Advancements in Technologies for Poultry Production

A special issue of AgriEngineering (ISSN 2624-7402). This special issue belongs to the section "Livestock Farming Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 2865

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Animal Science Department, State University of Maringá–UEM, Maringá 87020-900, Brazil
Interests: animal biometeorology; precision livestock farming; animal behavior; animal welfare

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Guest Editor
Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences (ICAA-Sinop), Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop 78550-728, Brazil
Interests: animal biometeorology; precision livestock farming; rural buildings

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Guest Editor
Biometeorology Study Group (GEBIOMET), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Dois Vizinhos Campus, Estrada para Boa Esperança, km 04, Comunidade São Cristóvão, Dois Vizinhos 85660-000, Brazil
Interests: animal welfare; agrometeorology; biometeorology; thermal environment; livestock production
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Poultry farming is an important source of animal protein for the entire planet. In recent decades, we have seen significant advances in poultry genetics, nutrition and health. Therefore, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quails and other species raised for meat, eggs, feathers and other products need optimal ambience conditions so that their productivity and welfare are not compromised. Technology is a key area for the advances achieved so far and for the future of poultry production. This Special Issue aims to bring together papers by researchers from all over the world that show how technology contributes to the advancement of poultry farming, related to rural buildings; climate control systems; development of equipment; development and application of precision livestock farming, such as image processing, sensors and software; the application of mathematical modeling; and all other related areas in the keywords.

Prof. Dr. Sheila Tavares Nascimento
Dr. Eduardo Alves De Almeida
Dr. Frederico Márcio Corrêa Vieira
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biometeorology
  • mathematical modeling
  • poultry farming and management
  • precision livestock farming
  • sensing technology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 5555 KiB  
Article
Illuminating Solutions for Reducing Mislaid Eggs of Cage-Free Layers
by Ramesh Bahadur Bist, Xiao Yang, Sachin Subedi and Lilong Chai
AgriEngineering 2023, 5(4), 2170-2183; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering5040133 - 10 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1259
Abstract
Social dynamics and lighting conditions influence floor egg-laying behavior (FELB) in hens. Hens prefer to lay eggs in darker areas, leading to mislaid eggs in cage-free systems. Consistent lighting is crucial to prevent mislaid eggs, but equipment obstructions can result in a dark [...] Read more.
Social dynamics and lighting conditions influence floor egg-laying behavior (FELB) in hens. Hens prefer to lay eggs in darker areas, leading to mislaid eggs in cage-free systems. Consistent lighting is crucial to prevent mislaid eggs, but equipment obstructions can result in a dark floor area. These dark areas entice hens to lay their eggs outside the designated nesting area, which can lead to potential losses, damage, or contamination, creating hygiene problems and increasing the risk of bacterial growth, resulting in foodborne illnesses. Therefore, additional lighting in dark areas can be a potential solution. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of providing additional light in darker areas in reducing the number of mislaid eggs and FELB. Approximately 720 Hy-Line W-36 hens were housed in four cage-free experimental rooms (180 hens per room), and 6 focal hens from each room were randomly selected and provided with numbered harnesses (1–6) to identify which hens were performing FELB and identify the effect of illuminating solutions. Eggs laid on the floor and in nests were collected and recorded daily for two weeks before and after the light treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t-tests for mislaid eggs and logistic regression for FELB in R Studio (p < 0.05). This study found that additional lighting in darker areas reduced the number of mislaid eggs by 23.8%. Similarly, the number of focal hens performing FELB decreased by 33.3%. This research also unveiled a noteworthy disparity in FELB, with approximately one-third of hens preferring designated nesting areas, while others opted for the floor, which was influenced by social dynamics. Additionally, egg-laying times varied significantly, ranging from 21.3 to 108.03 min, indicating that environmental factors and disturbances played a substantial role in this behavior. These findings suggest that introducing additional lighting in darker areas changes FELB in hens, reducing mislaid eggs and improving egg quality in cage-free systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Technologies for Poultry Production)
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18 pages, 2175 KiB  
Article
Low Airspeed Impacts on Tom Turkey Response to Moderate Heat Stress
by Derek Uemura, Prafulla Regmi, Jesse Grimes, Lingjuan Wang-Li and Sanjay Shah
AgriEngineering 2023, 5(4), 1971-1988; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering5040121 - 31 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1152
Abstract
Heat stress is a concern for turkeys in naturally ventilated houses. Chamber and room studies were used to assess heat stress at moderate temperatures (<25 °C) and low airspeeds on grown tom turkeys. In the chamber study, four ventilation rates × two temperatures [...] Read more.
Heat stress is a concern for turkeys in naturally ventilated houses. Chamber and room studies were used to assess heat stress at moderate temperatures (<25 °C) and low airspeeds on grown tom turkeys. In the chamber study, four ventilation rates × two temperatures (thermal comfort and thermal stress, 11 °C above thermal comfort) were applied to 13- to 19-week birds. Very small differences in airspeeds among the four treatments masked subcutaneous, cloacal, and infrared (IR) temperature differences at both temperatures. In the room study, four ventilation rates (0.07 m3·min−1·kg−1 or 100%, 75%, 50%, and 30% or Control) were applied to 21-week toms housed at <23 °C. The Control treatment had significantly higher whole-body and head temperatures vs. the other treatments. Only 100% had higher weight gain vs. 50%; hematology was unaffected by treatment. Higher ventilation rates reduced heat stress due to lower room temperatures, not airspeed differences, which were very low. The low-cost IR camera detected a heat stress difference ≥ 0.8 °C, corresponding to wind chill of 0.8 °C due to an airspeed of 0.8 m·s−1 vs. still air on the USDA broiler wind chill curve. Machine vision combined with IR thermography could alleviate real-time poultry heat stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Technologies for Poultry Production)
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