Agriculture as a whole accounts for 9.5% of the total Canadian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is also estimated that 42% of this is from the livestock sector, and that 1/3 of the 42% is associated with manure management. Odour is also a large issue associated with livestock operations. It is important to better assess the effects of the different components of operation emissions. To do so, an experiment was conducted to evaluate methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and odour emissions from swine operations. The study was to determine GHG and odour emissions from different types of swine production buildings and building floor design, from manure storage facilities and from two manure treatment systems. Carbon dioxide was found to be the most important contributor to GHG emissions from swine buildings. Methane emissions were much less than CO2 and N2O was almost negligible on an animal mass basis. The lowest CO2 levels were found to be in the gestation rooms, and the highest levels in the grow-finish rooms. Average total GHG emissions from uncovered earthen manure basin (EMB), covered EMB and uncovered tank storage facilities measured in this study were 4.23, 2.52 and 6.65 respectively. Carbon dioxide remained the most important component of the GHG emissions throughout the different facilities. Odour emissions were positively impacted when blown chopped straw covered the EMB. Odour concentrations and intensities were measured on three swine operations equipped with a conventional pig manure storage tank, an aerobic-anoxic manure treatment system and a biofilter manure treatment system in Quebec. The aerobic-anoxic manure treatment system emitted fewer odours than the biofilter treatment system.
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