Air pollution and livestock production

The air in a livestock farming environment contains high concentrations of dust particles and gaseous pollutants. The total inhalable dust can enter the nose and mouth during normal breathing and the thoracic dust can reach into the lungs. However, it is the respirable dust particles that can penetrate further into the gas-exchange region, making it the most hazardous dust component. Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of dust particles can lead to respiratory health issues for both livestock and farming staff. Ammonia, an example of a gaseous pollutant, is derived from the decomposition of nitrous compounds. Increased exposure to ammonia may also have an effect on the health of humans and livestock. There are a number of technologies available to ensure exposure to these pollutants is minimised. Through proactive means, (the optimal design and management of livestock buildings) air quality can be improved to reduce the likelihood of risks associated with sub-optimal air quality. Once air problems have taken hold, other reduction methods need to be applied utilising a more reactive approach. A key requirement for the control of concentration and exposure of airborne pollutants to an acceptable level is to be able to conduct real-time measurements of these pollutants. This paper provides a review of airborne pollution including methods to both measure and control the concentration of pollutants in livestock buildings

Simulation of site-specific irrigation control strategies with sparse input data

Crop and irrigation water use efficiencies may be improved by managing irrigation application timing and volumes using physical and agronomic principles. However, the crop water requirement may be spatially variable due to different soil properties and genetic variations in the crop across the field. Adaptive control strategies can be used to locally control water applications in response to in-field temporal and spatial variability with the aim of maximising both crop development and water use efficiency. A simulation framework ‘VARIwise’ has been created to aid the development, evaluation and management of spatially and temporally varied adaptive irrigation control strategies (McCarthy et al., 2010). VARIwise enables alternative control strategies to be simulated with different crop and environmental conditions and at a range of spatial resolutions. An iterative learning controller and model predictive controller have been implemented in VARIwise to improve the irrigation of cotton. The iterative learning control strategy involves using the soil moisture response to the previous irrigation volume to adjust the applied irrigation volume applied at the next irrigation event. For field implementation this controller has low data requirements as only soil moisture data is required after each irrigation event. In contrast, a model predictive controller has high data requirements as measured soil and plant data are required at a high spatial resolution in a field implementation. Model predictive control involves using a calibrated model to determine the irrigation application and/or timing which results in the highest predicted yield or water use efficiency. The implementation of these strategies is described and a case study is presented to demonstrate the operation of the strategies with various levels of data availability. It is concluded that in situations of sparse data, the iterative learning controller performs significantly better than a model predictive controller

Phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives to promote growth and enhance host health

There are heightened concerns globally on emerging drug-resistant superbugs and the lack of new antibiotics for treating human and animal diseases. For the agricultural industry, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to replace antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. The 2nd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics was held at the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, France, December 12-15, 2016 to discuss recent scientific developments on strategic antibiotic-free management plans, to evaluate regional differences in policies regarding the reduction of antibiotics in animal agriculture and to develop antibiotic alternatives to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance. More than 270 participants from academia, government research institutions, regulatory agencies, and private animal industries from >25 different countries came together to discuss recent research and promising novel technologies that could provide alternatives to antibiotics for use in animal health and production; assess challenges associated with their commercialization; and devise actionable strategies to facilitate the development of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) without hampering animal production. The 3-day meeting consisted of four scientific sessions including vaccines, microbial products, phytochemicals, immune-related products, and innovative drugs, chemicals and enzymes, followed by the last session on regulation and funding. Each session was followed by an expert panel discussion that included industry representatives and session speakers. The session on phytochemicals included talks describing recent research achievements, with examples of successful agricultural use of various phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives and their mode of action in major agricultural animals (poultry, swine and ruminants). Scientists from industry and academia and government research institutes shared their experience in developing and applying potential antibiotic-alternative phytochemicals commercially to reduce AGPs and to develop a sustainable animal production system in the absence of antibiotics.Fil: Lillehoj, Hyun. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Yanhong. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Calsamiglia, Sergio. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Miyakawa, Mariano Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Chi, Fang. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Cravens, Ron L.. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Oh, Sungtaek. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Gay, Cyril G.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentin

Impact of Reducing Ammonia Concentration by Ozone Technology and its Potential Improvement on Broiler Performance

