Survey of applied ammonia mitigation technologies in the Hungarian pig production practice

The Directive on National Emission Ceilings specifies the reduction of ammonia (NH3) emissions among other air pollutants, which is most significant for the agricultural sector. The ammonia emission limit set for Hungary was a 10% reduction by 2020, while the target of 32% should be reached by 2030 compared to the 2005 reference year. The paper presents the results of a survey on pig production technology in Hungary from 97 domestic farms. The study aims to know the level of implementation of reduction techniques in livestock production and manure management and highlights the need for further improvements in this production sector. The research found that the application of ammonia reduction techniques was not considered widespread, either in livestock buildings or in manure storage (treatment) and during field application. For almost all (more than 90%) pig production groups, the housing systems were the reference without additional emission reduction. For manure storage, farms have insulated storage under the current regulation, however, significantly more emission reduction technologies were in the variant without cover or crust. Slurry spreading was mainly used with manure application techniques, but more emission-friendly injection and band spreading were also emerging. Besides the expected immediate incorporation, a high proportion of manure was applied between 12 and 24 hours or even after 24 hours. In the studied elements of manure management, significant improvements are needed in applying techniques to reduce ammonia emissions. Effective results can be achieved even by shortening the time between manure application and incorporation with efficient work organization.