Portable artificial nose system for assessing air quality in swine buildings

Abstract

To practice an efficient air quality management in livestocks, a standardized measurement technology has always been requested in order to assess the odor, of which results are acceptable by every party involved, i.e., the owner, the state and the public. This paper has reported on a prototype of portable electronic nose (e-nose) designed specially to assess malodors in swine buildings atmosphere in the pig farm. The briefcase formed e-nose consists of eight chemical gas sensors that are sensitive to gases usually presented in pig farm such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocarbons etc. The system contains gas flow controller, measurement circuit and data acquisition unit, all of which are automated and controlled by an in-house software on a notebook PC via a USB port. We have tested the functionality of this e-nose in a pig farm under a real project aimed specifically to reduce the odor emission from swine buildings in the pig farm. The e-nose was used to assess the air quality inside sampled swine buildings. Based on the results given in this paper, recommendations on appropriate feeding menu, buildings' cleaning schedule and emission control program have been made.