The employment of ozone in livestock production as a means of mitigating ammonia is used for enhancing air quality within animal confinement facilities, such as swine or poultry barns. Ammonia is a byproduct of animal excrement. Elevated ammonia concentrations can adversely affect the well-being of both animals and humans. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of Ozone Technology Machine Unit (OTMU) utilization in poultry barns regarding ammonia concentration and its potential benefit in terms of broilers performance and welfare. In recent years, there has been a significant boom in technological advances. New devices that help mitigate the concentration of ammonia in poultry production must be developed to help improve production in a sustainable way, protecting the workers who are dedicated to this field and improving the welfare of birds. Chapter I provides the whole thesis introduction. Chapter II provides a literature review on ammonia concentration effect on broilers performance and a brief overview of the ozone utilization in livestock. Chapter III comprises a study conducted to assess if the OTMU under research improves air quality, reduces ammonia concentration within the poultry barn, ameliorates bird welfare, and boosts broilers performance

Estratégias e instalações para melhorar o bem-estar animal

To keep the position in being a world-wide exporter of chicken meat, Brazil must meet international quality standards, always seeking alternative resources of improvement, without increasing production costs, including litter quality, requirements of animal welfare and environment affairs, such as the use and reuse of broiler litter. Researches are performed in the areas of animal welfare, environment, animal behavior and use of modern climatization technology improving the quality of the environment created to raise broilers, also trying to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and global warming in the environment, becoming a sustainable production system. This paper has a bibliographic revision of the subject mentioned above, intending to show a state-of-art key factors related to a new concept of broiler environment and welfare.Para manter a posição de maior exportador de carne de frango, o Brasil deve se adequar às exigências internacionais dos padrões de qualidade, procurando sempre recursos alternativos de melhoria, sem grande incremento no custo de produção, incluindo a qualidade da cama, requisitos de bem-estar animal e as questões ambientais, como o uso e a reutilização das camas de frango. Para isso são necessárias pesquisas nas áreas de bem-estar animal, ambiência, comportamento animal e uso de tecnologias de climatização modernas que aperfeiçoem a qualidade do ambiente gerado para criação dos frangos, visando, além deste fator, menor emissão de gases com potencial efeito estufa para o ambiente, tornando-se um sistema de produção sustentável. De acordo com o exposto, realizou-se uma ampla revisão bibliográfica deste assunto, buscando mostrar o estado da arte dos principais fatores relacionados aos novos conceitos de ambiência e bem-estar de frangos de corte.31131

Air Quality Monitoring and On-Site Computer System for Livestock and Poultry Environment Studies

This article reviews the development of agricultural air quality (AAQ) research on livestock and poultry environments, summarizes various measurement and control devices and the requirements of data acquisition and control (DAC) for comprehensive AAQ studies, and introduces a new system to meet DAC and other requirements. The first experimental AAQ study was reported in 1953. Remarkable progress has been achieved in this research field during the past decades. Studies on livestock and poultry environment expanded from indoor air quality to include pollutant emissions and the subsequent health, environmental, and ecological impacts beyond the farm boundaries. The pollutants of interest included gases, particulate matter (PM), odor, volatile organic compounds (VOC), endotoxins, and microorganisms. During this period the research projects, scales, and boundaries continued to expand significantly. Studies ranged from surveys and short-term measurements to national and international collaborative projects. While much research is still conducted in laboratories and experimental facilities, a growing number of investigations have been carried out in commercial livestock and poultry farms. The development of analytical instruments and computer technologies has facilitated significant changes in the methodologies used in this field. The quantity of data obtained in a single project during AAQ research has increased exponentially, from several gas concentration samples to 2.4 billion data points. The number of measurement variables has also increased from a few to more than 300 at a single monitoring site. A variety of instruments and sensors have been used for on-line, real-time, continuous, and year-round measurements to determine baseline pollutant emissions and test mitigation technologies. New measurement strategies have been developed for multi-point sampling. These advancements in AAQ research have necessitated up-to-date systems to not only acquire data and control sampling locations, but also monitor experimental operation, communicate with researchers, and process post-acquisition signals and post-measurement data. An on-site computer system (OSCS), consisting of DAC hardware, a personal computer, and on-site AAQ research software, is needed to meet these requirements. While various AAQ studies involved similar objectives, implementation of OSCS was often quite variable among projects. Individually developed OSCSs were usually project-specific, and their development was expensive and time-consuming. A new OSCS, with custom-developed software AirDAC, written in LabVIEW, was developed with novel and user-friendly features for wide ranging AAQ research projects. It reduced system development and operational cost, increased measurement reliability and work efficiency, and enhanced quality assurance and quality control in AAQ studies

