Air quality in houses for broiler chickens – the influence of the moisture content in the litter bed on the release of ammonia

The air inside animal houses contains a number of pollutants, and there is a need of improvement both from an animal point of view and from a workers health perspective. In such buildings concentrations of gases, dust, endotoxins, and microorganisms are high. In poultry houses ammonia concentrations are often very high. Pollutants in animal houses may by time lead to a number of health problems for workers. Choice of system, management, and used technology influence the air quality. The ammonia release is influenced by the moisture content in the litter bed, and when it is wet considerable amounts of ammonia may be produced and released. The aim of the project is to study the release of ammonia from broiler chicken litter beds at different moisture content, and to identify how low the moisture content should be in order to create a working environment with low ammonia concentrations.

The project is funded by KSLA (The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry), The SLO foundation

Duration of the project: 2014-2016
Project Leader: Sven Nimmermark
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