Ammonia Emissions from Downtime Litter Management in Broiler Housing

摘要

In-house windrow composting of re-used litter has been adopted in certain broiler complexes in the US as a means to reduce litter microbiological population in order to improve the performance of the subsequent flock. Ammonia emissions at downtime were monitored on a broiler farm to evaluate the environmental impact of two different litter managements. Five flocks had been grown on the same litter. Litter in one house was windrowed without cake removal. Additional water was added to one-half of the litter in the house but not to the other half. Litter in the second house was renovated by pulverization to thoroughly break up the cake and mix the resulting litter. Temperatures of the windrow piles remained above 55 °c for three days. Ammonia emissions averaged 22.3 and 19.4 g/d-house from pulverization and windrowing houses over the seven-day period.