Ammonia Emission from a BAT Farrowing Room with Fully Slatted Flooring and Individual Manure Pan. Results of a Yearly Monitoring Survey

The large amount of pollutants emitted by intensive livestock farming, via the ventilation system, has leaded to the adoption of Best Available Techniques (BAT; ILF BREF) to limit pollutant release into atmosphere, from swine and poultry rearing confinements. In the present study the efficiency at limiting ammonia emission was measured in a farrowing room (BAT 4.7.3.3 “Crates with fully slatted flooring and manure pan solution”, ILF BREF) vs. a traditional room with slatted floor on deep pit, in North East Italy. To evaluate the efficiency level in reducing ammonia emission in a North Italian context, three farrowing rooms equipped with BAT number 4.7.3.3, and three conventional rooms with slatted floor on deep pit, each lodging 14 sows, were studied in three different seasons of the year. In each room, identical for design and management, ventilation was managed by the FRCA control unit system (FANCOM EasyFlow, Panningen, The Netherlands). Waste levels and ammonia concentration were measured (Gas Badge Pro analyser) in 7 different points every 3 days. Ammonia emission was calculated multiplying the ammonia concentration values (ppm, converted to mg m−3) and the ventilation rate (m3 h−1). Data were analysed using the ANOVA procedure of SAS (Cary, NC), keeping the room (BAT vs traditional) as experimental unit. The ammonia emitted by the BAT room was lower than that emitted by the reference room. Considering the value of 4.680 kg/ap/yr of ammonia emitted by the reference farrowing room of the study, lower than the one indicated by the ILF BREF for the traditional system (8.3 kg NH3/ap/yr), the value of 3.234 kg NH3/ap/yr of ammonia corresponds to reduction of 31%, in line with the ammonia reduction efficiency of the solution “4.7.3.3 Crates with fully or partly-slatted flooring and manure pan” indicated in the ILF BREF manual for data from Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders).