Effect of the age and season of fattening period on carbon dioxide emissions from broiler housing

Abstract

The quantification of emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities is of prime importance for determining the importance of their effect on the environment. The aim of this study was to test a hypothesis that the interior concentration and emission of carbon dioxide in chicken housing is impacted by the age of animals and season of fattening period. Carbon dioxide (CO 2) concentrations and emissions were assessed over six fattening periods in total. The major part of CO2 seemed to have its origin in bird respiration with assumed production of approx. 147 kg of CO2/h. CO2 emission was most affected by chickens towards the end of the grow-out period (P < 0.001) taking dominance over the process of natural gas burning by heaters. The mean CO2 emission from the chicken house ranged between 120 and 247 kg/h in the first quarter of periods and between 325 and 459 kg/h in the last ones. The heaters could be theoretically a possible source of approx. 39 kg each hour if they worked continuously. CO2 emissions were considerably more affected by ventilation rate (P < 0.001) than by CO2 concentration in the indoor air.