Animal Production Activities Research Articles

Dairy Farmers’ Perceptions and Adaptation Strategies Towards The Effects of Climate Change in Southern Marmara Region of Turkey

Aims: The study aims to determine dairy farmers' perceptions of climate-related risks, their adaptation strategies and factors affecting their decisions about adaptation strategies in Southern Marmara Region of Turkey. Material and methods: Data was collected from 379 dairy farmers by proportional sampling method. The survey was performed between October and December 2023. Descriptive statistics and probit model were used in the evaluation of the data. Results: Most dairy farmers (70.7%) had a high perception for heavy storms. Changing feed ration seasonally was the most widespread adaptation strategy employed by dairy farmers. It was followed by diversification of animal production activities, livestock insurance and diverseness of feed crops. Among these adaptation strategies, changing feed ration seasonally was the highest choosen adaptation strategy in the study area whereas the diverseness of feed crops was the least choosen adaptation strategy. The probit model results showed that the dairy farmers' age and household size had an adverse the impact on their decisions about all adaptation strategies. Discussion: These results of this study stated that most dairy farmers perceived the rise in temperatures and decline in rainfall as noticeable changes in climate. Few dairy farmers used advanced agricultural applications for dealing with the negative impacts of climatic change, and many dairy farmers continued use to simple adaptation measures. Conclusions:As a result, the present study findings can shed light to policy/decision makers in agricultural research, to practices regarding the climate change impact in dairy farming, and to further studies in the literature.

AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS: AN ALTERNATIVE FOR AGROECOLOGICAL PRODUCTION AND AGROECOLOGY TOOLS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AZORES

Agroforestry systems have assumed increasing importance in the occupation of the territory of mainland Portugal in recent decades. These are systems that concern areas occupied by different forest species associated with plant and/or animal production activities. And why not introduce this system in the fruiticulture sector in the Azores, when there are an ecological perspective, aiming not only to maximize production, but to optimize the total agroecosystem, including its sociocultural, economic, technical and ecological components. While this production system is being initiated in the Azores, the University of the Azores works with agricultural science students reserches natural and sustainable resources in agriculture like seaweed, Aloes vera, food waste, ashes, animal manure, algaes, phytoplankton, to encourage students to make choices that do not harm the environment and to improve agricultural production.

Review on Diagnostic Methods of Infectious Coryza in Chickens

The total poultry population in Ethiopia is estimated to be 51.35 million. The Poultry sector is a fastest growing among the animal production activities offers an opportunity to feed the fastest growing human population and provide income resources for poor farmers. There are different diseases which can affect chicken. Among the bacterial diseases, Infectious Coryza (IC) is an acute and contagious respiratory disease of chickens caused by the bacteria, Avibacterium paragallinarum. IC is distributed worldwide and typically transmitted by direct contact, airborne droplets and contamination of drinking water. But Egg transmission does not occur. The initial step in the pathogenesis of infectious coryza is adherence to and colonization of the nasal mucosa. The diagnosis can be based on a history of rapid disease spread, clinical symptoms, and pathological changes caused by IC. Diagnostic methods for IC include direct isolation, the HI test for serovar A and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Diagnosis of Avibacterium paragallinarum have been proposed as alternatives to conventional serotyping by the Page scheme. The HI test, which is one of the most widely used serological test, is often utilized to detect changes in antibody titers in cases of field infection or vaccination, and is useful for evaluating the prevalence of IC in certain areas. Rapid and accurate detection of respiratory IC has become a challenge because of the involvement of more than one agent with similar clinical signs and lesions, which complicates diagnostic decisions, as well as treatment and control strategies.

