On Ammonia Concentrations in Breeding Environments of Dairy Houses Located in the Iblean Highlands

Abstract

In this work, the general objective was to give a contribute to the knowledge of breeding environment conditions as regards issues of great interest which concern the protection of animal welfare, healthiness of the breeding environment, the operators’ safety in the workplace and the environmental protection.

The objective of this work was to verify the levels of ammonia concentrations in different functional areas of two naturally ventilated semi-open dairy houses in Sicily (Italy), through the measurement of the concentrations of ammonia at different heights from the floor of the breeding environment, also in relation to the main inside microclimatic variables and outside climate conditions.

An experimental protocol for measuring ammonia concentration within the breeding environment  at different heights from the floor and for the measurement of the main internal microclimate variables and the external climatic ones was proposed. An estimation of the ammonia emission values was carried out by comparing different methods.

A technique for the ammonia emissions reduction was tested, by using a processing residue of the coffee industry. This technique could be regarded as feasible in this field since the experiment showed a reduction of approximately 50% of the emissions and the choice of this dried vegetal material is suitable due to its easy availability in the territory.