J. agric. Engng Res.

(1998) 70, 7995

Concentrations and Emissions of Ammonia in Livestock Buildings

in Northern Europe
P. W. G. Groot Koerkamp1; J. H. M. Metz1; G. H. Uenk1; V. R. Phillips2; M. R. Holden2; R. W. Sneath2; J. L. Short2;
R. P. White2; J. Hartung3; J. Seedorf3; M. Schroder3; K. H. Linkert3; S. Pedersen4; H. Takai4; J. O. Johnsen4; C. M.
Wathes2
1 Instituut voor Milieu- en Agritechniek, Postbus 43, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; 2 Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Silsoe,
Bedford MK45 4HS, UK; 3 Tierarztliche Hochschule Hannover, Institut fur Tierhygiene und Tierschutz, Bunteweg 17 p, 30559
Hannover, Germany; 4 Danish Institute of Animal Science, Research Centre Bygholm, Dept. of Agricultural Engineering, PO Box 536, DK-8700
Horsens, Denmark
(Received 27 August 1996; accepted in revised form 5 January 1998)

Emissions of ammonia from livestock farming are responsible for the acidification and eutrophication of deposited ammonia in the environment. Research into the
ammonia emission from livestock houses was carried out
in 14 housing types for cattle, pigs and poultry in England,
The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Concentrations of ammonia and carbon dioxide (the latter for estimating ventilation rates) were measured at seven locations
inside and one location outside in four replicates of each
housing type over 24 h under summer and winter conditions. Mean concentrations and emissions per housing
type per country were estimated together with some variance components. Mean ammonia concentrations were
lower than 8 p.p.m. in cattle houses, between 5 and
18 p.p.m. in pig houses and between 5 and 30 p.p.m. in
poultry houses. The concentrations of ammonia in a number of pig and poultry houses exceeded the threshold value
of 25 p.p.m. and may affect adversely the health of both
stockmen and animals. Ammonia emissions from cattle
houses (dairy cows, beef and calves) varied between 80 and
2001 mg/h per animal or 315 and 1798 mg/h (500 kg) live
weight. Ammonia emissions from pig houses (sows,
weaners and finishers) varied between 22 and 1298 mg/h
per animal or 649 and 3751 mg/h (500 kg) live weight.
Ammonia emissions from poultry houses (laying hens and
broilers) varied between 2)1 and 39)4 mg/h per bird or 602
and 10 892 mg/h (500 kg) live weight. The emission rates
should be used carefully, because of large variations
between countries, between commercial houses and between seasons. Not all variations could be explained in
terms of physical and chemical processes involved in the
emission of ammonia. A comparison with other Dutch
results revealed that the method used in this research for
measuring ammonia emission rates produced accurate
mean emission rates. ( 1998 Silsoe Research Institute
0021-8634/98/050079#17 $25.00/0/ag980275

Notation
E

NH3
E

a
b
N
!/*.!-4
f (t)

yearly mean emission of ammonia

(g NH /animalplace yr)
3
mean emission of ammonia during
production periods (g NH /h)
3
mean emission of ammonia during the
periods between production (g NH /h)
3
length of production period (d)
length of period between production
periods (d)
number of animals at a predefined
moment (e.g. start) or a time-average
course of the daily mean ammonia
emission as a function of time (d) in
g NH /h
3
number of production periods within
a year

1. Introduction
The effects of ammonia on the environment due to
acidification and eutrophication can be severe. 1,2 Ammonia and its chemical combinations (NH ) are important
x
components of acidification in addition to sulphur compounds (SO ), nitrogen oxides (NO ) and volatile orx
y
ganic compounds (VOC). 3 The contribution of ammonia
to the total acid deposition can be substantial; for
example, 45% of total acid deposition in The Netherlands was caused by ammonia in 1989. Emission, transport and deposition of ammonia extends beyond regional
boundaries and the deposition of NH exceeds acceptx
able levels for large areas of Western Europe.
79

( 1998 Silsoe Research Institute

80

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

Table 1
Annual emission of ammonia in kt NH3-N in 1990 from animal
husbandry sources in the United Kingdom (UK), The Netherlands (NL), Denmark (DK) and Germany (G) and the relative
contribution to the total NH3 emission per country 4

Houses#storage, kt/yr
Pastures (grazing), kt/yr
Manure application, kt/yr
Total livestock, kt/yr
Contribution to total
emission (%)

UK

NL

DK

136
69
161
366

60
16
124
200

31
5
62
97

245
46
212
504

75

85

82

76

Agricultural sources, and livestock farming in particular, are the largest contributors to ammonia emissions.
For example, about 85% (over 220 000 t/yr) of the total
ammonia emission in The Netherlands originates from
livestock farming. Ammonia from livestock husbandry is
emitted from buildings, slurry and manure stores, pastures (grazing) and during manure application, e.g. slurry
spreading. The relative contribution of these sources to
the total ammonia emission for four countries is given in
Table 1. Livestock housing and storage tanks contributed 4060% of the total emission from livestock farming
in these North European countries and Table 2 shows
that cattle and pig housing are mainly responsible. The
lack of accurate emission rates for various livestock
housing systems in different countries is a major problem
in estimating emissions.4 This causes substantial uncertainties with the current estimates in Tables 1 and 2.
Ammonia emissions from livestock housing must be reduced to abate environmental damage.9,10 National 11,12
and international1316 conferences have been held in the
last decade to accumulate the results of research into
levels of emissions and to exchange knowledge and experiences about possible ways to reduce emissions. Generally, the results available so far have been obtained in

Table 2
Relative contribution (%
%) of animal species to the total emission
of ammonia from animal husbandry sources in the United Kingdom5 (UK), The Netherlands6 (NL), Denmark 7 (DK) and Germany8 (G)
UK
1990
Cattle
Pig
Poultry
Horses
Sheep
Other

65
11
11
2
11
(1

NL
1990

DK
1987

G
1989

55
37
8
(1
(1
(1

45
37
16
1
(1
1

77
17
3
1
2
(1

one or a restricted number of experimental houses, consisting of a limited number of time-point measurements
only and were conducted with a range of different
measuring equipment and measuring techniques or calculation methods for concentrations and ventilation
rates.
Concern about the effects of ammonia on man and
livestock, and thus ammonia concentration as one of the
parameters within livestock buildings, preceded the attention now given to ammonia emission and its effect on
the environment. Acceptable levels of ammonia concentrations for the working environment of the stockman
and/or the living environment of livestock lie below nationally defined and established maximum acceptable
concentrations (MAC values). These levels vary from 10
to 50 p.p.m. depending on animal type, working time
(exposure) and country. Several authors have shown that
these levels are often exceeded in poultry and pig houses
and concluded that efforts must be made to improve the
living and working environment.1720
The object of the work described in this paper was to
accumulate knowledge about ammonia concentrations
in buildings and ammonia emissions from livestock farming in North European countries. We describe the results
of an extensive research project that was carried out in
England, The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.21
The use of a uniform measuring technique for concentrations and emissions rates in commercial houses over
several years guaranteed the construction of a solid
database. Ammonia concentrations in and emissions
from various types of housing for dairy, pigs and poultry
are presented and compared with available data from
literature. Together with some basic theoretical background, this work will contribute to an understanding of
how and why differences in concentrations and emissions
occur.

