ThePoultrySite.com, UK
05-01-07
Iowa State Receives Grant to Study Turkey Production Air Emissions
IOWA - new, two-year study of air emissions from two Midwest turkey production
units will get underway in March 2007, funded by a $500,000 grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative on air quality.
Iowa State University is the lead institution on the project, which is a
collaborative effort with the University of Minnesota.
Hongwei Xin, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, said
progress has been made toward collecting baseline data on air emissions from
U.S. animal feeding operations, especially for broilers, laying hens and swine.
"But until now, there hasn't been a federally funded project that systematically
collects air emissions from U.S. turkey operations, even though turkey production
plays an important part in U.S. poultry production," Xin said.
The project will continuously measure emissions of ammonia and particulate
matter from two mechanically ventilated turkey barns for one year. The
measurements will be done at a commercial facility in central Iowa that produces
tom turkeys, and at a University of Minnesota research farm near Rosemont,
Minn., that produces hen turkeys.
At the Iowa site, part of an existing barn with mostly natural ventilation will be
modified into a mechanically ventilated facility. At the Minnesota site, the
mechanical ventilation system of the "grower" section will be increased to handle
turkeys through market weight. Xin said both site modifications will provide more
precise airflow measurements and quantification of the emissions. The naturally
ventilated portion of the barns will be used to set the ventilation rate for the
monitored sections.
The project also will monitor the indoor air quality at several locations in the
naturally ventilated section. State-of-the-art mobile air emissions monitoring labs
developed by Iowa State University scientists will be used.
Other members of the project team include Robert Burns, associate professor,
Jay Harmon, professor, Steve Hoff, professor, and Jacek Koziel, assistant
professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State; and
Larry Jacobson, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and Sally
Noll, professor of animal science at the University of Minnesota. The project also
involves industry leaders representing the Iowa Turkey Federation and the
Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. This multidisciplinary team has a
combined expertise in air quality, animal housing and environmental control,
poultry nutrition and turkey production.
Xin said this project will help establish an objective and urgently needed
database of ammonia and particulate matter emission factors for commercial
turkey operations typical of the U.S. turkey industry.
"Ultimately, this study will contribute to the advancement of basic science and
inventory on air emissions from turkey production facilities and impact the U.S.
turkey and agricultural industry by helping sustain its competitiveness and
prosperity in the global economy," he said.