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Airborne dust in poultry housing is known to be one of the primary means by which disease-causing organisms are spread throughout a house. An electrostatic space charge system (ESCS) was used to reduce airborne dust in a small-scale broiler breeder house. The system used ceiling fans to distribute negatively charged air throughout the room and to move negatively charged dust downward toward the grounded litter where most of it would be captured. The system significantly (P < 0.0001) reduced airborne dust by an average of 61%, ammonia by an average of 56% (P < 0.0001), and airborne bacteria by 67% (P < 0.0001). Earlier studies with an ESCS have resulted in significant reductions of airborne dust, bacteria, and airborne transmission of disease in poultry hatching cabinets, caged layer rooms, and in controlled environment disease transmission cabinets. The ESCS was shown to be a reliable and easily maintained system for reducing airborne dust, ammonia, and bacteria in a small broiler breeder house. Results of this study combined with the results of related ESCS studies suggest that the system could probably be scaled up to full-sized production houses for poultry or other animals for dust reduction, pathogen reduction, and possibly ammonia reduction. All of the applications have potential for improving human health as well as animal health.

High levels of dust and microorganisms are known to be associated with animal confinement rearing facilities. Many of the microorganisms are carried by dust particles, thus providing an excellent vector for horizontal disease transmission between birds. Two environmentally controlled rooms containing female broiler breeder pullets (n = 300) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of an electrostatic space charge system (ESCS) in reducing airborne dust and gram-negative bacteria levels over an 8-wk period (starting when the birds were 10 wk old). The ESCS was used to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing airborne microorganism levels by charging airborne dust particles and causing the particles to be attracted to grounded surfaces (i.e., walls, floor, equipment). The use of the ESCS resulted in a 64% mean reduction in gram-negative bacteria. Airborne dust levels were reduced an average of 37% over a 1-wk period in the experimental room compared with the control room on the basis of samples taken every 10 min. The reductions of airborne dust and bacteria in this study are comparable with earlier results obtained with the ESCS in commercial hatching cabinets and experimental caged layer rooms, suggesting the system could also be applied to other types of enclosed animal housing.