2. Background: sources and processes related to nitrogen

turnover
2.1. Production and composition of faeces
Ammonia originates from faeces and urine. Both the
quantity and the composition of the faeces and urine are
of interest when studying ammonia emission. Faeces are
defined here as the fresh excreta from animals, while
manure (solid) and slurry (liquid) are the mixture of
faeces and urine as they are encountered in the animal
house. Cows and pigs excrete their superfluous nitrogen
as urea in the urine and undigested proteins in the faeces,
while poultry excrete uric acid and undigested proteins in
their faeces. Uric acid and undigested proteins are
the main nitrogen components in the faeces of poultry,

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

representing about 70 and 30% of the total nitrogen,

respectively.22,23 Urea in urine and undigested proteins in
faeces contribute also 70 and 30% to the total nitrogen
excretion of cows and pigs, respectively, but this can vary
considerably. The nitrogen components of uric acid,
urea, ammonia/ammonium and undigested proteins are
potential sources for ammonia volatilization.

2.2. Release of ammonia

Ammonia is mainly a product of the degradation of
nitrogenous compounds. The biochemical degradation
processes of uric acid (1), urea (2) and undigested proteins
(3) are complex, but can be simplified as follows:
C H O N #1)5O #4H OP5CO #4NH (1)
5 4 3 4
2
2
2
3
CO(NH )#H OPCO #2NH
(2)
2
2
2
3
Undigested proteinsPNH
(3)
3
All three processes are affected by microbial action.
Various authors have described the aerobic decomposition of uric acid to ammonia24,25 [Eqn (1)]. According to
these descriptions, water and oxygen must be available,
and ammonia and carbon dioxide arise as products of
this degradation process. The enzyme uricase, commonly
present in microorganisms, is specific to this reaction
with uric acid. The degradation of uric acid and proteins
is positively influenced by temperature, pH and moisture
content.26,27 The degradation process of urea [Eqn (2)]
follows the law of MichaelisMenten and is positively
influenced by the urease activity, pH and temperature.28
The enzyme urease is produced by microorganisms that
are commonly present in manure. Elzing et al. 29 described the breakdown of urea in cattle urine on a dirty
slatted floor. They measured a total breakdown of urea
within several hours under normal housing conditions.
This is relatively fast compared with the degradation of
uric acid to ammonia in poultry manure which lies between 8 and 40% of the amount of uric acid per day.30
Above temperatures of about 30C the degradation
process is known as composting, and requires aerobic
conditions.31,32 Composting will take place as long as
sufficient water, carbon and oxygen are available in
manure. The nitrogen in the organic material can be
released as ammonia. 33,34 If oxygen is absent the degradation is called fermentation. Under anaerobic circumstances, e.g. in slurry, many gaseous components can be
produced, e.g. ammonia (NH ), methane (CH ), carbon
3
4
dioxide (CO ), hydrogen sulphide (H S) and fatty acids.
2
2
Taiganides35 gives a scheme for the anaerobic degradation of organic material into N, C and S compounds.
A review of microbial transformation of inorganic nitrogen is given by Painter.36 Three main processes can be

81

distinguished. First, the fixation of dinitrogen (N ) lead2

ing to ammonia production (aerobic or anaerobic). Second, due to nitrification (autotrophic or heterotrophic),
ammonium can be converted to nitrite (NO~ ) and hence
2
nitrate (NO~ ). Autotrophic nitrification is considered to
3
be most important, in which case sufficient oxygen must
be available. Third, nitrate can be utilized by microorganisms either for its nitrogen (assimilationsynthesis of
N), or for its oxygen (dissimilation). For assimilation,
ammonia is generally preferred to nitrate, since nitrate
first has to be reduced to ammonia. The end product of
the dissimilation can be nitrite (NO~ ), nitric oxide (NO),
2
nitrous oxide (N O) or dinitrogen (N ). If any of the
2
2
last three are formed, the process is called denitrification.
For dissimilation the conditions must be anaerobic or
nearly so.

2.3. olatilization of ammonia

The ammonia in manure or litter is liable to volatilization to the surrounding air. Before being liberated into
the air, ammonia is involved in equilibria in the liquid (l)
and gas (g) phase, as in the Eqns (4)(7):
(4)
NH` (l) b NH (l)#H`
4
3
The ammoniumammonia equilibrium is influenced37
by temperature (denoted as ) and pH. Below a pH of
7 nearly all ammonia is bound as ammonium and not
liable to volatilization. Higher temperatures favour ammonia concentrations, because of the positive influence
of temperature on the dissociation constant K , which is
a
defined as
(5)
K "[NH ] [H O`]/[NH` ]
4
a
3
3
The volatilization equilibrium of ammonia to the gas
phase, follows Henrys law for dilute systems, 38
NH (l) b NH (g)
(6)
3
3
NH (g, manure) b NH (g, air)
(7)
3
3
The partial pressure of gaseous ammonia, NH (g), is
3
proportional to the NH (l) concentration. The volatiliz3
ation of ammonia from manure to air, is defined as the
mass flux. This flux is generally defined as the product of
difference in partial pressure between the two media and
a mass transfer coefficient. Higher partial pressure difference increases the flux. Mass transfer coefficients increase
with increasing air velocity.39 Ventilation brings fresh air
into the animal house while ammonia, water vapour,
other gases and air contaminants are removed with the
exhaust air. The ventilation rate and pattern affect not
only the global internal climate, but also the local climate
above the manure and litter.

