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Data extracted in June 2023
Fiche created in November 2023
Note to the reader: This general fiche summarises all the environmental and climate impacts of LIVESTOCK HOUSING TECHNIQUES found in a review of 13 synthesis papers[1]. These papers were selected from an initial number of 604 obtained through a systematic literature search strategy, according to the inclusion criteria reported in section 4. The impacts reported here are those for which there is scientific evidence available in published synthesis papers, what does not preclude the farming practice to have other impacts on the environment and climate still not covered by primary studies or by synthesis papers.
The synthesis papers review a number of primary studies ranging from 5 to 172. Therefore, the assessment of impacts relies on a large number of results from the primary studies, obtained mainly in field conditions, or sometimes in lab experiments or from model simulations.
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE FARMING PRACTICE
- Description:
- Livestock housing techniques include several improved strategies mainly used to reduce emissions to the environment and to improve animal welfare.
- Key descriptors:
- This review includes:
- several techniques for livestock housing: floor type, in-house litter amendment with conditioners, additives or inhibitors, frequency of litter/manure removal, shading, space allowance, light management and ventilation. Please, note that this is not an exhaustive list of livestock housing techniques, but of those found in the synthesis papers that meet the requirements to be included in our review;
- results for several animal categories: beef cattle, swine, poultry, sheep and goose;
- only synthesis papers, where the comparisons between livestock housing techniques and their corresponding controls come from the same field experiment.
- This review does not include:
- studies on manure management outside the house or on livestock feeding. These practices are assessed in separate sets of fiches.
- the impact of livestock housing techniques on animal welfare. Animal welfare will be assessed in a separate set of fiches.
2. EFFECTS OF THE FARMING PRACTICE ON CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
We reviewed the impacts of a livestock system with a livestock housing technique compared to the same system without the corresponding livestock housing technique (Table 1).
The table below shows the number of synthesis papers with statistical tests reporting i) a significant difference between the Intervention and the Comparator, that is to say, a significant statistical effect, which can be positive or negative; or ii) a non-statistically significant difference between the Intervention and the Comparator. In addition, we include, if any, the number of synthesis papers reporting relevant results but without statistical test of the effects. Details on the quality assessment of the synthesis papers can be found in the methodology section of this WIKI.
Out of the 13 selected synthesis papers, 12 included studies conducted in Europe, and 11 have a quality score higher than 50%.
Table 1: Summary of effects. Number of synthesis papers reporting positive, negative or non-statistically significant effects on environmental and climate impacts. The number of synthesis papers reporting relevant results but without statistical test of the effects are also provided. When not all the synthesis papers reporting an effect are of high quality, the number of synthesis papers with a quality score of at least 50% is indicated in parentheses. Some synthesis papers may report effects for more than one impact, or more than one effect for the same impact.
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| Statistically tested | Non-statistically tested | ||
Impact | Metric | Intervention | Comparator | Significantly positive | Significantly negative | Non-significant | |
Decrease Air pollutants emissions | Ammonia emissions | Biofilters and scrubbers for exhaust air | No biofilters | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 (0) |
Biofilters and scrubbers for exhaust air | No mechanical exhaust air and litter management | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Floor type: average of several strategies | Slatted floor | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Floor type: deep litter with extra straw addition | Deep litter without extra straw addition | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Floor type: slatted floor | Deep litter | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Floor type: slatted floor/deep litter | Solid floor | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Litter: high frequency removal | Low frequency litter removal | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 (0) | ||
Litter: treatment with conditioners, additives or inhibitors | No litter treatment | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
Increase Animal production | Animal production | Floor type: deep litter with alternative materials | Deep litter with wood shavings | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Floor type: deep litter with straw | Slatted floor | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Floor type: rubber mats | Slatted floor | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Housing system: feedlot | Free range | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Housing system: loose barn | Pasture | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Light: supplementary artificial light | No artificial light | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Litter: treatment with conditioners, additives or inhibitors | No litter treatment | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Roofing: modified | Conventional roofing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Shade: available | No shade | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Space allowance: high | Low space allowance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Temperature: evaporative cooling | No evaporative cooling | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0) | ||
Decrease GHG emissions | CH4 emission | Biofilters and scrubbers for exhaust air | No biofilters | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0) |
Floor type: slatted floor | Deep litter | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
Litter: high frequency removal | Low frequency litter removal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0) | ||
Decrease GHG emissions | N2O emission | Biofilters and scrubbers for exhaust air | No biofilters | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (0) |
Floor type: slatted floor | Deep litter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Litter: high frequency removal | Low frequency litter removal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (0) | ||
3. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EFFECTS ON CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
The factors significantly influencing the size and/or direction of the effects on the impacts, according to the synthesis papers included in this review, are reported below. Details about the factors can be found in the summaries of the meta-analyses available in this WIKI.
Table 2: List of factors reported to significantly affect the size and/or direction of the effects on environmental and climate impacts, according to the synthesis papers reviewed. The reference number of the synthesis papers where those factors are explored is given in parentheses.
Impact | Factors |
Air pollutants emissions | Litter conditioner type (Ref1) |
Animal production | Animal age (Ref2), Intensity of illumination (Ref2), Litter conditioner type (Ref1), Litter material (Ref5) and Sex ratio (Ref2) |
4. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW SEARCH STRATEGY
Table 3: Systematic review search strategy - methodology and search parameters.
