Assessment of Repeated Litter Amendment Application on Ammonia Reduction

Abstract

Litter amendments have been used to control the ammonia (NH3) emission in the broiler litter during the brooding period. One of commercially available products, PLT, was repeated applied on the litter with two different rates on weekly base in a laboratory setup and with a single rate on bi-weekly base under field conditions. Repeated application of PLT led to significant reduction in NH3 emissions from broilers. The magnitude of NH3 emission reduction increases with the application rate of PLT. The reduction rates of cumulative emissions with 366 g/wk-m2 (75 lb/wk-1000ft2) rate (from 14 to 64.5 %) were higher than the reduction rate of 183 g/wk-m2 (37.5 lb/wk-1000ft2) rate (from 0 to 55 %) from 28- to 61-d of age. The cumulative NH3 emission was reduced by 51.7% with 244 g/2wk-m2 (50 lb/2wk-1000ft2), rate over a three flocks period (8 week average growout per flock) under field production conditions. PLT application showed no significant difference on body weight and feed conversion efficiency. However, foot pad quality was significantly improved by PLT application. Litter pH and ammonia nitrogen level of the litter were decreased by PLT application with both rates. Organic and total nitrogen contents in the litter were higher while less nitrogen was emitted as NH3. The laboratory-scale findings of emission reduction by the additives should be considered to be preliminary if the additives are to be applied under commercial production settings.