Assessment of spatial variability of bedding variables in compost bedded pack barns with climate control system

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Carlos Eduardo A.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Damasceno, Flávio A., Ferraz, Gabriel A. S., Nascimento, João Antônio C. do, Vega, Felipe A. O., Tinôco, Ilda F. F., Andrade, Rafaella R.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFLA
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ufla.br/jspui/handle/1/48920
• topic: Dairy cattle; Compost barns; Geostatistics; Spatial variability

The aim of this research was to evaluate the spatial distribution of bedding variables in a climate-controlled compost bedded pack barn (CBP) equipped with an evaporative cooling system associated with a tunnel ventilation mode. The study was conducted on a farm in the West Mesoregion of Minas, MG, Brazil. The interior of the animal facility was divided into a mesh of 120 equidistant points, where the bedding surface temperature (tb-sur), the bedding temperature at 0.20 m depth (tb-20) and the bedding penetration resistance (PRb) of layer 0 to 0.20 m depth were measured. Bedding samples were collected to obtain the moisture (Mb) and pH in the surface and at 0.20 m depth. Geostatistics technique was used to evaluate the dependence and spatial distribution. Through the bedding area, the tb-sur presented low variability, with 6 ºC of amplitude, and tb-20 presented highest values (up to 55 °C). The spatial distribution of Mb-20 was similar to that observed on the surface and its highest levels occurred in the region near the feed alley (> 40%). The distribution of pH was similar in both layers. The tendency of high PRb occurred in the layer between 0.15 and 0.20 m (0 and 1500 kPa).