Abstract
Pollution generated by livestock and poultry rearing is an important environmental issue, and gas emissions during animal production are continuously increasing. A digital rearing chamber inspection system was designed in the present study in order to examine the waste tea litter’s impact on the growth performance and harmful gas emissions, such as ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2), during broiler rearing. Broilers were raised without litter and with waste tea litter. According to the results, broiler growth showed little difference between the two groups during the experimental period, and it was concluded that waste tea litter had no impact on broiler growth. Meanwhile, the gas emissions of the waste tea-litter group were lower than the non-bedding-materials group. In detail, the average concentrations of NH3 and CO2 of the non-bedding-materials group were 9.33 ± 3.65 ppm and 797 ± 107 ppm, respectively; while these concentrations in the waste-tea-litter group were 1.01 ± 0.35 ppm and 713 ± 69 ppm, respectively. According to the analysis of the litter properties, it was suggested that waste tea litter can reduce the moisture content in litter, and affect microbial and urease activity due to its low carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N), weak acid, and porous structure characteristics. In conclusion, this study showed the potential of waste tea litter in NH3 and CO2 emission reduction during broiler rearing.
Highlights
MutinelliThe livestock and poultry industries are quickly expanding, and harmful gases created during rearing, such as ammonia (NH3 ) and greenhouse gases, are attracting more attention because they constitute a danger to the environment
In order to avoid the impact of standard litter on ammonia emissions and the physicochemical properties of chicken manure, the control group did not use standard litter, in which 5 broilers were placed in the rearing chamber without litter and the other
The broiler excreta increased as time passed, and the daily average defecation quantities of the nonlitter group and waste-tea-litter group were 119 g/d ± 49 g and 141 g/d ± 39 g (p > 0.05), respectively, and fluctuated during the experimental period, which might have been relevant to measuring time, broiler growth conditions, and other factors
Summary
The livestock and poultry industries are quickly expanding, and harmful gases created during rearing, such as ammonia (NH3 ) and greenhouse gases, are attracting more attention because they constitute a danger to the environment. Litter is often spread on the ground to prevent animals from directly contacting the ground, which provides a comfortable growth environment for broilers and reduces NH3 emissions. We studied whether waste tea could be used as a litter additive to inhibit the emissions of NH3 and CO2 during poultry rearing. A digital rearing chamber inspection system was developed for simultaneous monitoring of broiler growth conditions, as well as emissions of NH3 and CO2 with waste tea litter or without litter. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether waste tea litter could provide a new technique and method for emission reduction and control of NH3 and CO2 in livestock rearing
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