82

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

3. Techniques for measuring ammonia concentrations and

ventilation rates
The amount of ammonia emitted from a livestock
building is the sum of the net ammonia mass flows
through all outlets. Each mass flow is the product of the
ventilation rate and the ammonia concentration.40 Both
parameters must be measured at the same time to
determine the ammonia emission at a certain moment.
Techniques are available to measure both ammonia concentrations41 and ventilation rates in mechanically42
and naturally43 ventilated houses, even on a continuous
basis, which lead to highly accurate calculations for emission rates.
Efforts have been made to calculate ammonia losses
from houses on the basis of nitrogen inputoutput balances.44 A special note should be made about the accuracy of this method. In many cases the ammonia losses
measured represent only a relatively small part of the
total amount of nitrogen in the manure, 45 up to about
20% but often less, depending on the livestock type and
housing system. In addition, errors due to sampling of
manure or litter, and errors when determining their
N content lead to errors in estimates of ammonia losses
that are often as large as the losses themselves.
The technique used for measuring ammonia concentrations and ventilation rates in this research is extensively described by Phillips et al. 46 and therefore described
here only briefly. The ammonia analyser used was a combination of a chemiluminescence NO analyser and
a thermal NH converter.47 Gaseous compounds such as
3
NH are converted into NO and are measured as ammo3
nia. A data-logging system controlled the valves of the
gas handling unit in order to measure the concentration
of ammonia and carbon dioxide at seven sampling points
in the house and one point outside. Ventilation rates and
emissions were calculated by means of a computer program called STALKL. It used the heat and respiratory
carbon dioxide balance according to the equations of
van Ouwerkerk and Pedersen.48 For broilers the CIGR
equations of total heat production were used. For cattle,
pigs and laying hens more sophisticated algorithms involving feed intake and ambient temperature were developed. The STALKL program calculated the hourly
heat production, ventilation rate and emissions of the
ammonia. Production and emission rates were expressed
as per house, per animal, per 500 kg live weight and
per heat producing unit (1 hpu equals 1 kW).
In each country about ten typical housing types for
cattle, pigs and poultry were selected. Four replicates of
each housing type were surveyed under winter and summer conditions during 24 h. Concentrations of ammonia
and carbon dioxide were measured at seven sampling
points inside the house, and one outside the house. The

seven sampling points were in a cross-section in the

middle of a house: three at about 1)5 m height, three at
2)5 m height and one close to the exhaust. A table of the
housing types surveyed in each country is given in Phillips et al. 46 A complete description of the housing types,
including plan views and cross-sections, together with
manure handling methods, has been lodged in the library
of each participating institute.

4. Statistical model
Measurements of NH and CO concentrations were
3
2
made in four countries (i) (England, The Netherlands,
Denmark and Germany), for 14 housing types ( j ), four
replicates (k), in summer and winter (l), every hour (m)
and at seven sampling points (n"17) inside the house
and one outside (n"0). The mean CO concentrations
2
of the seven internal sampling points were used to calculate ventilation rates (see Section 3) at every hour. Daily
mean ventilation rates were calculated on the basis of 24
hourly values.
A loglinear model was used for the ammonia emission
rate where the effects of country, housing type, replicate
and season were assumed to be multiplicative and the
variance was assumed to be proportional with the level
(gamma distribution):
ln (h)"g"Xb#Zc

(8)

where b is the vector of parameters for the fixed effects,

c the vector of parameters for the random effects, h the
expected value for the ammonia emission rate, mg/h per
animal, per 500 kg live weight or per hpu, g the linear
predictor and X and Z the design matrices.
Statistical analyses were carried out with the Iteratively Reweighed Residual Maximum Likelihood procedure
(IRREML), available as a Genstat Procedure.49 This
procedure estimated the effect of housing type and outside temperature and the variance components at different error strata. The following relationship between
ammonia concentration k, ventilation rate ' and emission rate h was used:
k"h/'

(9)

where ' is the ventilation rate, m3/h per animal, per

500 kg live weight or per hpu and k the ammonia concentration, mg/m3. The full model for the measured ammonia concentration y
was
ijklmn
y
"(1/') exp [(housing type #b
)
ijklmn
ij
1 0654*$%,ijkl
#(replicate #season #hour
)] (10)
ijk
ijkl
ijklm
In this model housing type and outside temperature (
) were considered as fixed effects, whereas
0654*$%

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

replicate, season and hour were random effects. The

outside temperature was averaged over 24 h for the outdoor sampling point. The model was applied to each
country separately. The ventilation rate was put in the
model as an offset variable o"!ln('). The model produced estimates of NH emission h"exp(g) when only
3
sampling point 7 (close to the exhaust) was used and
produced estimates for the internal NH concentrations
3
k"exp (g#o) when all seven sampling points were
used. Emission rates were corrected for the outside NH
3
concentration.

5. Results
5.1. Concentrations of ammonia
Table 3 gives the mean ammonia concentrations in
parts per million (p.p.m.) for different housing types in
England (UK), The Netherlands (NL), Denmark (DK)
and Germany (G), together with the maximum concentration, the coefficients of variation and the effect of the
outside temperature. The mean ammonia concentrations
in houses for dairy cows, beef cattle and calves varied
between 0 and 8 p.p.m., but were under 1)5 p.p.m. in
England. The ammonia concentrations in houses for
sows, weaners and finishers were between 5 and 18 p.p.m.,
of which the highest values were generally found in
houses for finishers with slats. In houses for laying hens
and broilers, concentrations of ammonia between 5 and
30 p.p.m. were found, but battery houses in Germany
were below this level (1)6 p.p.m.). The coefficients of variation of the mean ammonia concentrations were, in general, between 25 and 35% and were formed from the
variances given in the lower part of the table. The standard errors of the variance components were in general
half or less of the level of the variance, meaning that
variance components were estimated accurately. The
relative contribution of the four variance components to
the c.v. was more or less the same in the four countries.
The variance between replicates was very low in Germany, while the remaining seasonal variation in The
Netherlands and Denmark was lower than in England
and Germany. The variance between seasons is the
variance between summer and winter concentration
which is not covered by the modelled effect of the outside
temperature.
The daily mean outside temperature was used in the
model in order to account for the effect of temperature
changes between seasons, instead of the temperature changes between hours within one day. The variance between the seven sampling points was low ((0)01) in all
countries except England where the absolute level was
high (0)06). The residual variance was assumed to have

83

a Poisson distribution and consisted of the variance

between hours within one day and the unexplained variance in the model. Graphs (not shown) of the residual
variance and the sum of all variance components were
plotted and confirmed this assumption. The (decreasing)
effect of the daily mean outside temperature on the concentrations in the animal houses varied in general between !8 and 0% per degree K. No temperature effect
was estimated in cases where no summer measurements
were carried out. Some cattle houses had (significant)
positive temperature effects, while some houses showed
extreme temperature effects, e.g. finishers on slats in
England (!25%), broilers in Denmark (#6)7%) and
laying hens in battery cages in Germany (!20%). Poultry houses especially often showed a significant decrease
of ammonia concentrations with increasing outside
temperatures.

