In the Netherlands, pig production is economically significant but also leads to the emission of harmful gasses
like ammonia (NH3), odour (e.g., H2S), fine dust and greenhouse gasses (GHG) affecting climate, biodiversity,
animal and human health and public acceptance of pig production. These emissions depend on factors such as
diet, housing, and manure management. Current emission reduction methods rely on air scrubbers which are
inadequate to reduce odour and GHG emission. Moreover, these end-of-pipe solutions are associated with
poor indoor air quality due to high concentrations of ammonia, dust and odour, with negative impact on the
health of the pigs and workers on the farm.
This project addresses poor air quality associated to intensive pig farming, affecting both indoor conditions of
animal facilities and the surrounding outdoor area. We will develop holistic solutions to reduce emissions by
developing and integrating nutritional strategies, innovative manure management and low-emission pen
designs to enhance the indoor air quality and hence the health conditions for pigs and farm workers, and to
decrease environmental impact. The efficiency of the measures will be supported by state of the art sensors
that will monitor the animal health and indoor and outdoor air quality.
An initial desk study will define nutritional concepts for low-emission diets, meanwhile taking into account
other criteria of sustainable (circular) pig production. These concepts will then be tested in laboratory trials
where fresh manure from differently fed individual pigs will be analysed for production of volatile components,
microbial products, and conversion processes occurring during manure storage. Promising dietary strategies
are identified and will be tested against common diets throughout the growing-finishing period in grouphoused pigs in experimental facilities. Emissions and indoor air are monitored by novel (prototype) sensors and
reference methods. Pig health is assessed on different levels (behaviour, physiology, immunity). The most
promising strategies will be scaled up under practical housing conditions, assessing the air quality and health of
the pigs. This phase serves as a proof of principle for an integrated strategy to provide a healthy indoor and
outdoor climate aligning source-oriented dietary concepts, with dedicated manure management and the use of
novel sensing technologies for real time monitoring emissions and air quality. Finally, results will be integrated
in a description of strategies for pig production that include the use of low footprint feed resources, lowemission pen lay-out, manure management and end-of-pipe technology. These strategies will be evaluated for
overall impact on health and environment with appropriate (e.g. LCA) methods and discussed in relation to
(expected) legislation and regulations.