Influence of Peri-Shed Green Infrastructure on Air Quality, Noise Attenuation, and Welfare Indices in Broiler Chicken Houses

Abstract

The green infrastructure around livestock buildings can be considered a kind of environmentally inclined strategy of enhancing the environment, which in its turn directly has a direct impact on animal welfare. In this experiment, the impact of the peri-shed vegetable belt on air quality, noise mitigation, and welfare indices in broiler chicken house commercials were determined. Two mechanically ventilated identically designed houses were tested in six sequential production cycles with one bordered by a three-row belt of mixed and fast-growing trees and shrubs (vegetated house, VH), and the other without this green belt (control house, CH). The environmental measurements recorded were the ambient concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and the total suspended particulates, ammonia, and carbon dioxide at bird level and exhaust points, and the measurements of the external noise were at various distances of the sheds. The welfare measures involved broilers performance measures, mortality rates, gait measures, feather sickness, footpad dermatitis, hock burn, and behaviour measures in terms of activity, resting, and frequency of disturbance. The findings demonstrated that VH had always had smaller downwind PM and ammonia levels than CH, and the level of noise was decreased by 3-5 dB in the vegetative belt. Although the birds in VH had somewhat better feather cleanliness, less gross lesions, and increased undisturbed resting bouts in comparison to the birds in C, suggesting less environmental irritation and less acoustic distraction, the internal microclimate conditions were similar in both areas because of the same ventilation management. On the whole, the evidence indicates that peri-shed green infrastructure has the potential to improve the quality of the environment and lead to the selected enhancement of broiler welfare, which makes it an essential element in the animal-friendly design of the farm structure.