5.2. Emissions of ammonia

Table 4 gives the mean emission of ammonia, the
coefficient of variation and the effect of the outside temperature on the emission for various housing systems for
cattle, pigs and poultry in England, The Netherlands,
Denmark and Germany. Table 4 shows the emission in
mg/h per animal, while Tables 5 and 6 show the emission
of ammonia in mg/h per 500 kg live weight and per heat
producing unit (1 hpu equals 1 kW), respectively. The
lower parts of Tables 46 show the variances between
replicates, between seasons and the residual variance.
The variance between seasons is the variance between
summer and winter emissions which is not covered by the
modelled effect of the outside temperature. In some cattle
houses, measurements during the winter period only
were made. The mean value represents the winter emission and no effect of temperature was estimated in these
cases. The mean emission of ammonia over 24 h was
assumed to have a Poisson distribution, such that the
variance was proportional to the level of ammonia emission. Graphs (not shown) of the residual variance and the
sum of all variance components were plotted and confirmed this assumption.
The emission from litter houses for cows (with straw as
bedding material), including tie houses (cows fixed at
a place), amounted in all four countries to about half or
less of the emission from cubicle houses (with a walking
area). The emission from both litter (314974 mg/h per
animal, 260890 mg/h (500 kg) live weight or 319
790 mg/h per hpu) and cubicle houses (9872001 mg/h
per animal, 8431769 mg/h (500 kg) live weight or
8481649 mg/h per hpu) varied considerably between the
four countries. The emission per animal from beef cattle
houses with litter in England was almost twice as high as

84
Table 3
Concentrations of ammonia (p.p.m.) for the mean outside temperature, maximum concentration, coefficient of variation (%
%) and the effect of the outside temperature
(T effect) on the concentrations (%
% / K, & p)0)1,* p)0)05,** p)0)01,*** p)0)001) for various housing systems for cattle, pigs and poultry in England (10)1C), The
Netherlands (9)8C), Denmark (8)4C) and Germany (10)5C). The variance components and their SE on the link scale and the c.v. on the linear scale are given in the
lower part of the table
England
Animal type and
housing system

Variance between replicates

Variance between seasons
Variance between
sampling points
Variance between hours/
residual

Denmark

Germany

Mean Maxi- c.v., % effect Mean Maxi- c.v., % effect Mean Maxi- c.v., % effect Mean Maxi- c.v., % effect
mum
mum
mum
mum
0)9
1)3
0)3

0)4

5)1
11)0
7)8
4)3
12)1

3)6
5)7
1)7

3)2

14)3
41)1
36)7
58)3
58)6

35
35
36

30

29
29
29
31
31

s
5)7
s
3)8
s

2)9
!5)4

7)7

!7)0&
0)0
17)8
!7)2
4)6
!3)0

!25*** 18)2

13)7
13)3

10)7

13)7

43)4
22)4

59)8

27
26

26

27

27
31

26

3)8
0)6

!1)7

!4)2
3)7

!5)4**

2)7
3)3

6)4
1)9

8)7
5)3
9)1
14)9

18)6
20)1

17)7
5)7

22)1
17)9
21)7
43)4

25
26

24
25

24
25
26
24

!13** 4)9
7)6*
7)1

3)2
!4)7
5)2
4)3
1)9

5)1

12)5
! 5)0* 10)2
!4)9
4)5
!0)4

! 5)1* 14)3

22)7
14)4
29)3
11)9
8)3
8)5
27)3
43)7
35)5

35)2

29
29
26
29
23
23
34
24
25

21

s
s
1)2
s
2)1
!1)7
!0)8
!4)2*
!6)5*

!2)9

8)3
11)9
27)1

63)9
67)1
56)3

30
29
32

0)3
!1)5
!6)2

29)6
5)9
11)2

72)9
16)5
50)3

26
30
27

!7)7**
!12*
!2)0

25)2
6)1
8)0

72)3
14)5
40)3

28
39
48

!4)8&
!5)4
1)6
6)7*** 20)8

21)4
43)3

27
24

!20&
!2)8

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

0)18
0)31

0)10
0)08

42
55

0)21
0)09

0)07
0)02

46
30

0)17
0)12

0)07
0)03

41
35

0)08
0)26

0)07
0)07

29
51

0)06

0)01

25

0)01

0)001

11

0)01

0)001

0)02

0)001

14

0)56

0)01

75

0)67

0)01

82

0)87

0)01

93

0)39

0)005

63

s No temperature effect was estimated because measurements were carried out during the winter only.

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

Dairy cows, litter

Dairy cows, cubicles
Beef cattle, litter
Beef cattle, slats
Calves, litter
Calves, slats/group
Sows, litter
Sows, slats
Weaners, slats
Finishers, litter
Finishers, slats
Laying hens, deep litter/
perchery
Laying hens, battery cages
Broilers, litter

he Netherlands

England

he Netherlands

Animal type and housing system

Mean

c.v., %

effect

Dairy cows, litter

Dairy cows, cubicles
Beef cattle, litter
Beef cattle, slats
Calves, litter
Calves, slats/group
Sows, litter
Sows, slats
Weaners, slats
Finishers, litter
Finishers, slats
Laying hens, deep litter/
perchery
Laying hens, battery cages
Broilers, litter

314s
1245s
482s

80s

303
503
26)0
108
185

45
52
48

41
40
40
40
42
42

t
974
t
2001
t

686
!7)2

522
4)0

6)1
535
!8)0&
26)6
11&

!16*
385

30)9
39)4
19)8

41
40
44

Variance between replicates

Variance between seasons
Variance between hours/
residual

Mean

Denmark

c.v., %

effect

24
24

24

24

24
28

23

4)6
5)8&

1)9

!0)7

6)6&
13**

0.0

56>0
987s

580
332

730
45)8
394
319

24
25

22
23

23
23
26
23

1)0
!4)3
3)4

38)3
7)7
8)9

26
40
44

p2

3)3
2)6
3)2

36)0
6)4
11)2

24
27
24

p2

SE

c.v., %

Mean

c.v., %

Germany
effect

Mean

c.v., %

!5)0
6)5

5)6
1)2

1)9
3)9
3)6
4)4

538s
1320
262
346s
193
323
1298
325
22)0

308

31
31
27
31
24
24
35
25
26

22

4)5
3)9
4)3***

2)1s
18)5

29
25

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %
22
58

p2

SE

c.v., %

0)48
0)30

0)17
0)09

69
55

0)18
0)07

0)06
0)02

43
26

0)08
0)23

0)07
0)06

28
48

0)05
0)34

0)08
0)09

0)47

0)02

0)46

0)02

0)49

0)02

0)25

0)01

effect
t
t
!5)7
t
!2)5
2)8
2)9
0)6
!0)5

7)1&

!22&
2)8

s The outside NH concentration amounted to 20% or more of the inside NH concentration t No temperature effect was estimated because measurements were
3
3
carried out during the winter only.

