Abstract: Ventilation in animal housing refers to the exchanging process of internal and external air, which is crucial for maintaining good air quality as well as regulating temperature and humidity in animal housing, and for reducing the risk of respiratory diseases in animals. The primary ventilation patterns in animal housing include natural and mechanical ventilation. Natural ventilation relies on natural forces and is suitable for open animal housing, while mechanical ventilation controls air movement within housing using machinery equipment, offering more flexibility. The factors such as animal species, layout and structure of animal housing, climate and geographical location should be taken into account in selection of ventilation patterns. The comfort of animal housing environment directly impacts the health status and production performance of animals. High temperature and high humidity environment may cause heat stress in animals, and further affects their feed intake, growth and immune function. Accordingly, scientific and reasonable ventilation management is of great significance for maintaining health and improving production efficiency of animals. This paper introduced the commonly used ventilation patterns in animal housing, expounded the impacts of different ventilation patterns on environmental factors, and reviewed the research progress on the effects of ventilation patterns on animals′ physiological and biochemical parameters and production performance, in hoping to provide theoretical basis for the design and construction of ventilation systems in animal housing.

Key words: animal housing environment, ventilation pattern, harmful gas, physiological and biochemical parameter, production performance