Field Study on the Impact of Indoor Air Quality on Broiler Production

Abstract

The presented research investigated the impact of indoor air quality on the production of broilers. Three broiler houses of different air quality environments with different controlled ventilation rates and uses of super plasma ionizing (SPI) air purifiers were investigated. The broilers were fed with antibiotic or non-antibiotic feeds to determine if the air quality control could be sufficient to keep broilers healthy without using antibiotics. The weight gain, mortality rate and serum cholesterol level of broilers were monitored as the benefit indicators of air quality and antibiotics. The results showed a higher weight gain of the broilers in the broiler house with a higher ventilation rate. SPI air purifier could benefit the weight gains of the broilers, but was not always significant. The uses of higher ventilation rate, SPI air purifier and antibiotics could reduce the mortality rate of broilers. The impact of air quality on reducing the serum cholesterol level of broilers was not found in this research. The inference of this research was that ventilation could be an effective way to increase the broiler productivity, while an optimum setting of ventilation rate is essential to ensure the broilers and keepers are safe from any harmful effects. In the case that the ambient environment had been severely polluted, air purifiers would be indispensable to complement ventilation to reduce certain target pollutants.