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

Table 4
Emission of ammonia (mg/h per animal) for the mean outside temperature, coefficient of variation (%
%) and the effect of the outside temperature (T effect) on the emissions
(%
% / K, &p)
)01,* p)
)005,** p)
)001,*** p)
)0001) for various housing systems for cattle, pigs and poultry in England (101C), The Netherlands (98C), Denmark
(84C) and Germany (105C). The variance components and their SE on the link scale and the c.v. on the linear scale are given in the lower part of the table

85

86
Table 5
Emission of ammonia (mg/h per 500 kg live weight) for the mean outside temperature, coefficient of variation (%
%) and the effect of the outside temperature (T effect) on
the emissions (%
% /K, &p)
)01,* p)
)005,** p)
)001,*** p)
)0001) for various housing systems for cattle, pigs and poultry in England (101C), The Netherlands
(98C), Denmark (84C) and Germany (105C). The variance components and their SE on the link scale and the c.v. on the linear scale are given in the lower part of the
table
England

he Netherlands

Denmark

Germany

Mean

c.v., %

effect

Mean

c.v., %

Dairy cows, litter

Dairy cows, cubicles
Beef cattle, litter
Beef cattle, slats
Calves, litter
Calves, slats/group
Sows, litter
Sows, slats
Weaners, slats
Finishers, litter
Finishers, slats
Laying hens, deep litter/
perchery
Laying hens, battery cages
Broilers, litter

260s
1048s
478s

315s

744
1049
1047
1429
2592

42
49
44

39

38
38
38
39
39

t
t
t

!5)8

5)6
3)8
!8)1*
1)4
!17**

890
1769

853

1148

1282
786

2076

24
23

23

23

24
27

23

7392
9316
8294

38
38
41

4)1
2)8
1)2

9455
1624
4179

23
26
24

0)8
!4)0
3)2

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

0)46
0)21

0)15
0)06

68
46

0)18
0)06

0)06
0)02

42
24

0)01
0)21

0)05
0)06

8
46

0)04
0)32

0)08
0)09

21
57

0)47

0)02

0)46

0)02

0)81

0)03

0)25

0)01

Variance between replicates

Variance between seasons
Variance between hours/
residual

effect
4)8&
4)2

3)4*

2)0

5)9&
11**

1)0

c.v., %

effect

Mean

c.v., %

effect

491
843s

900
1037

1701
1562
3751
2568

19
20

17
18

17
18
20
18

!5)7
7)3&

9)2&
!0)9

2)0
9)2
4)0
4)3&

467s
1168
431
371s
886
1797
3248
1212
649

2398

30
30
26
30
23
23
34
24
25

21

t
t
!3)0
t
!19
2)8
2)9
3)2
0)0

7)1*

10 892
2160
2208

20
34
33

3)6
4)1
25***

602s
7499

28
24

!22*
5)2&

Mean

s The outside NH concentration amounted to 20% or more of the inside NH concentration t No temperature effect was estimated because measurements were
3
3
carried out during the winter only.

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

Animal type and housing system

England

he Netherlands

Animal type and housing system

Mean

c.v., %

effect

Mean

c.v., %

Dairy cows, litter

Dairy cows, cubicles
Beef cattle, litter
Beef cattle, slats
Calves, litter
Calves, slats/group
Sows, litter
Sows, slats
Weaners, slats
Finishers, litter
Finishers, slats
Laying hens, deep litter/
perchery
Laying hens, battery cages
Broilers, litter

319s
1222s
690s

252s

848
1240
508
1200
1366

40
47
43

35

34
34
34
37
37

t
t
t

!4)4

3)9
4)4
!5)5
!0)5
!15*

790
1649

1197

1023

1747
364

1627

24
23

23

24

24
27

23

2753
3120
1676

35
34
39

3179
550
900

23
26
24

Variance between replicates

Variance between seasons
Variance between hours/
residual

2)6
3)3
2)3

Denmark

Germany

effect

Mean

c.v., %

effect

Mean

c.v., %

4)5
6)6*

3)8*

1)7

6)3&
13**

0)8

485
848s

1166
1024

1234
750
2241
1635

20
22

18
20

19
19
22
20

!5)6
7)1&

5)8
2)4

3)3
5)2
3)9
4)3&

497
1113
571
575s
519
1410
2226
1401
339

1588

31
30
25
30
22
22
34
23
24

20

t
t
!3)4
t
1)4
3)0
!0)7
1)7
!2)8

5)8

0)9
!4)1
2)9

3643
711
343

21
36
36

3)7
4)0
31***

199s
1476

28
23

!22&
5)3&

effect

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

p2

SE

c.v., %

0)30
0)31

0)13
0)09

54
56

0)18
0)07

0)06
0)02

42
26

0)02
0)23

0)06
0)07

12
48

0)00
0)37

0)08
0)10

0
61

0)47

0)02

0)46

0)02

1)04

0)03

0)25

0)01

s The outside NH concentration amounted to 20% or more of the inside NH concentration t No temperature effect was estimated because measurements were
3
3
carried out during the winter only.