The Effects of Feed Additives and the Use of a Novel Wood Boiler Heat Exchanger on Litter Quality, Broiler Performance, and Immune Status

Experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of varying feed ingredients and heating systems on boiler performance metrics. Chapter Two investigated the effects of two corn-expressed phytases, differing in enzyme concentration within the grain (3,000 or 9,677 FTU/g), on broiler performance and tibia mineralization, when used as a component in pelleted feed. Dietary treatments included a positive control (PC), with industry-recommended levels of calcium and phosphorous, and a negative control (NC), lower in calcium and non-phytate phosphorous. Six diets containing corn-expressed phytase at high or low grain concentrations, formulated to 3,000, 6,000, or 9,000 FTU/kg, were created using the NC. Diets were conditioned at 70°C for 15s. Descriptive enzyme recovery post-pelleting (58-360%) and mixer coefficient of variation based on enzyme activity (8-24%) demonstrated variability with the phytase assay and did not show trends across treatment main effects. Diets were fed to Hubbard x Ross 708 (n=1,632) male broilers for 39d. On d21, five birds/pen were euthanized and tibiae were excised to determine tibia mineralization. Broilers fed the NC had increased d0-39 feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to all other treatments (PPP Chapter Three examined the use of a muramidase in broiler diets. Muramidase breaks down peptidoglycans from bacterial cell debris in the gastrointestinal tract, improving nutrient utilization. The first objective of Chapter Three was to evaluate the effect of muramidase, conditioning temperature, and conditioning time on feed manufacture. The second objective was to evaluate muramidase activity and broiler performance when diets were conditioned at various temperatures and times. Experiment 1 consisted of a nutrient adequate, corn and soybean meal based diet (Basal), and the Basal+muramidase at 100K LSU(F)/kg diet. Both diet formulations were conditioned at 77, 82, or 88°C for 30 or 60 s. Feed manufacture was replicated across three days of manufacture. Experiment 2 utilized the Basal conditioned at 88°C for 30 and 60 s and the Basal+muramidase conditioned at 77, 82, or 88°C for 30 or 60 s. Crumbled diets were fed to 12 replications of ten male Hubbard x Ross 708 broiler chicks for 21 d. Increasing conditioning temperature decreased pellet mill motor load and increased hot pellet temperature (HPT) and pellet durability in Experiment 1 (PPExperiment 2 found that the inclusion of muramidase decreased FCR and increased live weight gain (LWG) for 30 s (PP\u3e0.05). Muramidase improved performance post 30 s conditioning, regardless of conditioning temperature, compared to a nutrient adequate Basal. The objective of Chapter Four was to investigate the effects of two feed additives (antibiotic and muramidase) provided to broilers reared using two heating systems (external combustion wood boiler heat exchanger or radiant propane brooders), on broiler performance, foot pad quality, and immune status. Two identical experiments were completed, using two identical rooms heated with either radiant propane brooders or a wood boiler heat exchanger. 1,472 Ross-308-AP straight-run broiler chicks were utilized for each experiment, for 35 days. Each room contained 32 floor pens. One of four dietary treatments (PC, NC (15% reduction in digestible amino acids), NC + antibiotic, NC + muramidase) were randomly assigned to each pen within a block. A block consisted of four adjacent floor pens; eight blocks were utilized for each room per experiment. The use of a wood boiler heat exchanger reduced d21 litter moisture (P=0.1013), d23 serum IL-6 (PP=0.0112), relative to radiant propane brooders. Diet influenced 0-35d LWG and FCR. The PC had the highest LWG and lowest FCR, NC had the lowest LWG and highest FCR, with antibiotic and muramidase being intermediate (PP\u3c0.05). Heating system did not affect overall performance (P\u3e0.05). The wood boiler heat exchanger and both tested feed additives had positive influences on broiler production

Identification of Microbial and Gaseous Contaminants in Poultry Farms and Developing Methods for Contamination Prevention at the Source

