Higher concentrations of ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in animal barns can negatively affect production and health of animals and workers. This paper focuses on measurements of summer concentrations of ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in a naturally ventilated laying henhouse located at an egg production facility in Bursa region, western Turkey. Also, indoor and ambient environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity were measured simultaneously with pollutant gas concentrations. The average NH3 concentrations during summer of 2013 was 8.05 ppm for exhaust and 5.42 ppm for inlet while average CO2 concentration was 732 ppm for exhaust and 625 ppm for inlet throughout summer. The overall minimum, average and maximum values and humidity were obtained as 16.8°C, 24.72°C, and 34.71°C for indoor temperature and 33.64%, 63.71%, and 86.18% for relative humidity. The lowest exhaust concentrations for NH3 and CO2 were 6.98 ppm and 609 ppm, respectively. They were measured in early morning at the maximum diurnal ventilation rate in July 2013 and August 2013. The highest concentrations were 10.58 ppm for NH3 and 904 ppm for CO2 recorded in the afternoon when the ventilation rate was the lowest in June 2013.
In Turkey, the scattered, fragmented plots in agricultural areas are one of the major problems preventing agricultural efficiency. Land consolidation is an effective tool in improving efficiency, but the success depends greatly on farmers' satisfaction and adoption. Therefore, determination of issues important to farmers can positively influence future land consolidation projects. As such, land consolidation studies must be accelerated and extended nationwide in countries where land fragmentation is common and rural development is essential. This study determined the effects of changes in farm structures and agricultural activities on satisfaction with land consolidation. Nine villages in the Bursa -Karacabey (Turkey) plain irrigation area were selected as study sites, and the logit model was used to analyse survey data including 190 respondents. Our results indicate that farmers' age (AGE), easiness in crop pattern planning (CRPT), reduction in distance between farmstead centre and plots (DFCP), reduction in time consumed in accessing the plots (TIMES) and improvement in working conditions in the fields (WORC) significantly affected the satisfaction with land consolidation. All of these factors except farmers' age (AGE) are related to consolidation of scattered, fragmented and tiny parcels into larger plots with suitable shape and size for agriculture. Consolidation also increased production and further improved working conditions.
Ownership of agricultural land is very fragmented in Turkey, as is the case in countries within central Europe. This prevents agricultural efficiency from reaching desired levels. Land consolidation involves redistributing land ownership so that individual farmers own fewer, larger, more compact and more contiguous land parcels. In Turkey, generally voluntary land consolidation projects are performed, while some financial limitations and political conditions prevent land consolidation reach to its desired level. For this reason, only 2.2% of the agricultural areas have been consolidated so far. Ideally, farmers adopt consolidation and are pleased by its results; this helps maintain the sustainability of the land structure formed by consolidation and accelerate acceptance of consolidation in other areas. In this study, the factors that are effective on farmers' adopting land consolidation and their contentment were investigated. For this purpose, the results of the survey carried out in the selected villages within the Bursa-Karacabey plain were assessed using a logit model. According to the results obtained from this consolidation study, the criteria farmers value are the utilization of the irrigation system, reduction of inter-farmer conflicts, shaping parcels into a form proper for mechanized agriculture, and forming parcels of large dimensions by consolidating parcels. A higher level of contentment was observed among the farmers who were provided with above mentioned factors.
This paper presents a field study conducted in northwest Turkey and characterizes the NH3 concentration and emission measured in summer season from three chicken farms. The influence of environmental conditions on NH3 concentration and emission was also investigated in this study. Ammonia concentration, temperature, relative humidity and airflow rate were continuously recorded for four sequential days. The environmental conditions were measured using a multifunction temperature and humidity‐meter with a hot wire probe. Portable multiple gas detectors with electro‐chemical sensors were used to measure NH3 concentration. The NH3 emission rates for houses were calculated by multiplying simultaneously measured NH3 concentrations and air flow rates. The average daily mean (ADM) house concentrations of house 1 (H1), house 2 (H2), and house 3 (H3) were measured as 4.43, 3.71, and 6.20 ppm, respectively. NH3 concentration was inversely proportional to temperature (r = −0.279), relative humidity (r = −0.063) and airflow rate (r = −0.554) for all monitored houses. The ADM house NH3 emission was 135 g/(h house) for H1, 255 g/(h house) for H2, and 117 g/(h house) for H3. The combined average emission rate in this study (0.26 g/(d bird)) was lower than the emission rate measured in chicken farms in the USA. However, our results were comparable to rates calculated in European studies because house design, ventilation system and bird diet applied in Turkish chicken farms are very similar to those employed in European countries. The NH3 emissions were significantly correlated to NH3 concentrations (r = 0.45, p ≤ 0.001) and airflow rates (r = 0.97, p ≤ 0.001). A clear diurnal pattern was obtained for NH3 concentrations rather than NH3 emissions at the end of the study.
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