Parameter | Details |
Keywords | WOS: TS = ((stable OR bed* OR barn* OR "litter" OR "confinement" OR "outdoor system*" OR "space allowance" OR "space requirement" OR "floor type*" OR "flor characteristic*" OR "feedlot" OR "housing system*" OR "housing environment*" OR "livestock housing" OR "ventilation rate" OR "ventilation" OR "tied housing" OR "loose housing" OR "solid floor*" OR "perforated floor*" OR "litter treatment")) AND TS = (("animal*" OR "ruminant*" OR "small ruminant*" OR "cattle" OR "dairy cattle" OR "beef cattle" OR "sheep" OR "ewe*" OR "lamb*" OR "swine" OR "pig*" OR "porcine*" OR "goat*" OR "rabbit*" OR "poultry" OR "chicken*" OR "broiler*" OR "turkey*" OR "hen*" OR "horse*" OR "mule*")) AND TS = (("meta-analy*" OR "systematic* review*" OR "evidence map" OR "global synthesis" OR "evidence synthesis" OR "research synthesis")) NOT TS = (("human" OR "medicine" OR "children" OR "women" OR "men")) |
Time reference | No time restriction. |
Databases | Web of Science and Scopus: run on 07 June 2023 |
Exclusion criteria | The main criteria that led to the exclusion of a synthesis paper are: |
5. SYNTHESIS PAPERS INCLUDED IN THE REVIEW
Table 4: List of synthesis papers included in this review. More details can be found in the summaries of the meta-analyses.
Ref Num | Author(s) | Year | Title | Journal | DOI |
Ref1 | de Toledo, TDS; Roll, AAP; Rutz, F; Dallmann, HM; Pra, MAD; Leite, FPL; Roll, VFB | 2020 | An assessment of the impacts of litter treatments on the litter quality and broiler performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis | PLOS ONE, 86(5), 1223-1231. | 10.1371/journal.pone.0232853 |
Ref2 | Liu, GJ; Chen, ZF; Zhao, XH; Li, MY; Guo, ZH | 2020 | Meta-analysis: Supplementary artificial light and goose reproduction | ANIMAL REPRODUCTION SCIENCE, 214, 106278. | 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2020.106278 |
Ref3 | Mendes, MFDA; de Oliveira, DH; Cruz, FL; Mendes, MADA; Ribeiro, BPVB; Ferreira, RA | 2020 | Evaporative cooling system for gestating and lactating sows: a systematic review | CIÊNCIA RURAL, 50, e20190830. | 10.1590/0103-8478cr20190830 |
Ref4 | Park, RM; Foster, M; Daigle, CL | 2020 | A scoping review: The impact of housing systems and environmental features on beef cattle welfare | ANIMALS, 10(4), 565. | 10.3390/ani10040565 |
Ref5 | de Toledo, TDS; Pich, CS; Roll, AAP; Pra, MAD; Leite, FL; Xavier, EG; Roll, VFB | 2019 | The effect of litter materials on broiler performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis | BRITISH POULTRY SCIENCE, 236, 88-98. | 10.1080/00071668.2019.1639143 |
Ref6 | Jimenez, LER; Naranjo, A; Hernandez, JCA; Ovalos, JO; Ortega, OC; Ronquillo, MG | 2019 | A meta-analysis on the effect of the feeding type and production system on the carcase quality of lambs | ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, 68, 227-239. | 10.1080/1828051X.2018.1532327 |
Ref7 | Ti, CP; Xia, LL; Chang, SX; Yan, XY | 2019 | Potential for mitigating global agricultural ammonia emission: A meta-analysis | ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, 245, 141-148. | 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.124 |
Ref8 | Wang, Y; Xue, WT; Zhu, ZP; Yang, JF; Li, XR; Tian, Z; Dong, HM; Zoua, GY | 2019 | Mitigating ammonia emissions from typical broiler and layer manure management - A system analysis | WASTE MANAGEMENT, 9(3), 730-743. | 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.05.019 |
Ref9 | Keane, MP; McGee, M; O'Riordan, EG; Kelly, AK; Earley, B | 2018 | Effect of floor type on performance, lying time and dirt scores of finishing beef cattle: A meta-analysis | LIVESTOCK SCIENCE, 212, 57-60. | 10.1016/j.livsci.2018.03.012 |
Ref10 | Sajeev, EPM; Winiwarter, W; Amon, B | 2018 | Greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from different stages of liquid manure management chains: Abatement options and emission interactions | JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, 47, 30-41. | 10.2134/jeq2017.05.0199 |
Ref11 | Wang, Y; Li, XR; Yang, JF; Tian, Z; Sun, QP; Xue, WT; Dong, HM | 2018 | Mitigating greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from beef cattle feedlot production: A system meta-analysis | ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 52, 11232-11242. | 10.1021/acs.est.8b02475 |
Ref12 | Wang, Y; Dong, HM; Zhu, ZP; Gerber, PJ; Xin, HW; Smith, P; Opio, C; Steinfeld, H; Chadwick, D | 2017 | Mitigating greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from swine manure management: A system analysis | ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 51, 4503-4511. | 10.1021/acs.est.6b06430 |
Ref13 | Hou, Y; Velthof, GL; Oenema, O | 2015 | Mitigation of ammonia, nitrous oxide and methane emissions from manure management chains: a meta-analysis and integrated assessment | GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 21, 1293–1312. | 10.1111/gcb.12767 |
Disclaimer: These fiches present a large amount of scientific knowledge synthesised to assess farming practices impacts on the environment, climate and productivity. The European Commission maintains this WIKI to enhance public access to information about its initiatives. Our goal is to keep this information timely and accurate. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them. However, the Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information on these fiches and WIKI.
[1] Synthesis research papers include either meta-analysis or systematic reviews with quantitative results. Details can be found in the methodology section of the WIKI.