Assessment of Selected Odour Control Practices in Swine Barns Using an In-house Panel

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2007

Developing cost-effective ways to reduce and assess odours from swine barns is a continuing need for the industry. The goal of this work was to use an in-house panel of assessors to evaluate the intensity and offensiveness of odour from three swine grow-finish rooms with different applied management practices – conventional, intensive cleaning, and manure pit treatment. The conventionally managed room served as the control, while the intensively cleaned room simulated the highest level of cleanliness practically possible. Pit treatment involved weekly spraying of a commercial additive on the surface of the accumulated manure slurry in the manure pits at a rate of 500 ppm. Two bagged air samples were collected for each room weekly. Each panellist then assessed the coded sample bags three times in random order. Pit treatment intensity scores were significantly higher than the other treatments, indicating no positive improvement in odour intensity from the use of the additive. Although not shown to be statistically significant in this work, high level of cleanliness and appropriate housekeeping noticeably reduced odour intensity in the room compared to a conventional swine room.

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