Emission reduction of ammonia generated by animal production as an element of sustainable development of agriculture

Abstract

Besides industry, transportation, and municipal waste, also agriculture, and especially the animal production, contributes significantly to degradation of the natural environment. Environmental issues related to use of farm animals include in particular such hazards as excessive emission of ammonia to atmosphere which is numbered among main factors responsible for increasing acidity of the atmosphere. To limit ammonia emission from animal dung, use of natural animal feedstuff additives based on saponins becomes more and more popular. The active ingredient of such fodder compositions is the extract from plants of Yucca schidigera species. It needs to be emphasised that saponin preparations are of natural origin, subject to fast biodegradation and, thanks to their properties, can support human efforts towards reduction of harmful gaseous emissions generated by animal production to the atmosphere, which is important from the point of view of ecologically-oriented development of agriculture.