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

Table 6
Emission of ammonia (mg/h per heat producing unit) for the mean outside temperature, coefficient of variation (%
%) and the effect of the outside temperature (T effect) on
the emissions (%
% /K, &p)
)01,* p)
)005,** p)
)001,*** p)
)0001) for various housing systems for cattle, pigs and poultry in England (101C), The Netherlands
(98C), Denmark (84C) and Germany (105C). The variance components and their SE on the link scale and the c.v. on the linear scale are given in the lower part of the
table

87

88

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

in Germany, while this difference was negligible for the

emission rates per 500 kg live weight and hpu. The emission from beef cattle houses with slats seemed to be
slightly higher than the houses with litter. The emission
from houses for calves varied between 80 (UK, litter) and
522 (NL, slats) mg/h per animal, or 315 (UK, litter) and
1798 (G, slats) mg/h (500 kg) live weight or 252 (UK,
litter) and 1410 (G, slats) mg/h per hpu. The emission rate
for calf houses with litter in England was extremely low
as compared with the emission rates in the other countries. The figures in Germany showed higher emissions
from houses with slats than from litter.
The emission from houses for sows varied between 303
and 1298 mg/h per animal, or between 744 and
3248 mg/h (500 kg) live weight or between 848 and
2226 mg/h per hpu. Sow houses with slats in England
emitted considerably more ammonia than houses with
litter, while the opposite was the case in Germany. Emission of ammonia from weaner houses with slats were
about 25 mg/h per animal, except for Denmark, where
the emission rates per animal, per 500 kg live weight and
per hpu from weaner houses were higher. The emissions
from finishing houses were between 108 and 394 mg/h per
animal. The emissions per animal from finishing houses
in England (108185 mg/h) were much lower than in the
other three countries (308394 mg/h). However, this difference was not so clear in Tables 5 and 6 where emission rates were expressed per 500 kg live weight and hpu.
The difference between finishing houses with slats and
with litter was opposite for England (slats higher) and
Denmark (litter higher).
The emission from houses for laying hens varied
strongly, i.e. a factor 18 between the lowest (G, cages) and
the highest emissions rates (UK, cages or DK, litter).
Except for England, where emissions from battery cages
were more or less equal to litter houses, emissions from
battery houses were much lower than from litter houses.
Emissions from broiler houses with litter were between
8)9 (DK) and 19)8 (UK) mg/h per bird, or between 2208
and 8294 mg/h (500 kg) live weight or between 343 and
1676 mg/h per hpu. The emission from broiler houses in
England and Germany were almost equal, while houses
in The Netherlands had lower emissions and houses in
Denmark showed very low emission rates.
The estimates of the variance components were rather
consistent between the three types of emission rates
(Tables 46). Hardly any differences were found for The
Netherlands and Germany. The variance between replicates in Germany in case of emission rates per hpu was
extremely low (zero). Some differences were found for
England, while in Denmark both the variance between
replicates and the residual variance were different for the
emission rates per animal, per 500 kg live weight and per
hpu. The coefficients of variation between replicates in

England and The Netherlands were above 42%, while in

Denmark and Germany they were below 28 and 22%,
respectively. The coefficients of variation between seasons amounted to above 46% in England, Denmark and
Germany, and were about 25% in The Netherlands. The
residual variance amounted to about 0)46 in England
and The Netherlands, varied strongly in Denmark and
was 0)25 in Germany.
The coefficients of variation in Tables 46 for the
estimates of the emission rates in England (3452%) were
much higher than the coefficient of variation in The
Netherlands, Denmark and Germany (1736%, layers
and broilers in Denmark Table 4 excluded). The effect of
seasonal variations of the outside temperature were in
general between !5 and #5% per K. However, these
effects were only significant in a few cases, as indicated in
Tables 46. In some cases larger positive or negative
temperature effects were found (UK weaners and finishers, NL weaners, DK broilers and G laying hens in
cages). It should be noted that the given temperature
effects were used in the statistical model for the ammonia
emissions to estimate the mean emission for the mean
outside temperature. The estimated emissions of ammonia are thus corrected for the mean outside temperature
per country as given in the heading of Tables 46.

6. Discussion
6.1. Concentrations of ammonia
Ammonia is an irritant gas and causes inflammation of
the mucous membrane in the eye and the respiratory
tract. Very high levels of ammonia concentrations, such
as 2500 p.p.m., may even be (rapidly) fatal. 50 In several
countries the labour inspectorate has established standards for ammonia concentrations, the so-called threshold values that should not be exceeded.5153 In many
countries, the threshold limit is 25 p.p.m. (time weighted)
for an 8 h working day for staff and for the living environment for livestock, while a higher limit is often applied for
short term exposures, e.g. 35 p.p.m. over 15 min in England. However, sometimes the limit is stricter, e.g.
10 p.p.m. for stockmen in Sweden. Shorter working days
may allow higher threshold values, but little is known
about the long term effects of gaseous ammonia in the
working environment. However, lower concentrations
are always preferable to higher concentrations, both for
men and livestock.
Comparison of the results in Table 3 with the threshold values revealed that the mean concentrations in
cattle houses (below 8 p.p.m.) probably do not cause
health risks for staff. Several pig houses showed mean
concentrations above 10 p.p.m., but were still lower than

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

the typical limit of 25 p.p.m. Several poultry houses, both

for laying hens and broilers, contained ammonia concentrations between 20 and 30 p.p.m. The variation around
these means thus caused instantaneous levels far above
the limit of 25 p.p.m. A spatial distribution of ammonia
concentrations inside the animal houses was present, as
shown by the variation between the seven sampling
points which were placed at three heights in a crosssection. However, this variation was negligible compared
with the variation between replicates and seasons. The
variance between replicates showed that a considerable
variation was present between similar types of houses.
The residual variance was large in all four countries, but
this was the sum of the unexplained variation and the
variation between hours within a day. The decreasing
effect of rising outside temperatures on the internal ammonia concentrations in pig and poultry houses could be
explained by the higher ventilation rates and was also
found in other research. 54 Cattle houses differed in this
study from pig and poultry houses. Cattle houses were
naturally ventilated and in general not temperature controlled by means of the ventilation rate. Therefore, the
ventilation rate was not strongly related to the outside
temperature. Also some other processes may have played
a role, because the net effect only of the outside temperature is given in Table 3. Higher outside temperature
may also have cause higher inside temperatures, thus
stimulating microbial and physical processes involved in
the emission of ammonia. Higher ventilation rates also
caused higher air velocities above manure and slurry
surfaces, thus enhancing evaporation of ammonia.55 Very
strong or unexpected effects of the outside temperature
may further be introduced by a correlation between outside temperature and manure handling activities.

