SUMMARY. Poultry producers have experienced increased production efficiency that is partially attributable to advances in housing technology and instrumentatio

In-house windrowing of broiler litter between flocks has been adopted by producers to reduce pathogens and improve litter quality before chick placem

This observational study was conducted to characterize the thermal micro- climate that broilers experienced in commercial poultry transporters under various weather conditions and typical management practices in the South Central USA. We continuously monitored temperature and relative humidity in 45 interior locations of 28 fully-loaded commercial trailers over 2 year spans from 2015–2016 in South Central USA. In the cold season, double boarding of the exterior area of the transport modules maintained temperatures at least 8 °C warmer than ambient temperatures as low as −16 °C. Overall, temperature at all locations decreased as transporters traveled from farms to processing plants during winter trips with double boards. In the hot season, assistance by evaporative cooling during on-farm loading resulted in interior temperatures within ± 2 °C of ambient conditions (up to 36 °C) during road transport. In the summer months, trailers uniformly gained 2 °C as vehicles travelled for 45 min from farms to plants. Apparent equivalent temperatures of the monitored summer trips averaged 80.5 °C, indicating possible heat stress conditions based on the thermal comfort zones defined by literature index values. For longer trips, cooling assistance on the farms may be insufficient to prevent temperatures from rising further into extremely hot conditions in the transporters, leading to a dangerous thermal environment.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of a low-cost solar collector to pre-heat ventilation air in commercial broiler buildings on supplemental heating demand and air quality during the cold season. Six black fabric-based solar collectors of 36 m² each were installed on the south-facing rooftop of a broiler house. The solar collectors provided fresh warm air into the house during the ON cycle of minimum ventilation and during the OFF cycle of minimum ventilation when the temperature under the collectors met certain criteria. The daily cumulative duration of solar collectors in operation averaged 125 and 133 min during the first two or four weeks of brooding in the fall and winter flocks, respectively. When in operation, the solar collectors were able to raise up to 20 K above the ambient temperature, reducing fuel usage by 7% in the fall and winter flocks. The greatest challenge of solar collector utilization was the collectors providing less than half of ventilation air during daytime due to not enclosing the fresh air inlets. The limited airflow capacity and limited activation of the solar collectors due to the existing minimum ventilation scheme is another reason for low heating fuel savings.

Climate change is a serious challenge to food production around the world. Sustainability and water efficiency are critical to a poultry industry faced with global production concerns including increased demands for high-quality, affordable animal protein and greater environmental pressures resulting from rising global temperatures, flock heat stress, and limits on water availability. To address these concerns, a commercial sprinkler system used in combination with a cool cell system was evaluated against a cool cell system alone for two summer flocks of heavy broilers at Mississippi State University to determine effects of sprinkler technology on cooling water usage, litter moisture, and in-house environments. Environmental data were calculated and recorded throughout the flocks. The combination house exhibited a 2.2 °C (4 °F) increase in daily maximum temperature, lower coincident relative humidity, and a 64% (62,039 L/flock) reduction in average cooling water usage over the cool cell-only house. Litter moisture for the combination house tended to be numerically lower but showed no significant difference at several time points between and across flocks. A combined sprinkler/cool cell system reduced cooling water use by 64% over two flocks compared to a cool cell alone system and decreased in-house relative humidity levels.