Dust in pig buildings.

It is well documented in the international scientific literature that airborne dust in pig houses can cause serious health problems for humans as well as for animals. Extensive research has been carried out in different countries during the last few decades to improve the scientific understanding of air quality issues related to intensive animal production. Research and review papers were presented at the international symposium on Dust Control in Animal Production Facilities, held in Denmark in 1999. Different techniques have been used in order to reduce dust burdens in pig confinement buildings, but up to date only the procedure of spraying oil or a mixture of oil and water has contributed to reducing the indoor dust concentrations significantly. This article summarizes the current level of understanding of dust issues in intensive animal production buildings, mainly on the basis of papers presented at the above-mentioned symposium.

Dustiness of chopped straw as affected by lignosulfonate as a dust suppressant.

Many sources add to the concentration of bioaerosols in livestock buildings, and source control is the number one priority for keeping a low concentration. Straw is a common but dusty bedding material in livestock buildings and the present study is focused on the dustiness of chopped straw (barley) as affected by lignosulfonate (LS) as a dust suppressant. A LS-solution was aerosolized in a spray chamber fitted to an existing bedding chopper to allow the chopped straw to adsorb the LS-solution. The dustiness of straw treated with LS was compared to non-treated straw. As storage conditions may affect dustiness, the study included treated straw kept for 4 weeks in sealed plastic bags. Dustiness of the chopped straw was measured in terms of the potential of the straw to emit bioaerosols in a rotating drum. The LS-treated straw proved low in dustiness compared to the non-treated straw. The dustiness with respect to the mass of dust was reduced by at least a factor of 6, and for fungi and endotoxin the factors of reduction were 4 and 3, respectively. Dustiness of LS-treated straw kept in plastic bags was reduced by a factor of 2 for mass of dust and by a factor of 4 for endotoxin, but dustiness for fungi was increased by a factor of 3. It is concluded that lignosulfonate has potential as a dust suppressant for chopped straw.