Smartphone Application in Turkish Agriculture Sector

In parallel with the development of technology, there have been changes in information acquisition, communication, agricultural production and agricultural extension activities. In this context, it is important for producers to be able to carry out their plant production and animal production activities more consciously, easily or quickly. The rapid spread of smartphones and the smartphone applications developed accordingly, different applications developed by various institutions (such as public and private sector, unions and cooperatives) are a fairly new issue in terms of agricultural extension, agricultural production and digitalization in agriculture. Defining an innovation as an innovation and accepting it as the final result undoubtedly pass through some processes. In this study, the recognition of innovation is discussed. The aim of the study is examined in two ways. First, the current situation of smartphone applications in Turkey were analyzed. Which of these applications are used and which organizations serve the producers were obtained by conducting research on the internet and examining the secondary data. In the second part, which of these applications are known or used by the producers in Edirne Province Lalapaşa District were questioned on the basis of the producers. Online network was used as a method in the research. The presence of a group established by Lalapaşa producers, which is organized through Facebook, which is one of the social media channels, has made it easier to find out which smartphone applications are used. In order to determine which applications Lalapaşa producers use; 265 producers responded to the survey conducted over the group established on Facebook between January 23, 2020 and January 30, 2020. 428 people, including 392 men and 36 women, were producers in the group, and 61.92% of the producers participated in the survey. The research showed us the applications created by the public sector is more when it is compared the cooperative and private sector in Turkey. Among the applications of the public sector; it has been determined that Meteorological Condition Application, Land Registry Cadastre Parcel Query Application, and e-Goverment Application are used more than other applications.

Avaliação de sistemas de manejo de recursos naturais com base em indicadores de sustentabilidade: Uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre o uso do método MESMIS

O presente artigo teve por objetivo comprovar que o método MESMIS (Marco de Evaluación de Sistemas de Manejo Incorporando Indicadores de Sustentabilidad) pode ser usado para medir a sustentabilidade de ambientes rurais em diferentes realidades. Para isso foi realizada uma revisão sistemática de literatura sobre o método em seis renomadas bases de artigos científicos, onde foram feitas buscas do ano 1999 ao ano de 2019 e os artigos encontrados foram subdivididos de acordo com o ano da publicação, atividade produtiva avaliada, região geográfica onde a pesquisa foi realizada, entre outras classificações. Ao final foi possível constatar que o MESMIS vem tendo seu uso aumentado nos últimos anos, sendo que as pesquisas publicadas que utilizaram o método são principalmente sobre a medição da sustentabilidade de atividades de agricultura e produção animal, realizadas na maioria das vezes nas Américas e Europa, porém também com uso em outros continentes, comprovando assim a capacidade do método em medir sustentabilidade em cenários distintos.

Animal production, insecticide use and self-reported symptoms and diagnoses of COPD, including chronic bronchitis, in the Agricultural Health Study

BackgroundOccupational exposure to animal production is associated with chronic bronchitis symptoms; however, few studies consider associations with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We estimated associations between animal production activities and prevalence of self-reported COPD among farmers in the Agricultural Health Study. MethodsDuring a 2005–2010 interview, farmers self-reported information about: their operations (i.e., size, type, number of animals, insecticide use), respiratory symptoms, and COPD diagnoses (i.e., COPD, chronic bronchitis, emphysema). Operations were classified as small or medium/large based on regulatory definitions. Farmers were classified as having a COPD diagnosis, chronic bronchitis symptoms (cough and phlegm for ≥3 months during 2 consecutive years), or both. Polytomous logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). ResultsOf 22,491 participating farmers (median age: 59 years), 922 (4%) reported a COPD diagnosis only, 254 (1%) reported a diagnosis and symptoms, and 962 (4%) reported symptoms only. Compared to raising no commercial animals, raising animals on a medium/large operation was positively associated with chronic bronchitis symptoms with (OR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.16, 2.18) and without a diagnosis (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.42, 2.01). Ever use of multiple organophosphates, carbaryl, lindane, and permethrin were positively associated with chronic bronchitis symptoms. ConclusionAnimal production work, including insecticide use, was positively associated with chronic bronchitis symptoms; but not consistently with COPD diagnosis alone. Our results support the need for further investigation into the role of animal production-related exposures in the etiology of COPD and better respiratory protection for agricultural workers.

