Emissions of Size-Fractioned Particulate Matter and Ammonia from a Cage-Free Layer Facility in Western Canada

摘要

Layer barns produce airborne pollutants that are of great concern to the environment, human health, and hen welfare. In Canada, there is an industry wide transition in layer barn style from conventional battery cages to cage-free or enriched cage systems. This rapid shift in barn style, which is driven by consumers' attitudes towards hen welfare in conventional battery-cage systems, brings about concerns for the air quality in these newly designed facilities and their environmental impacts. To assessthese concerns, a multi-season air quality sampling campaign was performed at a free-run layer barn in central Saskatchewan, Canada. This study measured various barn parameters, meteorological information, bird details, and pollutant concentrations to develop emission factors (EFs, g d~(-1)AU~(-1)) for ammonia (NH_3) and size-fractioned particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM_(10)). The overall EFs for PM2.5, PMw, and ammonia were 20.95 ± 28.59, 43.57 ± 56.24, and 31.93 ± 33.85 g d1 A U~(-1), respectively.The PM EFs from this study were greater than those found in similar studies performed in Ontario, Canada on a free-run layer barn (approx. 1.8 times greater) and on a conventional battery-cage barn (approx. 18.1 times greater). The ammonia EFs of this study were found to be less than those of the free-run barn in Ontario (approx. 0.4 times lower) but greater than the battery-cage barn in Ontario (approx. 1.6 times greater).