ABSTRACT
Animal and poultry housing systems have, for the most part, developed into highly sophisticated, environmentally controlled and automated systems. The housing system to support this climate-controlled environment is crucial to successful operation. Dry heat, water vapor, gas and dust generation and the subsequent entrainment into the airspace dictate fresh air exchange rates. This chapter summarizes a collection of studies conducted where inhalable, respirable, and/or fine particulate matter (PM) concentrations were monitored, providing a small fraction of the PM concentration studies investigating pig, poultry and cattle facilities. Allowing housed animals and poultry to come in direct contact with litter and bedding results in substantially higher PM concentrations. Substantial variations exist in PM concentrations within a given barn both diurnally, seasonally, and as animal mass increases. Substantial variations exist in PM concentrations within a given species and similar production facility at a different geographical location.
