ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. This study continuously monitored concentrations and emissions of odor, ammonia (NH₃), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), and greenhouse gases (GHG) including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) of a commercial broiler barn under Canadian Prairies climate. From April 2015 to January 2016, there were a total of 6 production cycles, and the emission measurement was performed in the last week of each cycle when worst-case occurred in April, June, August, October, November, and January, respectively. The results showed significant seasonal effect on odor emission but not on odor concentration. Odor concentrations and emissions varied from 491 to 812 OU m^-3 and from 0.19 OU s^-1 bird^-1 to 0.87 OU s^-1 bird^-1, respectively. Significant seasonal variations were observed in concentrations and emissions of both NH₃ and H₂S. As for GHG, significant higher CO₂ and CH₄ concentrations were observed from November to January while N₂O concentration remained stable across the year. On the opposite, seasonal N₂O emissions were dominated by ventilation rate with more emissions from April to October, while seasonal CO₂ and CH₄ only varied within narrow ranges. The total GHG emission was 57.43 kg CO₂ bird^-1 year^-1 or 1711 tonnes from the whole barn with the majority was attributed to CO₂ emission. In winter time from November to January, the indoor air quality of the broiler barn was proved to be poor with the 8-hourly NH₃ and CO₂ exposure limit and short-term NH₃ exposure limit were exceeded.