Aspiring for environmentally conscious aquafeed: comparative LCA of aquafeed manufacturing using different protein sources

Aquaculture, the cultivation of aquatic organisms for the human consumption, is one of the fastest growing animal production activities worldwide. The sustainable sourcing of aquafeeds for fish nutrition is considered one of the main priorities to reduce the environmental impact of this industry. In our study, we used consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) to model the environmental impact of trout feed manufacturing using different scenarios of fishmeal, soybean meal and rapeseed meal based protein sources for aquafeed formulations. In a cradle to factory-gate assessment of fishmeal-based standard trout feed, the impact categories acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP) and land competition (LC) were 8.7 kg SO2 equiv., 1797 kg of CO2 equiv., 2.0 kg of PO4 equiv. and 1065 m(2)a per tonne of aquafeed, respectively. Results indicate that fishmeal-based aquafeed has considerably higher impact on the environment as compared to plant protein based aquafeeds across all the impact categories, where impacts of a soybean meal based aquafeed for AP, EP, GWP and LC were 6.49 kg SO2 equiv., 1.72 kg of PO4 equiv., 1019.65 kg of CO2 equiv. and 806.79 m(2)a per tonne, respectively; and a rapeseed meal based aquafeed resulted 6.56 kg SO2 equiv., 1.72 kg of PO4 equiv., 1037.13 kg of CO2 equiv. and 806.96 m(2)a per tonne for AP, EP, GWP and LC, respectively. These impact results were sensitive to changes in different marginal energy uses. Moreover, comparison of the different methodological approaches between attributional and consequential approaches of LCA resulted in considerably large differences; consequently, system expansion using consequential LCA is identified as the most appropriate method to evaluate the impacts of aquafeed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fecal Contamination of Recreational Freshwaters: the Effect of Time-Independent Agroenvironmental Factors

Fecal contamination of recreational waters is a complex public health and environmental issue involving multiple possible sources and contributing factors. Agricultural and animal production activities represent one such source of contamination from which various microorganisms transmissible to humans can be found. This study used regression models to ascertain and describe various time-independent agroenvironmental determinants associated with fecal contamination of recreational lake waters. From a logistic regression model analysis, two determinants were statistically associated with the level of fecal coliforms, namely: the presence of ruminant production in the area of influence (OR=2.78) and urban area (OR=3.69). Moreover, our data suggest that sources of fecal contamination located within the area of the lake water catchment and from within a distance of two kilometers of the beach have the most influence on the water quality.

Reporting air emissions from animal production activities in the United States

Major releases of airborne ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from the decomposition of animal waste have the American public concerned about the health of persons near farms. Emissions of these hazardous substances are regulated by the US Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Moreover, federal regulatory provisions delineate thresholds for reporting hazardous pollutants being released into the air. In 2008, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted a reporting exemption under which all farms were exempted from reporting air emissions under CERCLA and small farms were exempted under EPCRA. The US EPA's exemption poses questions about whether the rule is contrary to congressional mandates. Environmental and industry groups have challenged this exemption in federal circuit court, and the judiciary will need to decide whether the agency had authority to adopt the rule. To accord protection to humans from hazardous airborne emissions from farms producing livestock, state agencies may want to adopt scientifically-justified ambient air quality standards.

