Volume 61 (2011) Issue: 2011 No#2-3

Laying hen and pig livestock contribution to aerial pollution in Slovenia

Author(s): Dobeic M, Pintarič Š

Keywords:ammonia, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, emissions, laying hens, weaners, fatteners, stables

Livestock production is a significant contributor to global methane, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia emissions. Poultry and pig farming in Slovenia needs to undertake a large survey on the emission of aerial pollutants, since monitoring on this field is incomplete. Despite this, measurements of aerial emissions such as ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were monitored from representative poultry laying hen, pig weaning and pig fattening farms in Slovenia. Animal category, different technologies, stocking density and body mass variations significantly influenced the outcome emissions. NH3,N2O and CO2 concentrations in the ambiental air directly correlate (p<0.05) to variable air streams in stables and mostly exceed the known data from other investigations made in EU. From the hen production the calculated predictions of annual ammonia (28.5 kg lu-1 a-1) and nitrous oxide emissions (102 kg lu-1 a-1) were higher (p<0.05) than pig fattening production (NH3 2.5 kg lu-1 a-1 N2O 58.3 kg lu-1 a-1) or pig weaning production (NH3 6.4 kg lu-1 a-1 N2O67 kg lu-1 a-1), still the carbon dioxide emissions were estimated as 21.5-59% higher in pig (fatteners 3960 kg lu-1 a-1) than in poultry production. This paper reports about the large variety and intensity of aerial emissions, as for laying hens and pig production depended on animal species and animal category.