REDUCTION OF DUST CONCENTRATION AND EXPOSURE IN PIG BUILDINGS BY ADDING ANIMAL FAT IN FEED

Dust concentrations were reduced by 35-60% in pig buildings, while hum an dust exposure was lowered by 50-70% by adding 4% animal fat to the feed. However, there is still a large quantity of airborne dust in the se buildings and workers should reduce their exposure risk to the high concentrations by wearing a dust mask. Variations exist in dust conce ntrations for total dust in pig buildings. The respirable dust fractio n does not appear to be location-dependent and therefore may be a bett er indicator for evaluating dust reduction methods. Further studies ar e needed to find the nature of these variations in total dust concentr ation, so that a representative measurement can be determined for a pi g building. Total dust levels found by a personal sampler were from th ree to seven times larger than total dust concentrations measured by a stationary sampler. Relationships between values from personal and st ationary dust samplers need to be explored for livestock environments, and improved dust measurement criteria established for evaluating dus t suppression practices. (C) 1996 Silsoe Research Institute