Growing and finishing pigs kept in insulated buildings are often exposed to high ambient temperature during summer. In high-temperature conditions, pigs in partly slatted pens change their behaviour to increase lying on the slatted area and fouling on the solid floor area, resulting in increased ammonia emissions. One way to cool the animals is to shower/sprinkle water in the slatted area, allowing pigs to wet their skin to increase heat loss. This study examined the effects of providing showers on pig activity and occupation area in pens, pen fouling and ammonia emission from the room. The investigation was performed in a commercial growing-finishing house with 10 identical rooms, each containing 16 pens for 9–13 pigs growing from 25–30 kg to 115–120 kg. Pigs were introduced into two parallel rooms in the house. During two summers and four batches, one room with showers in the slatted area and one room without per batch were compared in terms of concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and ammonia (NH₃), pig activity and occupation area in the pen, pen fouling and NH₃ emissions, recorded on four measuring occasions (M1–M4) during the growing period. Gas concentrations were measured using a photoacoustic analyser, pig activity and occupation area detected by machine vision techniques and pen fouling was visually investigated. Climate parameters (air temperature and relative humidity) were logged continuously during the entire growing period. Ammonia emission was calculated from ventilation rate (determined by the indirect CO₂ tracer gas method) and the difference in ammonia concentration between outlet and inlet air.

The results showed that the pigs spent less time lying on the slats (p < 0.05) and the solid floor was cleaner (p < 0.05) on measuring occasions M2, M3 and M4 in rooms with showers than in control rooms. Mean NH₃ emission for the four measurement occasions were 3.0–5.1 g pig⁻¹ day⁻¹ and 4.2–10.0 g pig⁻¹ day⁻¹ for the shower and control rooms, respectively. The differences were significant (p < 0.05) for all measuring occasions. The results also show improved animal environment when using showers to cool pigs at high ambient temperatures.

Overall, providing showers in the slatted area in partly slatted pens encouraged growing/finishing pigs to lie in the lying area, reduced problems with pen fouling and decreased NH₃ emissions by 45%. The latter could be partly due to reduced pen fouling and partly to dilution of urine on the slatted area and on the surface of slurry in the pit.

夏季，饲养在隔热建筑物中的成年猪和育肥猪通常会暴露于高温环境中。在高温条件下，部分条板的围栏中的猪会改变其行为，从而增加其在条板区域上的躺卧以及对固体地板区域的结垢，从而导致氨气排放量增加。给动物降温的一种方法是在板条区域淋浴/洒水，使猪弄湿皮肤以增加热量损失。这项研究检查了提供淋浴对猪活动和围栏占用面积，围栏结垢和房间氨气排放的影响。该调查是在一个商业育肥猪舍内进行的，该猪舍内有10个相同的房间，每个房间装有16只钢笔，用于9-13头从25-30 kg增至115-120 kg的猪。猪被引入房屋的两个平行房间。₂）和氨气（NH ₃），猪的活动性和在猪圈中的占有面积，钢笔结垢和NH ₃排放，在生长期中的四个测量场合（M1-M4）记录下来。使用光声分析仪测量气体浓度，通过机器视觉技术检测猪的活动度和占用面积，并目视调查笔的结垢情况。在整个生长期中，气候参数（气温和相对湿度）被连续记录。根据通风速率（通过间接CO ₂示踪气体法确定）和出口与入口空气之间的氨浓度差来计算氨的排放量。

结果表明， 在有淋浴的房间中测量M2，M3和M4的情况下，猪躺在板条上的时间更少（p  <0.05），而坚实的地板更干净（p <0.05），而在控制室中。在四个测量场合中，淋浴房和控制室的平均NH ₃排放分别为3.0–5.1 g猪^-1天^-1和4.2–10.0 g猪^-1天^-1。在 所有测量情况下，差异均显着（p <0.05）。结果还显示，在高环境温度下使用淋浴器冷却猪时，动物环境得到改善。

总体而言，在部分缝成条形的围栏的缝隙区域内进行淋浴可以鼓励生长/肥育猪躺在躺卧区域，减少围栏结垢的问题，并将NH ₃排放降低45％。后者可能部分是由于减少了笔结垢，部分是由于尿液在板条区域和坑内泥浆表面上的稀释。