Gaseous emissions from fattening pigs offered an ad libitum high-fibre diet and kept on fully slatted floor: preliminary results

According to the literature, the diet composition of livestock can influence polluting gas emissions from agriculture. The aim of this preliminary study was to measure gaseous emissions from fattening pigs offered an ad libitum high-fibre diet (HFD) and kept on fully slatted floor. A batch of 24 fattening pigs was divided into two homogeneous groups randomly allocated to a treatment: conventional cereals-based diet or sugar beet pulpbased diet (HFD). With HFD, a significant decrease of animal performance was observed (837 vs. 962 g for the average daily gain). With pigs offered HFD, gaseous emissions per pig were significantly lower for NH3 (-30%, 6.64 vs. 9.47 g/d; P<0.05) and significantly greater for CH4 (+40%, 6.46 vs. 4.60 g/d; P