6.2. Emissions of ammonia

6.2.1. Methods for expressing ammonia emission rates
The ammonia emissions in Table 46 are given in mg/h
per animal, per 500 kg live weight and per heat producing
unit (1 hpu equal 1 kW), respectively. The relation between an animal and 500 kg live weight is simple. In this
way the emission rate is corrected for the weights of the
animals in the building and assumes a linear and constant relation between weight and emission. An increase
of the emission rate during the production period is often
found,56,57 and is mainly caused by an increase of body
weight within the building and consequently the amount
of manure that is produced. However, the relation between body weight and emission rate has not been proved for all species and housing types. The relation between 500 kg live weight and a hpu mainly depends on
the weight of the animal, and in some cases also on the

89

level of production or metabolic feed intake. The use of

the emission rate per hpu thus also assumes a linear and
constant relation between heat production and ammonia
emission. Further, calculation of emission rates per
500 kg live weight and hpu introduces faults due to errors
in the estimated weight per animal and assumed heat
production. Use of the emission rate per 500 kg live
weight and hpu are thus restricted to cases where the
necessary additional information is available to justify
the assumed relations. The most basic way of presenting
ammonia emissions is per animal. The number of animals
used in calculations should be clearly defined. This can be
(1) the instantaneous or average number of animals during the measurements, or (2) the maximum number of
animals that can be kept in the house. The first figure is
probably most useful for housing systems with a more or
less continuous turnover of animals, while the second
figure is more useful in case of all in/all out systems, e.g.
growing or finishing periods. The use of the maximum
number of animals, together with a correction for a nonproduction period, has led to the definition of animal
places in The Netherlands (see Appendix 1). An
elaborate description of the housing system, manure
handling and the production figures must go together
with the emission rate per animal (place), to prevent
misinterpretation of the results.
6.2.2. Comparison of ammonia emission rates
The effect of the manure handling (especially daily,
weekly or monthly removal from the building) and the
growth of the animals during the production period (e.g.
beef cattle, calves, weaner and finishing pigs, and broilers)
on ammonia concentrations and emissions were not
taken into account in the statistical analyses. The values
presented must be considered as the mean emission rates
for mean conditions of manure handling and growing
stage of the animals. Measurements in The Netherlands
were taken at three quarters of the time through the
production period.
Table 7 summarizes ammonia emission rates reported
in the literature for some countries. The first column
gives general emission rates for cattle, pigs and poultry
together with results from research carried out in
Germany (Oldenburg56 ). The second and third columns
show the standardized (normative) Dutch emission rates
that are used for legislative purposes in The Netherlands,
in g NH /yr per animal place and in mg/h per animal
3
during the production period. These figures are, in general, based on long-term measurements of experimental
units or commercial houses. The emission of ammonia
per year animal place is generally defined as the emission
of an animal house with the maximum number of animals and includes a period between production cycles
during which a zero emission is assumed. The actual

90

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

Table 7
Yearly mean emissions of ammonia (mean and /or range) from various housing systems for cattle, pigs and poultry. All data from
literature
General emission rates

Standardized rates (N legislation)

Recent research (N)

mg NH /h (500 kg)
3
live weight Germany 56
and other countries.58,59
German results marked with*

g NH /yr per
3
animal place60,61

mg NH /h
3
per animal

mg NH /h
3
per animal

Cattle
Dairy cows, litter
Dairy cows, cubicles
Beef cattle, slats
('6 months)
Calves, boxes

2500 (21003000), 240*

3000
8800
8100

657
1930
925

438

933

2500

184

400

64

Pigs
Sows, slats
Dry sows, slats
Nursing sows, slats
Weaners, partially
slatted floor
Weaners, fully
slatted floor
Finishers, litter
Finishers, partially
slatted floor
Finishers, fully
slated floor

2200 (20004500)
930*

4200
8300

505
1053

600

76

36

57

1300*
2150*

600

76

146 & 291s

65

1350*

2500

317

242

57

2380*

3000

381

Poultry
Laying hens, litter
Laying hens, aviary
Laying hens, cages,
manure belts (with or
without drying)
Laying hens, cages,
slurry storage/
composting
Broilers, litter
(traditional)
Broilers, litter
drying (about 80% d.m.)

2900 (15009100)
7800*

178

21

37)5
12)5

66

2000*

35

4)2

2000*

83386

1046

10 00015 000*

50

7)6

514

0)82)1

Animal type and

housing system

Ref.
number

62

63

67

s Substantial emissions of N O and NO were measured.

2

number of animals in a house may therefore often be less

than the number of animal places due to mortality, e.g. in
the case of broilers. The relative length of the periods
with zero emission varies in general between 0 and 10%
per year, with 25% for broilers as an exception. The fourth
column gives results of recent research carried out in The
Netherlands and gives additional information to the second
and third columns. The emission rates in the first column of
Table 7 can be compared with those in Table 5 (per 500 kg
live weight) and those in the third and fourth columns of
Table 7 can be compared with those in Table 4 (per animal).
Although emission rates per 500 kg live weight allow
for the live weight of the animals, Table 7 shows that the
mean emission rates of 2500 mg/h for cattle buildings,

2200 mg/h for pig buildings and 2900 mg/h 500 kg live
weight for poultry buildings are only rough estimates and
neglect the difference in emission rates between animal
and housing types within a livestock category and between countries. The emission rates per (500 kg) live
weight (Table 7) per animal and housing type as reported
by Oldenburg56 (German situation) lie in the range as
given for pigs (20004500) and poultry (15009100), but
differed considerably for cattle (240 versus 21003000).
The measured emission rates in this research (Table 5)
from cattle houses were below 2100 mg/h (500 kg) live
weight, but not as low as reported by Oldenburg
(240 mg/h (500 kg) live weight for a mixture of cattle
houses). Measured emission rates from pig houses were

91

E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

Table 8
Schematic overview of processes and factors involved in ammonia release from livestock houses
Processes

