Evaluation of gaseous concentrations, bacterial diversity and microbial quantity in different layers of deep litter system

Objective: An experiment was conducted to investigate the environment of the deep litter system and provided theoretical basis for production. Methods: The bedding samples were obtained from a pig breeding farm and series measurements associated with gases concentrations and the bacterial diversity as well as the quantity of Escherichia coli, Lactobacilli, Methanogens were performed in this paper. Results: The concentrations of $CO_2$, $CH_4$, and $NH_3$ in the deep litter system increased with the increasing of depth while the $N_2O$ concentrations increased fiercely from the 0 cm to the -10 cm depth but then decreased beneath the -10 cm depth. Meanwhile, the Shannon index, the dominance index as well as the evenness index at the -20 cm layer was significantly different from the other layers (p<0.05). On the other hand, the quantity of Escherichia coli reached the highest value at the surface beddings and there was a significant drop at the -20 cm layer with the increasing depth. The Lactobacilli numbers increased with the depth from 0 cm to -15 cm and then decreased significantly under the -20 cm depth. The expression of Methanogens reached its largest value at the depth of -35 cm. Conclusion: The upper layers (0 cm to -5 cm) of this system were aerobic, the middle layers (-10 cm to -20 cm) were micro-aerobic, while that the bottom layers (below -20 cm depth) were anaerobic. In addition, from a standpoint of increasing the nitrification pathway and inhibiting the denitrification pathway, it should be advised that the deep litter system should be kept aerobic.