Research Information System
JOURNAL OF FOOD AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT, vol.10, pp.910-912, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
Ammonia is one of the most common air pollutant gases in poultry houses. It is well known that high ammonia concentration in poultry houses causes feeding problems that subject to weight loss in poultry production. To overcame that problem a number of studies are available in the literature suggesting admixing zeolite in litter to decrease ammonia concentration in poultry atmosphere. Due to case of use, widely available and economic issues, zeolite addition to litter is also the most common practice in Turkey. However, zeolite application itself is not the most effective way to decrease ammonia level. Therefore, many other practices have been recently evaluated. Common requirement of ammonia related subjects is the measurement system which should be reliable, flexible and economic. Therefore, flexible, computer based ammonia measurement system was designed and established using Oldham OLTC 20 ammonia sensor, ENDA P101 current/voltage transformer, Decision 12 Bit AD/DA card as well as personnel computer with software prepared under Visual Basic 6 (R). The purpose of that designed system was not only the determination of ammonia level in poultry house but also actuate the systems which would increase ammonia level, such as ventilation. This system is capable to log the data evaluated with measurement time and date at regular interval. Using the system designed, researchers or farmers can directly determine effects of additives in diet or litter on ammonia concentration. Although no external circuit was designed for this purpose, designed system can easily adapt to control the ventilation or ammonia reducer systems if the conditions meet the requirement.