Review of Measurement Technologies for Air Pollutants at Livestock and Poultry Farms

With the intensification of livestock breeding, the air quality problem of livestock farms caused by high density breeding is becoming more and more serious. Animal husbandry has become one of the important sources of air pollutants in China. Air emitted from most intensive livestock houses contains a large amount of pollutants, including ammonia, sulfides, particulate matters (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which not only poses a big threat to animals and workers in livestock farms, but also spreads to the surrounding environment resulting in air pollution. Scientific and applicable air pollutants measuring methods are the basis of monitoring and controlling air pollution in livestock and poultry farms. In this article, the detection methods of livestock farming related hazardous gases (e.g., NH₃, H₂S), greenhouse gases, particulate matters and odor were summarized. The detection methods of hazardous gases in livestock houses mainly include chemical analysis, semiconductor gas sensor detection, spectroscopic methodology and mass spectrometry. The wet-chemical method is cheap and can detect gases sensitively and accurately, while it cannot detect gases in real time, and the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The gas tube is cheap and easy to operate, but the deviation is great. Electrochemical sensor is of high sensitivity, moderate cost and can be used to detect gas concentration continuously, however, the devices are easy to age. Spectrum method and mass spectrometry can detect gas quickly and accurately, but it is not suitable for conventional air detection of productive livestock farming due to its high costs. In this paper, the detection methods of greenhouse gases (e.g., CH₄, CO₂) generated from animal intestinal fermentation and livestock environment were also summarized. It is hard to conclude an accurate detection of greenhouse gases in animal husbandry, because the concentrations of greenhouse gases in animal husbandry changes all the time (diurnal and seasonal) and are related to other factors including sampling points. No international common testing method and measurement standard are concluded till now, therefore, the research of greenhouse gases detection method and standard in animal husbandry should be carried out as soon as possible. The detection methods of particulate matters (PM) in livestock farms were reviewed from three aspects: physical, chemical and biological characteristics. PM contains complex components in livestock farms, therefore, it is highly needed to improve PM detection technology. Besides, the component analysis and sensory analysis of odorous substances in livestock farms were overviewed. The odor analysis of professional olfactory discernment personnel owns stronger subjectivity and costs higher than gas chromatography- mass spectrometry. While, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is unable to determine all gaseous organic compounds with one sample. Combining gas chromatography and dynamic olfactometer can be more efficient for comprehensive analysis of odor samples. In this article, detection methods and techniques of air pollutants in animal husbandry were comprehensively reviewed to provide a reference for the development of air pollutants detection technologies in livestock and poultry breeding in China.