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Litter Control And Ammonia
Ammonia
concentration versus ventilation rate
Monitoring ammonia levels in
poultry houses can help producers to adjust ventilation rates and thus prevent
problems, say Michael Czarick (Extension Engineer) and Brian Fairchild
(Extension Poultry Scientist) at the University of Georgia in the latest in the
series of ‘Poultry Housing Tips’.
One of the biggest challenges
with maintaining optimal air quality during cold weather is the fact that much
of what we are trying to control is constantly being generated.
For instance, if we had an empty
house and filled it with smoke we could turn on a few exhaust fans and within
minutes the smoke would be gone – problem solved.
But, when it comes to gases such as ammonia and carbon
dioxide which are constantly being generated, it is a never-ending process to
keep them under control.
For example, during the minimum ventilation, “off
cycle” ammonia levels will slowly rise as the ammonia produced by the litter
builds.
When the minimum ventilation fans turn on the ammonia
levels will quickly decrease as fresh air is added to the house.
But as soon as the exhaust fans turn off, the ammonia
level will start to rise again and by the end of the “off cycle” it will be
back to where it was prior to the fans turning on.
The cyclical nature of ammonia
concentrations in poultry houses can an be seen in Figure 1 where between
flocks two 48-inch fans were operating three minutes out of every 30 to help
limit the build-up of ammonia and moisture.
Though operating the exhaust fans
lowered the concentration of ammonia in the air by approximately 15 parts per
million (ppm), as soon as the fans turned off ammonia concentration started to
rise and within 30 minutes, it was back to what it was before the exhaust fans
turned on.
The pattern continued for the next 14 hours of the
study (Figure 2).
Little if any progress was made
in lowering the overall average ammonia concentration.
The same cyclic pattern of
ammonia concentrations can be seen in Figure 3 where minimum ventilation fans
were operating 90 seconds out of five minutes in a house with three-week-old
birds.
Minimum fan operation decreased ammonia levels by
approximately 7ppm but by the end of the minimum ventilation fan “off cycle”
they rose the same 7ppm.
The average ammonia concentration remained essentially
the same, 33ppm, over the course of the night.
For any minimum ventilation fan
setting, the ammonia levels will tend to reach a level of equilibrium.
In Figures 1, 2 and 3, though the minimum ventilation
fans reduced ammonia concentrations quickly, the reduction was temporary and
over the short-term, average ammonia levels did not significantly change.
The equilibrium ammonia concentration can, of course,
be lowered by increasing the minimum ventilation rate.
An important fact to keep in mind
is that the reduction in the equilibrium or “average” ammonia concentration
will be roughly proportional to the change in exhaust fan run-time.
This means that in order to make large changes in
average ammonia concentrations, relatively large changes in minimum ventilation
fan runtime need to be made.
For instance, the minimum ventilation fan run-time in
the house illustrated in Figure 3 was increased from 90 seconds to 120 seconds
out of five minutes (4:00am).
The increase in fan run-time of
25 per cent reduced average ammonia concentration by 22 per cent (from 33 to
27ppm; Figure 4).
Increasing fan runtime from 90 to 150 seconds, a 40
per cent increase, reduced ammonia concentration by 35 per cent (from 33ppm to
22ppm; Figure 5).
So in short, if you want to cut
your ammonia levels in half, double your minimum ventilation rate. This holds
true if the ammonia concentration is 80ppm and you want to drop it to 40ppm or
even if the ammonia concentration is 40ppm and you want to decrease it to
20ppm.
Does this mean that if you have high ammonia
concentrations that you may have to double or quadruple your minimum
ventilation rates indefinitely? Not necessarily.
Though high minimum ventilation rates will help to
keep ammonia levels to a minimum, they will also tend to address the root cause
of ammonia: litter moisture.
Over time, higher ventilation
rates will tend to reduce litter moisture levels, which in turn will reduce the
ammonia generation rate, which in turn leads to lower ammonia levels and an
overall reduction in the minimum ventilation rate required to keep ammonia
concentrations to a reasonable level.
Can this method of ammonia
control prove expensive? Sure. But, the fact is that once you have an ammonia
problem it is expensive to solve.
The key to keeping ammonia levels and heating costs to
a minimum is preventing high ammonia levels in the first place.
Between flocks, remove cake from the house as soon as
the birds leave and ventilate the house to help dry the litter. Use a litter
treatment according to manufacturer’s recommendations prior to chick placement.
Most importantly, closely manage
house moisture levels by monitoring the relative humidity of the air in the
house. The relative humidity of the air in a house is an indirect measure of
litter moisture.
Generally speaking, the ideal relative humidity would
be approximately 50 per cent.
As the relative humidity of the air in the house
climbs, so does litter moisture. Increased levels of litter moisture results in
higher ammonia production rates.
If you allow the average relative
humidity climb to 70 to 80 per cent, you will have wet litter and high ammonia
levels, which can only be reduced to acceptable levels by a dramatic increase
in minimum ventilation rates.
To avoid this situation, make
relatively small adjustments to the minimum ventilation rates on a daily basis.
Record the relative humidity in your houses each
morning. If you see the relative humidity climbing, make larger increases.
Bottom line: don’t wait until you
have an ammonia problem to try to solve it. After all, “an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure”.
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