Systems for Controlling Air Pollutant Emission and Indoor Environments of Poultry, Swine, and Dairy Facilities

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Progress continues being made toward collecting baseline air emissions data for U.S. animal feeding operations. However, information gaps remain in the literature concerning air emissions from certain animal species and operational situations. While baseline air emissions data are imperative to improving the accuracy of national air emissions inventory, cost-effectively alleviating environmental footprint of animal feeding operations is the ultimate way to sustain and ensure sound development of animal production agriculture. These fundamental and practical needs constitute the rationale for our research endeavors. Implementation of the project will bring about the following expected outputs: a) collection of baseline data on air emissions for certain animal (particularly poultry) feeding operations; b) demonstration of efficacy and viability of certain air emission mitigation technologies for animal (particularly poultry) feeding operations; and c) quantification of behavioral, thermoregulatory and production responses of poultry (particularly laying hens) and production sustainability to various environmental and management schemes that aim to enhance animal welfare. Air emissions of ammonia and particulate matters from commercial turkey barns in the Midwest will be continuously quantified for one year. Mobile air emissions monitoring units will be used in the extensive monitoring. Production performance of the flocks (feed intake, body weight, water consumption, mortality, and feed conversion) along with the environmental variables will also be measured. The air emissions will be presented as daily values, cumulative emission over a flock, and annual mean emission per bird marketed. The results will be compared with those for other poultry species, especially floor-raised broilers. Potential mitigation technologies that show good promise under lab testing will be evaluated or verified under commercial production settings. One of the technologies that will undergo field evaluation or demonstration initially is dietary manipulations on laying hens. The technologies will be evaluated in terms of their impacts on gaseous (ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide) emissions, bird production performance, manure nutrient contents and fertilizer values, and production economics associated with the adoption of such a technology. Mobile air emissions monitoring unit and flux chambers will be used in quantifying the gas emissions. Responses of laying hens to modified environment and production practices (e.g., stocking density or housing systems) will be quantified under laboratory and field conditions. For the laboratory studies, preference test facilities, dynamic emissions chambers, and/or indirect animal calorimeters will be used. For the field testing, commercial or commercial-scale laying-hen houses of different designs or management schemes (e.g., cage systems vs. non-cage systems) will be involved. Measurements concerning animal behavior, animal health, thermal comfort, environmental footprint, food safety, and production sustainability will be made and compared under different production situations.<P>

APPROACH: Air emissions of ammonia and particulate matters from commercial turkey barns in the Midwest will be continuously quantified for one year. Mobile air emissions monitoring units containing state-of-the-art measurement instruments will be used in the extensive monitoring. Production performance of the flocks (feed intake, body weight, water consumption, mortality, and feed conversion) along with the environmental variables will also be measured. The air emissions will be presented as daily values, cumulative emission over a flock and annual mean emission per bird marketed. The results will be compared with those for other poultry species, especially floor-raised broilers. Potential mitigation technologies that have been shown to be promising under lab-scale testing will be evaluated or verified under commercial production settings. One of the technologies that will undergo extensive field evaluation or demonstration initially is dietary manipulations on laying hens. The technologies will be evaluated in terms of their impacts on gaseous (ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide) emissions, production performance of the birds, nutrient contents and fertilizer values of the manure, and production economics associated with the adoption of such a technology. Mobile air emissions monitoring unit and flux chambers will be used in quantifying the gas emissions. Responses of laying hens to modified environment and production practices (e.g., stocking density or housing systems) will be quantified under laboratory and field conditions. For the laboratory studies, preference test facilities, dynamic emissions chambers, and/or indirect animal calorimeters will be used. For the field testing, commercial or commercial-scale laying-hen houses of different designs or management schemes (e.g., cage systems vs. non-cage systems) will be involved. Measurements concerning animal behavior, animal health, thermal comfort, environmental footprint, food safety, and production sustainability will be made and compared under different production situations.