Animal waste odors arising from products of anaerobic microbial metabolism create community relations problems for livestock producers. We investigated a novel approach to swine waste odor reduction: the addition of FeCl3, a commonly used coagulant in municipal wastewater treatment, to stimulate degradation of odorous compounds by dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB). Two hypotheses were tested: (i) FeCl3 is an effective source of redox-active ferric iron (Fe3+) for dissimilatory reduction by bacteria indigenous to swine manure, and (ii) dissimilatory iron reduction results in significant degradation of odorous compounds within 7 days. Our results demonstrated that Fe3+ from FeCl3 was reduced biologically as well as chemically in laboratory microcosms prepared with prefiltered swine manure slurry and limestone gravel, which provided pH buffering and a substrate for microbial biofilm development. Addition of a 1-g liter(-1) equivalent concentration of Fe3+ from FeCl3, but not from presynthesized ferrihydrite, caused initial, rapid solids flocculation, chemical Fe3+ reduction, and Eh increase, followed by a 2-day lag period. Between 2 and 6 days of incubation, increases in Fe2+ concentrations were accompanied by significant reductions in concentrations of volatile fatty acids used as odor indicators. Increases in Fe2+ concentrations between 2 and 6 days did not occur in FeCl3-treated microcosms that were sterilized by gamma irradiation or amended with NaN3, a respiratory inhibitor. DNA sequences obtained from rRNA gene amplicons of bacterial communities in FeCl3-treated microcosms were closely related to Desulfitobacterium spp., which are known representatives of DIRB. Use of iron respiration to abate wastewater odors warrants further investigation.