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TECHNICAL REPORT

Atmospheric Pollutants and Trace Gases

Ammonia Emissions from Swine Houses in the Southeastern United States

^a Southern Piedmont Conservation Research Unit, USDA-ARS-JPCSNRCC, 1420 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville, GA 30677
^b Poultry Research Unit, USDA-ARS, 606 Spring Street, Starkville, MS 39759

^* Corresponding author (lharper{at}uga.edu).

Received for publication December 30, 2002. Ammonia (NH₃) from confined animal feeding operations is emitted from several sources including lagoons, field applications, and houses. This paper presents studies that were conducted to evaluate NH₃ emissions from swine finisher and sow animal houses in the southeastern USA. Management and climate variables including animal weight, feed consumption, housing gutter water temperature, total time fans operated per day, house air temperature, house ambient NH₃ concentration, and animal numbers were measured to determine their individual and combined effect on NH₃ emissions. Ammonia emissions varied on daily and seasonal bases with higher emissions during warmer periods. For finishers, the summertime housing emissions on a per-animal basis were 2.4 times higher than wintertime (7.0 vs. 3.3 g NH₃ animal^–1 d^–1) or 3.2 times higher when compared on an animal unit (AU) basis (1 AU = 500 kg) because of climate and animal size differences between measurement periods. For summertime, the emission factor for the finishing pigs was 7.8 times higher than for sows on an animal basis and 25.6 times higher on an AU basis. Simple models were developed for housing emissions based on (i) all measured factors that were independent of each other and (ii) on three commonly measured management factors. The two models explained 97 and 64%, respectively, of variations in emissions. Ammonia emissions were found to be somewhat less than other studies on the same type housing due to more representative housing concentration measurements and calibration of exhaust fans; thus, emission factors for these type houses will be less than previously thought.

Abbreviations: AU, animal unit (1 AU = 500 kg) • DOY, day of year • FF, farrow-to-finish • FW, farrow-to-wean

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