Innovative Stall Greening Systems to Improve Attitude and Environmental Sustainability

The majority of livestock in Europe is housed in stables. The stable climate is composed of abiotic and biotic parameters. Harmful gases, such as ammonia or hydrogen sulfide, combined with a low air humidity, can permanently irritate the respiratory tract of the animals, leading to inflammation and thus to reductions in performance. Longer-term increased noise loads lead to stressful situations in animals and have a negative effect on their performance. Even the staff working in the stable is adversely affected. The aim of the project is the development of innovative barn greening systems for use in livestock farming and the implementation of a novel method for improving the stable climate in animal husbandry facilities and for reducing emissions. The degradation of noxious gases, the dust binding and the reduction of the noise level should be done by integration of a plant-specific greening system, which should be equipped with little technical effort, integrate, clean and be repeatedly recyclable. The solution is to find plant species that thrive under stable conditions and practicable vegetation carriers that can be classified in the barn system. With the establishment of experimental and control groups in pig and turkey pens, the effect of the plant filter systems is then measured. Indicators are the effect on the stable climate, the binding of dust and the noise loads. In the course of the experiments the well-being, the health and performance of the animals as well as the economic effects on the production process are examined. In this context, the reusability of the greening systems or the sensible disposal of plant residues or wastewater as a result of the spray system required for the plants is also examined.