Small scale backyard poultry buildings, which could be of any shape and design, are very important and every household in Nigeria should embrace. However, it is difficult for most households to plan and design appropriate buildings for their poultry birds. This study was carried out to design a building which could allow birds to exhibit their natural behaviours without being exposed to hazards and predators. The building with dimensions 2.8 m long, 2.3 m wide and 1.9 m height at the front and 1.3 m at the back was developed using local materials. The building comprised of resting room and a free space for poultry to exhibit their natural behaviours such as dust bathing, wing flapping and preening. There were perches inside the building were birds could roost at night. The indoor and outdoor climatic conditions (air temperature and air relative humidity) were evaluated. The result of the study showed that the highest mean indoor air temperature (30.60 °C) and highest mean indoor air relative humidity (83.88 %) were obtained in the afternoon and night respectively. The lowest mean indoor air temperature (24.23 °C) and mean indoor air relative humidity (66.64 %) were obtained in the night and afternoon respectively. The building was considered affordable ($280.00) and suitable for poultry grown for egg and meat production in the tropical humid climate.
Indoor conditions of broiler sheds are influenced by environmental parameters such as temperature, relative humidity and air movement. Air temperature and relative humidity contribute mainly to the heat stress in broilers and are controlled by air velocity. Roof ventilated broiler sheds are designed to mechanically force air into a confined space through a negative pressure. They have bottom-hinged inlets and roof fans. In summer, the air inlets of the broiler sheds are usually opened fully, in addition to the mechanical fans in 100% operation to ensure broiler chickens are properly ventilated to prevent heat stress. Surprisingly, no information on the practice of farmers during summer in roof ventilated broiler shed is available. Hence, this work was carried out to assess air movement within a roof ventilated broiler shed during summer. The results of this work indicated that opening the inlets fully during summer may not improve the air movement at the animal microclimate. The average air velocities at the animal microclimate were found to be between 0.30 and 0.40 m s−1 in an empty broiler shed compared to the occupied broiler shed which varied from 0.10 and 0.20 m s−1. Therefore, this work has shown that airflow at the birds’ microclimate inside the broiler shed are mainly influenced by the birds themselves, inlet opening technique and distance from the sidewall.
Fast-growing broiler chickens, bred for meat, find it difficult to adapt to warm conditions during hot weather periods in an enclosed environment. They tend to change their behavioural and physiological mechanisms to survive. This study was carried out to evaluate the air velocity distributions within a sidewall inlet and roof exhaust ventilated broiler shed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The simulation was conducted using three turbulence models (standard, realizable, and SST ) to determine the best predictive model for the hot weather ventilation of the broiler shed under consideration. The results predicted by the turbulence models were validated with the field experimental results. It was discovered that the standard turbulence model predicted air velocity distributions, close to that of the air velocity distributions obtained during the experimental study except at the centre of the broiler shed where the CFD predicted higher air velocity. This shows that CFD could be adopted by Agricultural Engineers to create appropriate environments for animals before the structures are physically erected.
Fruits are produced in large quantities in developing countries because of the favourable climatic conditions but the level of spoilage is high. It is essential to extract and preserve fruit juice to have a regular supply throughout the year. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a machine that could be used to extract juice from several fruits. Thus, the objective of the research work was to develop a multipurpose small scale fruit juice machine that could be adopted by an average farmer in the rural regions to increase their juice intake. A fruit juice extractor was designed, developed and tested. The machine utilised a serrated auger for crushing the fruits before squeezing out the juice. The performance evaluation showed that the machine has an extraction capacity of 88.4 kg h-1 and 84.5 kg h-1 for pineapple and sweet orange respectively. The efficiencies of the juice extractor for pineapple and sweet orange were 91.13% and 85.96% respectively. The average production cost of the machine was estimated as 390 US dollars.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.