Effect of Slatted Floor Configuration on Air Quality and Floor Cleanliness in a Sow Barn

Abstract. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of slat and slot widths of slatted concrete floor on air quality and floor cleanliness in sow gestation rooms. Two different configurations of concrete slatted floor were tested in two gestation rooms: room #1 with 105 mm wide slats and 19 mm slots, which was shown to be the best configuration for animals based on a kinematics study; and room #2 with 125 mm wide slats and 25 mm slots, which is the most common configuration currently used in sow barns. Temperature and relative humidity were recorded continuously in each room. Ammonia concentrations were measured in each room as an air quality indicator. Time-lapse cameras in each room took pictures of the floor hourly every Tuesday for the assessment of the cleanliness of the floors. Manure on the floor would contaminate sow body, so videos were recorded every Saturday and then used to assess the cleanliness of the sows. The preliminary results showed that there was no significant difference in air quality, cleanliness of floor and cleanliness of sows between the two slat-slot configurations.