Monitoring Ammonia Emissions in Livestock Farming: A Comparative Study of Dairy Buffalo and Cow Barns Across Different Climate Regions

Agriculture is responsible for approximately 94% of anthropogenic NH₃ emissions, contributing significantly to environmental pollution and posing risks to human health and ecosystems. To meet the national emission reduction targets set by the NEC Directive 2016/2284/EU, accurate monitoring is essential for quantifying emissions and implementing effective mitigation strategies. The integration of IoT technologies within the Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) framework offers an innovative approach to real-time monitoring of air quality and livestock microclimates. These systems deliver detailed insights into ventilation inefficiencies, enable optimized manure management, and support the development of targeted emission mitigation strategies. However, ammonia (NH₃) emissions from livestock are influenced by various factors, including species-specific traits, dietary nitrogen intake, manure management practices, barn design, ventilation efficiency, and climatic conditions, which create diverse emission dynamics. To explore these complexities, this study presents preliminary findings from a monitoring campaign conducted in two contrasting livestock contexts using a uniform advanced monitoring system: a dairy buffalo barn in Campania, Southern Italy, characterized by a Mediterranean climate, and a dairy cow barn in Lombardy, Northern Italy, with a temperate continental climate. Environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and the bioclimatic index temperature and humidity index (THI) together with CO₂, NH₃, H₂S and particulate matter concentrations were continuously measured to capture variations in barn conditions. This comparative analysis highlights the fundamental role of IoT technologies in addressing region-specific challenges while enabling detailed monitoring and facilitating the comparison of environmental and management practices across diverse climate contexts.