Alternative husbandry methods are playing an increasingly important role in terms of animal welfare. In order to ensure that odour pollution from freely ventilated "animal welfare-friendly" fattening pig houses can be adequately taken into account in odour surveys for approval procedures in Germany, the odour annoyance and respectively the hedonic odour effect was investigated in more detail starting from these types of houses.
The odour annoyance potential of three alternative fattening pig houses was investigated by creating polarity profiles according to guideline VDI 3940 part 4. It was found, that the annoyance potential of those alternative housing forms with natural ventilation and outdoor area as outdoor climate stimulus, as well as bedding (straw), is lower compared to conventional housing forms.