the toxins diffuse into the pore system too slowly.
- Highly activated biochar did not reduce the toxic effects of aflatoxin in chickens any more strongly than non-activated biochar.
- Activated coconut biochar fed to goats at 1.5% and 3% produced no significant improvement in feed intake and did not alter microbial community structure.
What actually matters for feed is a high content of accessible meso and macro pores — and, as Schmidt et al. state, “downstream activation is not necessary” to achieve that. It comes from adjusting pyrolysis parameters, with higher meso-porosity generally achieved above 600°C. Pyrolysis temperature is also the main driver of the redox activity thought to underlie several of biochar’s digestive effects, with 600–800°C identified as optimal.
So the cost argument and the performance argument point the same way. Activation adds an energy- and reagent-intensive processing step — and therefore substantial cost per tonne — to produce pore structure that is largely the wrong size for the job. For feed, litter and manure applications, correctly produced biochar is the right specification.
One genuine exception: for acute poisoning or drug overdose, activated carbon administered in aqueous suspension remains the appropriate veterinary treatment. That is emergency medicine, not a feeding programme.
The practical caution runs in the other direction too. Animal-feeding literature frequently conflates the two materials, and studies demonstrating toxin adsorption by activated charcoal are regularly cited as evidence for biochar. Ask for application-specific data on the actual product rather than accepting general claims about carbon and adsorption.
Can Biochar Reduce Ammonia in Poultry Houses and Manure?
Ammonia management is the strongest non-feed case for biochar in livestock production, and one where the operational payoff is immediate: better housing climate, better animal performance, and less nitrogen lost from manure before it reaches the field.
In litter and bedding. Farmers combining biochar with straw or sawdust bedding at 5–10% by volume have reported reduced hoof disease, odours and nutrient losses. Biochar’s porosity and moisture control are the mechanisms most often cited.
In manure and slurry. Even at 0.1% biochar added to a liquid manure pit, farmers report reduced odour, less surface crust and lower nutrient losses. As biochar adsorbs nitrogen-rich compounds it becomes progressively enriched, which is what makes the resulting manure a more valuable fertiliser.
Reported reductions vary considerably between studies, driven by feedstock, pyrolysis conditions, particle size and application strategy. That variation is explained by material properties and application method — both of which are specifiable. Two things follow for buyers. First, application stage matters: a biochar that performs in litter will not automatically perform in storage. Second, ammonia performance cannot be predicted from carbon content or price — particle size and production conditions are at least as influential.
From Feed to Soil: Biochar in a Circular Husbandry System
Biochar’s strongest economic argument in livestock production is that the same tonne of material does work at several stages. It is not consumed at the first step — it is progressively enriched.
Here is what happens at each step. Biochar fed to animals or applied to bedding passes into manure, where it adsorbs nitrogen-rich organic compounds. As it does, its cation exchange capacity and redox activity increase and its interior surfaces become coated with organic nutrients. The result is that biochar-enriched manure is a more valuable fertiliser than manure alone — with lower nutrient losses and lower greenhouse gas emissions during storage and soil application — while the carbon itself remains stable in soil for decades to centuries.
Agricultural and forestry residues with otherwise limited value — palm kernel shell, empty fruit bunch, coconut shell — enter this cycle at the start. But note that the cascade only runs in one direction: it must begin with feed-grade material. Biochar produced for soil use cannot be introduced at the feed stage.
Why Biochar Quality Matters for Animal Applications
Biochar should not be fed without complete analysis and control of the parameters set by applicable feed regulations, carried out by an accredited laboratory specialising in biochar and feed analytics. This is the clearest recommendation in the Schmidt review, and it is the standard Qlean Tech encourages buyers to hold any supplier to.
Two practical handling points come directly from the research. Biochar should be processed and administered moist, to avoid dust formation. Studies have tested different delivery methods and blends, including mixing biochar into feed. Results from a particular blend or route should not be treated as a general feeding instruction; product choice and administration should be reviewed with a qualified nutrition professional.
What Should Buyers Check?
| Property or information | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Feedstock origin | Determines composition and contaminant risk; no feedstock is inherently preferred if limits are met |
| Production / pyrolysis conditions | Influence porosity and redox activity; request test results for the actual product |
| H/Corg ratio | Confirms degree of carbonisation and stability |
| Particle size | Affects handling, mixing and performance in the intended application |
| Moisture & ash content | Core indicators for comparing consistency between suppliers |
| Heavy metals, PAHs & contaminants | Essential wherever the material enters the animal or food chain |
| Batch consistency | Determines whether specifications hold across repeat commercial orders |
| Intended application | Feed, litter, manure and soil applications have different requirements |
| Regulatory status | Direct feed use is subject to animal feed regulation |
Is Biochar Approved as an Animal Feed Additive in Malaysia?
