Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #310194
Title: Utilizing vegetative environmental buffers to mitigate ammonia and particulate matter emissions from poultry houses

Author
item YAO, Q. - University Of Maryland
item Hapeman, Cathleen
item MCCONNELL, L.L. - University Of Maryland
item LI, H. - University Of Delaware
item Nguyen, Anh
item Downey, Peter
item BUSER, M. - Oklahoma State University
item Holt, Gregory
item Prueger, John
item EICHINGER, W. - University Of Iowa
item Ro, Kyoung
item TORRENTS, A. - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2014
Publication Date: 8/10/2014
Citation: Yao, Q., Hapeman, C.J., Mcconnell, L., Li, H., Nguyen, A., Downey, P.M., Buser, M., Holt, G.A., Prueger, J.H., Eichinger, W., Ro, K.S., Torrents, A. 2014. Utilizing vegetative environmental buffers to mitigate ammonia and particulate matter emissions from poultry houses [abstract]. American Chemical Society. AGRO 76.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Vegetative Environmental Buffers (VEBs) are vegetation designed as a visual screen, which usually consist of trees, shrubs, grass and other potential plants. VEBs are placed around the poultry houses for the purpose of minimizing the air pollutant emissions. The expansion of the poultry industry due to the growing demand of livestock products is putting growing stress on the atmospheric environment and is a public health concern. Ammonia and particulate matter (PM) are the most important air pollutants released from poultry houses. Limited data is available concerning the air pollutants fate when VEBs are employed, as well as the effectiveness and VEB design optimization. The goal of this project is to provide effectiveness data for the National Conservative Practice Standard (NCPS # 380 or # 420) and determine the efficiencies of VEB in mitigating ammonia and particulate matter from the poultry houses. Preliminary results show significant ammonia decrease with VEBs presence and distance increases from the releasing source. However, no discernable trends were observed with PM data indicating complex interaction of wind speed, wind direction, and distance between VEBs and release point.