Ann. Méd. Vét., 2004, 148 (1), pp 31 - 38 Technical and environmental aspects of raising fattening pigs and weaned pigs on deep litter.NICKS B.Abstract :
The technique of raising pigs on deep litter consists of leaving the animals on a 30 to 50 cm depth of straw or sawdust which can be used for several batches. This article gives a synthesis on experimental results on rearing 3 to 4 successive batches of fattening pigs or 5 to 6 batches of weaned pigs on straw-based or sawdust-based deep litters. For fattening pigs, this rearing technique required on average 80 kg of sawdust or 45 kg of straw per pig and produced, on average, 123 kg per pig of sawdust-based compost or 159 kg per pig of straw-based manure with a nitrogen content of 1.29 kg and 1.87 kg respectively. For weaned pigs, the rearing technique required on average 15 kg of sawdust or 6 kg of straw per pig and produced, on average, 17 kg of sawdust-based compost per pig or an equivalent quantity of straw-based manure with a nitrogen content of 177 g and 210 g respectively. The cumulative greenhouse gases emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O), calculated in CO2 equivalents, were higher with sawdust-based litter than with straw-based litter of 42 % during fattening periods and of 53 % during lost-weaning periods. On the contrary, NH3 emissions were higher from the straw-based litter than from the sawdust-based litter but only during post-weaning periods (+ 160 %), not during fattening periods. None of the two litters presents a decisive advantage on the other on an environmental point of view. Get the PDF Contact person : Baudouin.Nicks@ulg.ac.be |