Odour emission from intensive livestock production system: approaches for emission abatement and evaluation of their effectiveness

Intensification of livestock production system has been increased due to the reduction of the production cost, but clashed with a low availability of disposable areas for manure; intensive livestock production is strictly connected with a lot of potentially noxious by-product issues: land application of manure on soil, discharge of manure nutrients or other contaminants and pathogenic bacteria to surface and groundwater, emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), ammonia, pathogens and odour to the atmosphere. Although discharging of manure nutrients or other contaminants may have a long-term effect, i.e. water eutrophication phenomena, airborne emissions have an immediate negative effect on health and welfare both of animals and workers in the livestock area, exposed to high concentration of VOCs (NH3, CH4, H2S, NOx, etc.), dust, and a variety of ioaerosol (bacteria, viruses, endotoxin, parasites, fungi, mycotoxin etc.). Any proximity of livestock facilities to residential area enhances the problem, involving a great number of people. Major pig and poultry producing areas can be found in the north of Italy, as well as in several other regions in Europe (i.e. Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, some areas in France, Germany, and Spain). In order to evaluate properly those airborne emissions, field air sampling and analytical methods should be chosen arefully as they play a fundamental role. In addition, the quantification of the odour-causing compounds is useful for the development and assessment of odour and VOCs mitigation technologies, aimed at the enhancement of the environmental sustainability of livestock production systems. First, the paper describes the development of air analytical methods; then, some approaches for emission abatement are presented.