"Addition of CITRINAL in poultry feed during monsoon helps to reduce ammonia emission" by Dr.Sanjay Gapat- ALIVIRA ANIMAL HEALTH LTD, Thane-Mumbai.

Humidity and Monsoon

• Humidity is a part of everyday life. When it rains, it can have a considerable impact on the humidity in the air. It may cause too much humidity, thus adding too much moisture into the air. Humidity is at 100%, which is why the clouds are unable to hold any more water.
• When it rains, it will increase the relative humidity because of the evaporation. The air where the rain is falling may not be completely saturated with water vapor. However, the longer it rains, the more the humidity will increase because of the air constantly drawing the water.As all of you know humidity levels play a pivotal role in ammonia production, as higher humidity enhances bacterial generation of ammonia. High humidity levels prevent fecal and urinary desiccation ( Drying ) and provide the optimal setting for bacterial propagation and subsequent ammonia production.

Recommended Ammonia Level

• Considering both human and poultry health, guideline exposure levels for ammonia is set to 20-25ppm in many countries. However, in practice, the concentration of ammonia in some broiler houses may easily exceed 30-70 ppm, particularly in monsoon and winter time. Ideally NH3 concentration should not exceed 20 ppm over any eight-hour period or 35 ppm over any ten-minute period during the poultry production cycle.

Ammonia and Poultry

• Ammonia in a poultry house comes from the birds themselves. Unused nitrogen is excreted as uric acid (80%), ammonia (10%), and urea (5%). When ammonia gas is exposed to moisture, it reacts and forms a basic, corrosive solution called ammonium. This aqueous ammonium solution causes harm to birds. The ammonium corrodes the lining of chickens’ respiratory tract and paralyses or even destroys the cilia of the epithelial cells. In such conditions, the mucus on the mucosal surface of the trachea cannot be cleared by the cilia and thus bacteria become trapped. When the bacteria reach the lungs or the air sacs, they cause infections.

Effects of ammonia emission on birds

• A high concentration of ammonia in the poultry house has adverse effects on the health and performance of birds. However, it is not easy to measure the magnitude of such adverse effects. Birds are not usually exposed to a very high concentration of ammonia for long periods, unless there is poor ventilation, or birds are fed a nutritionally unbalanced diet.
• Recent research has revealed that many molecular changes can take place when birds are challenged with a high concentration of ammonia, even for short periods. The presence of excessively high levels of ammonia in the air, for any length of time, will cause discomfort for the birds.
• Ammonia is a strong oxidative stressor that can cause inflammation. Trials have shown that high concentrations of ammonia can alter the normal organ function of birds, impair energy metabolism, induce cell apoptosi, and cause mitochondrial damage in the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Poor growth rate and performance of birds growing in high atmospheric ammonia concentrations is strongly related to the influence of ammonia on birds immunity and their intestinal histomorphology. Exposure to high ammonia concentrations negatively affects the development of the birds immune system as well as intestinal villi.
• Problems occurring due to high-performance genetics, feed formulation and medication can lead to production of wet manure causing increased ammonia and odor release alongside reduced broiler performance and feed efficiency.

Effects of Gut Acidification and Addition of Yucca Extract in poultry

• There are some additives that can be added to the diet to cut off ammonia. The acidification of the diet helps to reduce the ammonia production problem. Yucca schidigera is widely grown in the deserts. This herb is commercially used because it is rich in saponins and phenolic compounds with antioxidant effect. Saponins originated from Yucca schidigera have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunostimulatory, growth promoter, hypocholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic effects.
• To date, the key role of Y. schidigera or its products like yucca extract in poultry nutrition is to reduce the ammonia content in the atmosphere and fecal odor in poultry excreta.
• CITRINAL :A Globally Recognized Acidifier from Europe Potentiated By Yucca Extract.
• CITRINAL is a combination of Inorganic and Organic acids along with yucca extract. Different acids in CITRINAL like Orthophosphoric , Formic ,Citric ,Malic, Fumaric , Lactic , and  Propionic plays an important role in Gut acidification.
• Orthophosphoric acid takes part in initiation of  protein digestion at early stage. It contributes to protein digestion by supplying H+ ions which activates pepsinogen, the precursor to pepsin. After activation of pepsin enzyme, it breaks down the proteins in feed which helps in digestion. Due to improved protein digestion nitrogen excretion is reduced and finally it reduces ammonia emission.
• Mitigating ammonia by using yucca extract could be achieved by the modification of gut microbiota, enhancement in digestion, and absorption of nutrients, leading to a better growth and production performance of poultry.
• Various methods were applied to mitigate the emission of odor from the litter by different strategies including biofilters, litter treatments, air scrubbers, neutralizing agents, windbreak walls, etc., but these techniques are expensive. Using Yucca Extract is inexpensive and safe sources of a feed supplement to overcome the ammonia and fecal odor problems, as well as reduce environmental pollution in poultry houses.
• Don’t wait until you have an ammonia problem to try to solve it. After all, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Addition of CITRINAL in poultry feed helps to controls ammonia emission, improve peptic digestion, stabilizes gut pH and reduces gut pathogens.

Note : References are available on request