Students’ Assessment Of Farm Practical Programme In Selected Universities Of Southwestern, Nigeria

The study evaluates students’ assessment of farm practical programme in selected universities of southwestern Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting 180 students from 6 selected universities in the study area. Frequency counts, percentages, chi-square, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Analysis of variance were used in analyzing the data. Result of analysis shows that majority of the students are within the age range of 22-26 years with a mean age of 24 years. Morethan half of the students were males, entered the university through Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examination and do not choose agriculture as their first choice of career at the point of entry into the university. Students are involve in both crop and animal production activities. Students reported that lack of planning, improper implementation of activities lined up for the programme, lack of fund to properly finance the programme and insufficient time to gain competence in skill acquired are some of the problems faced during the programme. However, students derived benefits from the programme and assessed the farm practical programme as averagely effective. There is significant difference in students’ assessment of farm practical programme across the selected universities. It is therefore recommended that government should make adequate provision in the curriculum of primary and junior secondary schools to encourage agriculture as a profession and also introduce students to practical training in agriculture through attachment to agricultural related firms during each session break to gain competence in skills acquired knowledge and be well grounded in the practices agricultural production.

The future of anaerobic digestion and biogas utilization

One of the common tendencies of animal production activities in Europe and in developed countries in general is to intensify the animal production and to increase the size of the animal production units. High livestock density is always accompanied by production of a surplus of animal manure, representing a considerable pollution threat for the environment in these areas. Avoiding over-fertilization is not only important for environmental protection reasons but also for economical reasons. Intensive animal production areas need therefore suitable manure management, aiming to export and to redistribute the excess of nutrients from manure and to optimize their recycling. Anaerobic digestion of animal manure and slurries offers several benefits by improving their fertilizer qualities, reducing odors and pathogens and producing a renewable fuel – the biogas. The EU policies concerning renewable energy systems (RES) have set forward a fixed goal of supplying 20% of the European energy demands from RES by year 2020. A major part of the renewable energy will originate from European farming and forestry. At least 25% of all bioenergy in the future can originate from biogas, produced from wet organic materials such as: animal manure, whole crop silages, wet food and feed wastes, etc.

Optimisation of production activities on individual agricultural holdings in the frame of different direct payments options

Linear programming model has been developed and applied to the hypothetical agricultural holding in the hilly part of Slovenia in order to find optimal production plans by maximizing total gross margins. The model covers especially those sectors of Slovenian agriculture, for which the most drastic changes due to the actual reform of CAP in the field of direct payments – in Slovenia implemented in 2007 – are anticipated. On the basis of developed model the economic impacts of CAP reform and importance of agri-environmental measures have been evaluated. Model results lead to the conclusion that the reform will have the most unfavorable impacts for agricultural holdings with intensive production practice, especially those with animal production activities which are under the standard scheme eligible for relatively high production coupled direct payments (up to 70% of achieved total gross margin). Negative impacts of the reform can be mitigated by combining different production activities and technologies. Economic results markedly improve (up to 28%) if farming management complies with agri-environmental measures.

A dynamic model to predict the nitrogen excretion in growing-finishing cattle

A dynamic model was developed to simulate nitrogen (N) excretion in growing-finishing cattle simply and intuitively. The principle of the model is that N excretion equals N intake minus N retained in the body. N retained in the body can be easily obtained as the difference of N content between final and initial body weights. If daily N intake is known, the dynamic model can be used to predict N excretion at any time of the growing cycle until harvested; if N intake is unknown, simulated N excretion (SNE) can be predicted on the basis of the initial shrunk body weight and shrunk body weight gain (SWG), using simulated N intake based on the protein requirement of beef cattle. Data obtained from four experiments were used to verify the suitability of the model for the growing-finishing cattle industry. The results showed the validity of the proposed model for different breeds of growing-finishing cattle with different frame sizes and sexes through the utilisation of equivalent empty body weight, with the presupposition that the diet is perfectly balanced or that protein is the first limiting growth factor. To minimise actual N excretion, nutrient requirements of growing-finishing cattle in specific situations need to be studied precisely and SWG need to be controlled in agreement with the predicted average daily gain frequently. The proposed model can be used by policy makers and farmers to organise animal production activities to maintain economic balance and sustainable environmental practices.

