Effects of Ozonation of the Swine Nursery Building on Indoor Air Quality and Growth Performance of Weanling Piglets

The present study was performed to investigate the effect of ozonation of the swine nursery building on indoor air quality and growth efficiency of the weanling piglets. Forty 21-day-old, cross-bred weanling piglets were housed in two ozonated or unozonated pens(10 males and 10 females per pen) for 3 wk alternately in a swine nursery building and this procedure was repeated three times. Ozone was generated using a commercial apparatus outside the nursery building and infused into the nursery building through a duct at a level of 0.03 ppm. Indoor concentrations of harmful gases were measured at 2-h intervals for a 24-h period per each 3-wk feeding trial. Indoor ammonia and carbon dioxide gas concentrations were reduced by the ozonation(P 0.01) by 21% and 7%, respectively, compared with those of the control(unozonation), although hydrogen sulfide concentration was not affected by the treatment. However, the weight gain, feed intake and feed/gain of the piglets did not change due to the ozonation. Results suggest that ozonation of the swine nursery building is effective for improving the indoor air quality without affecting the production efficiency of weanling piglets.