Nitrogen compounds and appearance

1. Faeces production
B
2. Degradation
B
3. Volatilization
B
4. Ventilation
B
5. Emission

Uric acid, urea, undigested proteins

Animal

Ammonia/ammonium in manure

Process conditions (manure): T, pH, A

Ammonia in air

Process conditions &

Ammonia in animal house

Local climate (air): , r.h., air velocity

Ammonia in environment

Air cleaning

T temperature; pH: acidity; A : water activity; r.h.: relative humidity;

w

between 744 and 3751 mg/h (500 kg) live weight (Table 5)
and these levels were comparable with the range measured by Oldenburg (9302380 mg/h (500 kg) live weight).
The emission rates from poultry houses varied between
1624 and 10 892 mg/h (500 kg) live weight (cages in
Germany excluded). These levels and this wide range
were similar to those reported by Oldenburg
(200010 000 mg/h (500 kg) live weight).
Comparison of the measured emission rates in The
Netherlands from the commercial houses in this research
(Table 4) with the standard normative values (second and
third columns of Table 7) showed good agreement in
general. The mean values were close (dairy cows cubicles
and sows slats) to the present normative value, or were
close to results of other research that have not yet been
used to update the normative value (calfs boxes and
laying hens litter). Some higher measured values were
caused by the time of measurement in relation to the
manure handling (manure removal for laying hens cages)
or increased ammonia emission during the production
period (veal calves, fattening pigs and broilers litter).
Lower emissions from houses for weaners and beef cattle
than the normative value were confirmed (in the first
case) or contradicted (in the latter case) by other research.
The higher emission from tie houses for dairy cows could
be attributed to the higher emission during the Summer,
which is not included in the normative value.
6.2.3. Causes of variations in ammonia emissions
Table 8 gives a global overview of the processes and
factors involved in the emission of ammonia. Knowledge
of nitrogen sources and degradation and volatilization
processes leads to the following classification of influencing factors:59,23
Housing system: The housing system can be defined as
a combination of the typical housing system for an animal type, and the waste treatment and/or removal system
and storage system.

Contributory factors

local climate

interaction between process conditions and local climate.

Animal: Feed intake, feed composition and nitrogen

retention determine the nitrogen excreted; consequently,
the age, weight and animal production methods are relevant.
Inside climate: The outside climate, especially temperature, has a major influence on temperature, relative
humidity and air exchange rate within a building. The
ventilation rate and the ventilation system (natural or
mechanical), together with the positioning of inlet and
outlet openings determine the airflow pattern and hence
the temperature and air velocity above the ammoniaemitting surfaces.
Management: Examples of management factors include waste handling, ventilation and looking after the
animals.
The concentrations of ammonia and the ventilation
rate, and hence the emission of ammonia are subject to
these influencing factors. The following variations in time
and place were found in this study:
(1) Variation between countries within a certain housing
type; the results in Tables 46 clearly showed that
differences in ammonia emissions and concentrations
between countries were present if animal species in
the same housing type were compared.
(2) Variation between replicates of a certain housing type
in a country; the coefficients of variation ranged up to
70% and thus showed that considerable variation
existed between commercial housing types of the
same kind.
(3) Yearly or seasonal variation not modelled with the
outside temperature; only in a restricted number of
combinations of animal species and housing types
was a clear relationship found between ammonia
concentration/emission and the outside temperature.
(4) Spatial variation between the seven sampling points
at the same moment; the airflow patterns caused
a relatively small variation between the sampling
points, compared with the other sources of variation.

92

P . W . G . G RO O T K O ER KA M P E A .

(5) Daily or diurnal variation due to, e.g. activity of the

animals; the variation of emissions/concentrations
within one day could certainly not be neglected.

7. Conclusions
Mean ammonia concentrations in cattle houses were
below 8 p.p.m. and did not give reason for concern. Mean
ammonia concentration in pig houses were between
5 and 18 p.p.m. and between 5 and 30 p.p.m. in poultry
houses, while momentary peak levels over 50 p.p.m.
were recorded in several housing types. It could be concluded that health risks due to high concentrations
of ammonia were present in various types of pig and
poultry houses.
Mean emission rates per animal and housing type were
determined. Ammonia emissions from cattle houses
(dairy cows, beef calves) varied between 80 and
2001 mg/h per animal or 315 and 1798 mg/h (500 kg) live
weight. Ammonia emission from pig houses (sows,
weaners and finishers) varied between 22 and 1298 mg/h
per animal or 649 and 3751 mg/h (500 kg) live weight.
Ammonia emissions from poultry houses (laying hens
and broilers) varied between 2)1 and 39)4 mg/h per bird
or 602 and 10 892 mg/h (500 kg) live weight.
These emission rates should be used carefully even
though they are based upon a very large survey because
of large variation between countries, between commercial houses and between seasons. The cause of this variation could not be explained completely in terms of
the underlying physical and chemical processes. In
a number of cases an effect of the outside temperature
on concentrations and emissions was found, but effects
of manure handling and the increase of the emission
rate during growing or production periods were not
quantified.
The possible disadvantage of the short measuring
period in each house was probably well overcome by the
number of repetitions of measurements in four replicates
of each housing type under summer and winter
conditions. A comparison with Dutch data showed
that the measurement method for ammonia emissions
used in this research could produce accurate mean
emission rates per animal and housing type in the four
countries.
Clear and uniform methods for reporting results of
measurements on ammonia emissions and the use of
these figures for calculations on national or European
scale are necessary. An emission rate per animal seems
most appropriate, but the number of animals should be
defined while mortality and the effect of the non-production period should be taken into account.

Acknowledgements
The work was funded mainly by the Commission of
the European Union as Project No. PL900703. Supplementary funding was also received in England from the
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food via Commission CC 0204; in Germany from the Hannover School of
Veterinary Medicine and the Institut fur Biosystemtechnik of the Bundesforschungsanstalt fur Landwirtschaft;
in The Netherlands from the Ministry of Agriculture,
Nature Management and Fisheries and in Denmark
from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
We thank the many technicians in all the partner
countries, without whose help the project could not have
been completed, and also Professor Th. Blaha, Head of
the Unit of Epidemiology of the Hannover School of
Veterinary Medicine, at Bakum, Germany, for his organisational and logistic support. We thank Chris Michael
and his staff at Meaco Sales and Marketing for their
enthusiasm and dedication in developing with us the
novel wire-less data logging system.
Finally, we thank the many farmers in England, The
Netherlands, Germany and Denmark who not only allowed access to their buildings for the measurements to
be made, but also helped in many other ways.

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E M IS S I O N S OF A M M O N I A IN L I V ES TO C K B UI LD I N GS IN N OR TH E RN E U R O PE

Appendix 1. Calculation of emission rates per animal

place per year
If a production period of length a is assumed, followed by
a non-production period b, the yearly average emission of
ammonia per animal can be calculated as follows:
E

NH3

365
1
"(24E a#24E b)
a
b (a#b) N
!/*.!-4

95

The mean emission rate during the production period of length

a (days) can be calculated as follows:
n : ai 24 f (t) dt
i
E "+ 0
a
24a
i
i/1
The course of the ammonia emission during a production
period can be influenced by seasonal effects of the outside
temperature, effects of the growing animals and effects of the
manure handling (removal and treatment).