Ammonia and greenhouse gas distribution in a dairy barn during warm periods

Highlights

● Environmental impacts in the dairy sector are mostly related to emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases.

● Highest concentrations of these gases were in the center of the open barn during warm periods.

● Gas distribution varied vertically and horizontally, and differed between gases.

● Openings and the cooling systems increased indoor ventilation diluting these gases.

● Cleaning, milking and cooling practices affected cow behavior and altered diurnal gas patterns.

Abstract

This research aimed to quantify concentrations of ammonia (NH₃), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄), estimate emissions, and analyze the factors influencing them during warm periods in an open dairy barn equipped with two cooling systems in a Mediterranean climate zone. Gas distribution within the barn was observed to vary both vertically and horizontally, with the highest gas concentrations observed in the central area of the barn. NH₃, CH₄ and CO₂ ranged in 1.7–7.4, 7–18, 560–724 μg·g^–1, respectively. Natural ventilation through openings and the operation of cooling systems induced changes in indoor microclimate conditions, influencing cow behavior and, consequently, gas production. Gas concentrations were the highest at air velocities below 0.5 m·s^–1. The highest concentration of NH₃ was observed when the temperature-humidity index (THI) was > 72 and ≤ 78; and CO₂ and CH₄ concentrations were the highest with THI ≥ 72 and decreased with THI ≤ 72. NH₃ concentrations when barn management included three daily milkings were higher than those measured when barn management was based on two daily milkings, and lower for CH₄ and CO₂. NH₃ and CH₄ emissions were the highest during barn cleaning, while the lowest NH₃ emissions occurred during activity of the cows (i.e., feeding, walking).

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Ammonia / greenhouse gas / environmental monitoring / cows’ behavior / barn management / housing system / climatic parameters

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the farm ALPA S.S. for providing the opportunity of carrying out the tests. The work of prof. C. Arcidiacono was conducted within the Agritech National Research Center and received funding from the European Union Next-GenerationEU (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza—Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.4—D.D. 1032 17/06/2022, CN00000022). In addition, the work of P.R. D’Urso and Prof. G. Cascone has been partially funded by European Union (NextGeneration EU), through the MUR-PNRR project SAMOTHRACE (CUP: E63C22000900006; CODE_ECS00000022). This manuscript reflects only the views and opinions of the authors, neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be considered responsible for these.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Provvidenza Rita D’Urso, Claudia Arcidiacono, and Giovanni Cascone declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2024. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)