Assessment of the methane emission for different typologies of fattening swine facilities in the department of Antioquia – Colombia
¹Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellín, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Carrera 65 #59A-110, Código postal CO050034 Medellín, Colombia
²Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellín, Facultad de Minas, AV 80 #65-223, Código postal CO050034 Medellín, Colombia
³Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Genética Molecular (BIOGEM), Departamento de Producción Animal, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín, Carrera 65 No. 59 A-110, CO050034 Código, Colombia
*Correspondence: ncastrillon@unal.edu.co
Abstract:
The explosive growth of swine production at high stocking densities in confinement farming worldwide, has raised concerns the environmental impact, health and livestock productivity and the production of associated gases in this type of large-scale farms. The aim of this paper was to study the methane gas concentration and emissions of ten different typologies of swine production installations. The facilities were in the department of Antioquia – Colombia, they were located between 800–2,300 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) of heights, they mainly employed natural ventilation as refrigeration strategy and they were used for pigs in fattening stage. Methane measurements were taken at animal height. Sensors were located at intermediate points of the ventilation inlet and outlet areas. The behaviour of methane concentration and emission of the facilities were analysed along with the correlation and temporal evolution of climatic variables, comfort indices and construction typologies. The information was analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Were found an average of CH4 Emission Rate (ER) per facility (kg year-1) of 607.9, Global Warming Potential (GWP) per facility (kg year-1) of 15,197.42 and significant correlations between ER and cleaning frequency (CF), animal unit (AU), air flow (Q), animal density (AD) and relative humidity (RH) were evidenced. This is the first research reported in Colombia, that will be important to create some governmental policies.
Key words:
greenhouse gases, methane emissions, natural ventilation, swine production, typologies of construction