Oil Sprinkling and Dietary Manipulation to Reduce Odour and Gas Emissions from Swine Buildings - Laboratory Scale Experiment

Abstract

The project evaluated the impact of four canola oil application rates (0, 10, 20 and 30 ml/m 2 -day) combined with three specific diet formulations (18% protein, 16% protein and 16% protein plus fermentable carbohydrates) on odour and gas emissions from grower-finisher swine buildings. The strategy of combining engineering and nutrition expertise is expected to reduce the potential impact of the pig barn on its surroundings. An experimental setup of twelve independent chambers each housing four castrated pigs was built and used to measure the effect of the twelve treatment combinations. The chambers were provided with uniform heating and ventilation rates, and with instrumentation to continuously measure temperature, relative humidity, gas and dust particles concentrations and to collect odour samples. Measurements were collected over four trials, lasting three weeks each. Canola oil sprinkling reduced dust level at application rates of 10, 20 and 30 ml/m 2 -day and provided a dust reduction of 85, 92 and 95 % respectively (P<0.05). Also, the use of a low protein diet resulted in ammonia emission reductions exceeding 30 % (P<0.05). However, treatments did not affect hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide emission rates. The diets without oil application had no significant impact on the odour emissions. Odour reductions of 20 and 13% were only observed with the control diet and the oil application rates of 10 and 30 ml/m 2 -day (P<0.05). All the other oil and diet combinations