Agricultural environments are challenging from the point of view of durability and cleanability of materials. Several substances wear, weaken and soil the floorings. These include for example mixtures of manure, feed and washing waters with chemical load. Choice of materials in piggeries is an important factor affecting the well-being of animals by allowing the species-characteristic behaviour of the animals and preventing injuries and diseases (Baxter, 1984; Hoy et al., 1999). In addition, the material chosen also affects the comfort and safety of the personnel working in animal production buildings. When the aim is to produce safe food products, requirements for hygienic properties for the production plants are also of importance (McClanahan, 2005). Furthermore, the hygienic environment of the animals affects the organoleptic quality of meat (Maw et al., 2001). Both chemical substances and mechanical impact on floorings cause corrosion and wear that may promote injuries to the animals. In addition, it may make cleaning difficult, thus promoting spread of diseases (De Belie, 1997; De Belie et al., 2000b). Therefore the use of coatings to protect the surface of concrete against wear is of interest. The effects of five plastic coatings on cleanability of concrete flooring were examined. The aim of the study was particularly to examine the correspondence between the cleanability of the surfaces using simple model soils in a radiochemical reference method and manure soil in a colorimetric study. According to both colorimetric and radiochemical measurements, coating of concrete improved the cleanability of the flooring. The use of coating can thus be justified in sites in which a high cleanness level is required, probably meaning that coatings will be used only in some sites in animal production buildings. According to the colorimetric results, coating also decreases the time required for cleaning. As an important result for further studies concerning comparison of surface materials for animal buildings, this study demonstrated that cleanability of the surfaces from manure soil could be described by both 14C- and 51Cr- labelled radiochemical model soils (correlation coefficients 0.656 and 0.691, respectively). The quantitative radiochemical method is an excellent way to detect soil absorbed in materials. This is important especially from the point of view of durability, because soil absorbed in the flooring material causes chemical attack, which weakens the material in the long run.

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