Microbial concentrations in poultry houses increase over time and contribute to the sick building syndrome. Very high and often logarithmic growth rates are reported for aerobic mesophilic bacteria, which account for the majority of known pathogenic bacteria. Bioaerosols suspended in air also contain mold spores and mold fragments, mostly fungi of various genera, including pathogenic fungi that produce mycotoxins. Microbiological mineralization of organic compounds, processes that involve litter and fecal microbes, produces toxic gases, including ammonia, carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as volatile toxic and aroma compounds. The above threats have led to the initiation of various measures to limit pollution at the source, including legal regulations and methods aiming to neutralize the adverse effects of pollution (dietary, production, and hygiene standards). Hygienic methods are recommended as alternative methods of reducing contamination in poultry houses. Essential oil mist, organic and organic-mineral biofilters, litter additives, such as aluminosilicates (bentonite, vermiculite, halloysite), microbiological and disinfecting preparations, herbal extracts, and calcium compounds may improve hygiene standards in poultry farms

Factors affecting ammonia volatilization from broiler litter

Loss of ammonia from broiler litter degrades air quality, decreases litter fertilizer value, and can have negative health consequences for birds and their caretakers. Rates of NH3 emission from broiler houses are complicated by interrelated management and environmental factors such as air temperature, humidity, house style, ventilation rate,bird age, litter conditions, litter characteristics, and cleanout schedule. Wide variations inemission rates necessitate further investigation of litter characteristics and abatement techniques. The research was designed to clarify the impact of moisture effects that are critical to emissions for poultry litter, in conjunction with bedding type and temperature. Experiments were conducted on litter samples in the laboratory using anacid trap method for determining NH3 losses. Statistical models were developed for predicting release from each bedding material and within the range of litter moistureand temperatures found in commercial broiler houses. This allowed development of relationships that describe the effects of bedding, moisture, time, and temperature on litter generation that have not been published previously. First, type of bedding material was investigated within a limited scope of moisture contents. The results indicated that increasing moisture increases generation from litter. Literature supports the phenomenon that greater litter moisture content up to apoint elicits greater release. At the original moisture content, sand and vermiculite litters generated the most, whereas wood shavings, commercial, and rice hull. Second, an extended range of litter moisture contents (20 – 55%) was investigated while including temperature (18.3 – 40.6 °C) effects. Experiments were conducted using built-up commercial broiler litter from multiple flocks. Response surfaces were parabolic cylinders, indicating maximum production was between 37.4 and 51.5% litter moisture depending on temperature. Comparing the temperature extremes, the maximum up to 7 times greater at 40.6 vs. 18.3 °C. This research defines intermediate critical moisture levels in broiler litter where NH3 is maximized, providing target areasfor researchers and the poultry industry to develop management scenarios to reduce from litter

Factors affecting ammonia volatilization from broiler litter

Loss of ammonia from broiler litter degrades air quality, decreases litter fertilizer value, and can have negative health consequences for birds and their caretakers. Rates of NH3 emission from broiler houses are complicated by interrelated management and environmental factors such as air temperature, humidity, house style, ventilation rate,bird age, litter conditions, litter characteristics, and cleanout schedule. Wide variations inemission rates necessitate further investigation of litter characteristics and abatement techniques. The research was designed to clarify the impact of moisture effects that are critical to emissions for poultry litter, in conjunction with bedding type and temperature. Experiments were conducted on litter samples in the laboratory using anacid trap method for determining NH3 losses. Statistical models were developed for predicting release from each bedding material and within the range of litter moistureand temperatures found in commercial broiler houses. This allowed development of relationships that describe the effects of bedding, moisture, time, and temperature on litter generation that have not been published previously. First, type of bedding material was investigated within a limited scope of moisture contents. The results indicated that increasing moisture increases generation from litter. Literature supports the phenomenon that greater litter moisture content up to apoint elicits greater release. At the original moisture content, sand and vermiculite litters generated the most, whereas wood shavings, commercial, and rice hull. Second, an extended range of litter moisture contents (20 – 55%) was investigated while including temperature (18.3 – 40.6 °C) effects. Experiments were conducted using built-up commercial broiler litter from multiple flocks. Response surfaces were parabolic cylinders, indicating maximum production was between 37.4 and 51.5% litter moisture depending on temperature. Comparing the temperature extremes, the maximum up to 7 times greater at 40.6 vs. 18.3 °C. This research defines intermediate critical moisture levels in broiler litter where NH3 is maximized, providing target areasfor researchers and the poultry industry to develop management scenarios to reduce from litter