Optimization of a sprinkling system using undiluted canola oil for dust control in pig buildings.

Swine producers are exposed to high dust levels in pig barns and different methods have been tested for controlling dust concentrations over the last decade. Oil sprinkling/spraying has proven to be one of the most effective methods so far for reducing dust concentration in pig buildings. In most of those previous experiments, the oil had to be manually applied once or twice a day. The swine industry has not easily adopted oil application technology because of the very intensive labour required for manual sprinkling of oil and because of its perceived high cost. An oil sprinkling system has been designed to control dust levels in pig buildings using undiluted crude canola oil and proved to be effective in reducing dust in tests performed over a two-week period at PSCI (Lemay et al., 1999).