Estación Experimental Las Brujas. Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria. Ruta 48 -km. 10. Rincón del Colorado. 90200 cAnElonEs. Uruguay.
ABSTRACT:Atmospheric pollution related to gas emissions from livestock production has become an issue of increasing interest. International commitments bind countries to provide annual reports on national emissions, however there is a lack of information regarding the estimation of emissions from rabbit farms. There are several methodologies available to measure gas emissions, the fl ux chamber technique being one of the most commonly used. In this study, a fl ux chamber was designed to measure emissions from small farm animals and their manure, as well as the methodology to calculate ventilation fl uxes appropriate for each experiment. After the chamber was constructed, two experiments were carried out to test its operation, design and construction. Firstly, carbon dioxide emissions from fattening rabbits were measured for 24 and 48 h. Emissions from fattening rabbit manure were then measured for one-hour periods. The operation of the fl ux chamber was satisfactory during both experiments and notes were taken of possible improvements in performance through future research. Recommendations for its use are also summarized.
Flux-controlled and metabolic chambers are often used for nutritional and environmental studies. However, the potential alterations of animal behaviour and welfare are so far not fully understood. In consequence, this study had 2 main objectives: to assess potential alterations of animal activity pattern and time budget inside a flux chamber, and to assess the importance of the "rearing up" behaviour. To this end, 10 growing rabbits of different ages (from 1 to 5 wk of the growing period) were housed inside a flux chamber. Their activity was continuously recorded and assessed, determining the frequency and duration of 8 different behaviours: lying, sleeping, sitting, eating, drinking, walking, rearing up and others. Nocturnal rabbit behaviour and time budget were not altered inside the chamber if compared to previously described rabbit activity under conventional cages. In addition, rabbits in this experiment presented a tendency to perform "rearing up" when housed inside the flux chamber.
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