Broilers are raised indoors on high density farms with bedding/litter to trap their manure.
Ammonia gas, which is produced as the manure decomposes, has adverse effects on human
health, bird welfare and the environment. Using litter amendments can reduce the amount and,
consequently, the effects of ammonia emitted from broiler houses. The objective of this study
was to determine the effectiveness of a biodegradable litter amendment (BLA) in reducing
ammonia emitted from a broiler house.
A pilot scale test was set up with six adjacent, individually ventilated rooms and a stocking
density of 0.07 m2 per bird. The birds were fed with a standard commercial, corn and soybean
meal based diet and water was provided ad libitum. The first flock was grown on 10 cm of fresh,
kiln-dried pine shavings, while subsequent flocks were grown on top-dressed reused litter. The
two treatments (control (CTL) and BLA) were randomly assigned to the six rooms after flock 1,
to give three replicates per treatment. The exhaust air from the rooms was sampled for ammonia
concentration for two days each week starting at four days of age to determine the amount of
ammonia emitted.
Over three subsequent flocks, the total mass of ammonia emitted from rooms treated with BLA
was 31% to 47% lower than the control. Ammonia emitted per bird grown on treated litter and
per kg of harvested bird weight was 32% to 44% lower, and the exhaust fans ran 7% to 22% less
than CTL over the same period. For both BLA and CTL, the amount of ammonia emitted
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generally increased with bird age and litter reuse. The study showed that BLA effectively
reduced ammonia emitted from a broiler house and that there are potential energy savings from
using the amendment. However, ammonia emitted from the BLA rooms during the final flock
was 57% higher than CTL, which was attributed to insufficient water (less than 18% moisture by
weight) to support the reaction between BLA and ammonia.