Do not assume that a biochar product is authorised for animal feed because it has been used overseas or meets a voluntary certificate. Classification and documentation depend on the product and intended use.
In Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan, the Feed Act 2009 (Act 698) sets the framework for feed and feed additives. The Department of Veterinary Services lists separate regulations for manufacture and sale, labelling, import licensing, methods of analysis and prohibited substances. Some of these regulations have been amended since 2012; check the current DVS feed-legislation list rather than relying on the original 2012 text alone. The Act's stated geographic scope does not include Sabah or Sarawak, so buyers there should confirm the applicable requirements with the relevant authorities.
Before supplying or using biochar for direct ingestion, confirm its classification, any required registration or licence, testing and labelling requirements with DVS or the relevant local authority. European EBC certification does not replace that check. Products intended for litter, bedding, manure or soil should be assessed for their own intended use; they should not be assumed suitable for feeding.
Qlean Tech Biomass-Derived Biochar
Qlean Tech supplies biomass-derived biochar produced in Malaysia through controlled pyrolysis, with palm kernel shell (PKS) as the primary feedstock and coconut shell, empty fruit bunch (EFB), bamboo and wood available for selected requirements.
Current PKS biochar specification includes fixed carbon of 70% and above. Product specifications, samples, trial orders and commercial-scale supply are available — see the PKS biochar product page for full specifications.
Because performance in livestock applications depends on porosity, particle size and production conditions rather than carbon content alone, we work with buyers to match specification to intended application. For direct animal-feed applications, we will discuss product suitability, testing requirements and applicable feed regulations with you before supply.
How to Specify Biochar for a Livestock Project
Start with the intended application, not the price. A manure-treatment buyer and a feed manufacturer are buying different products. Before requesting a quotation, prepare:
- intended application (feed, litter, manure, composting or soil);
- animal species, where relevant;
- whether the biochar will be ingested or used externally;
- required particle size or physical form;
- expected quantity and delivery schedule;
- feedstock preference;
- required testing or technical documentation; and
- any applicable regulatory requirements.
Sending these details with an enquiry usually removes one or two rounds of back-and-forth before a meaningful quotation can be issued.
References
- Schmidt, H-P., Hagemann, N., Draper, K. & Kammann, C. (2019). The use of biochar in animal feeding. PeerJ, 7:e7373. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7373
- Gerlach, A. & Schmidt, H-P. (2012). The use of biochar in cattle farming. Ithaka Journal.
- Leng, R.A., Preston, T.R. & Inthapanya, S. (2013). Biochar reduces enteric methane and improves growth and feed conversion in local “Yellow” cattle. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 24(11).
- Phongphanith, S. & Preston, T.R. (2018). Effect of rice-wine distillers’ byproduct and biochar on growth performance and methane emissions in local “Yellow” cattle. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 30(4).
- Kana, J.R., Teguia, A., Mungfu, B.M. & Tchoumboue, J. (2010). Growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with graded levels of charcoal. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 43(1), 51–56.
- Silivong, P. & Preston, T.R. (2016). Growth performance of goats was improved when a basal diet of foliage of Bauhinia acuminata was supplemented with biochar. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 28(3).
- Cabeza, I., Waterhouse, T., Sohi, S. & Rooke, J.A. (2018). Effect of biochar produced from different biomass sources on in vitro rumen fermentation. Animal Feed Science and Technology.
- European Biochar Certificate (EBC) — Feed Certificate. european-biochar.org
- International Biochar Initiative — Biochar FAQs. biochar-international.org
- Qomariyah, N. et al. (2023). Dietary biochar as a feed additive for increasing livestock performance: A meta-analysis of in vitro and in vivo experiment. Czech Journal of Animal Science, 68(2), 72–86. doi.org/10.17221/124/2022-CJAS
- Dittmann, M.T. et al. (2024). The effect of biochar supplementation on feed utilization, milk production and methane emission in lactating dairy cows. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 318:116127. doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2024.116127
- Malaysia Feed Act 2009 (Act 698) and current subsidiary regulations, Department of Veterinary Services. DVS feed legislation