Environmental adaptability and stability for reproduction traits of local chicken breeds

Measurement of adaptability and stability of a breed in different environmental conditions might be assumed as good indicator for ecological, ethological and ethical norms in animal production. Indeed, a good adaptability and stability in reproduction performances, in a given environment, can be assumed as a proof that animals are in good well-being condition. The aim of this study was to assess adaptability and stability indexes for fertility traits of four local chicken breeds (the Ermellinata di Rovigo: PER, the Pèpoi: PPP, the Robusta Lionata: PRL and the Robusta Maculata: PRM) reared in three different environments (mountain, hill and plain areas) of the Veneto region. Data consisted on 338 hatchings recorded from February 2002 to May 2004. The percentages of fertile eggs per hatching (pFE), non-hatched eggs per hatching (pNH) and percentage of chicks born alive (pBA) were used as dependent variables. An ANOVA for each reproduction trait was performed to estimate genotype by environment (GxE) interaction. A high GxE interaction was detected for all reproduction traits in particular for pBA. The PER was the best breed in terms of adaptability and stability. On the contrary, the breed that showed to be poorly adapted to all environments and scarce stability over time was PPP. The PRL and PRM seem to be more similar to PPP than PER. In conclusion, more study on GxE interaction should be done to obtain more information on adaptability and stability of animal breeds in different environmental and time period conditions. Animal welfare and relationship between animal and environment should be known and subsequently used for defining better norms and rules for a modern animal production activities.

IMPACT OF AGRICHEMICAL FACILITY BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON RUNOFF WATER QUALITY

Water quality effects of structural and managerial BMPs implemented at an agrichemical mixing and handling facility, located in an agricultural watershed in Virginia, were investigated in this study. The measured water quality parameters include two commonly used pesticides (atrazine and metolachlor), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). BMPs implemented include: pesticide mixing and loading concrete pad with a sump and pump fitting; a variety of runoff diversion structures to divert the rooftop runoff away from the critical areas; structures to contain transport of chemicals to the drainage leaving the facility; and recycling of rinsate by applying it on the agricultural land. Concentration of pesticides and nutrients were measured at the facility outlet as well as the outlet of the main watershed in which the facility was located. Implementation of BMPs resulted in drastic reduction in mean concentrations of the two pesticides in the stream leaving the facility as well as in the main watershed stream. Maximum atrazine concentrations in the drainage leaving the facility reduced from 17,389
g/l during the pre–BMP period (1986–1988) to 1,452
g/l during the post–BMP period (1989–1996). The post–BMP mean concentrations of atrazine and metolachlor at the facility outlet were reduced by 94% (2690
g/l to 166
g/l) and 91% (4579
g/l to 402
g/l), respectively. The corresponding post–BMP reductions in concentration at the main watershed outlet were 52% and 78% for atrazine and metolachlor, respectively. Nonparametric trend tests results indicated statistically significant downward trend and reduced post–BMP concentrations of the two pesticides at the facility as well as the watershed outlets. Impact of BMPs on the nutrient concentrations were not clear due to large nutrient contributions from animal production activities in upland areas of the watershed. Results from this study will provide needed impetus for implementation of BMPs at other agrichemical mixing and handling facilities in Virginia as well as other states to drastically reduce the transport of pesticides and nutrients to surface water bodies.

Economics of Part-Time Farming

Part-time farming in Maryland and the Northeast with full-time off-farm employment of one or more of the farm operators is competitive income-wise with many types and sizes of commercial farms. Individuals, families, and society in general will benefit in the future from the encouragement of fuller utilization of underutilized or unemployed rural resources to produce marketable agricultural output and subsistence types of food for household and local charitable purposes. Labor extensive types of crop and animal production activities have increased relatively and absolutely during the past decade on Maryland and Northeastern part-time farms. Average characteristics of a sample of 80 part-time farmers showed 1) age of male operator – 44 years, 2) education of operator − 12 years, 3) number of children on the farm − 3 children, 4) years of experience in farming − 15 years, 5) days of off-farm employment − 225 days, 6) proximity of off-farm job to a major metropolitan center − 20 miles and 7) distance to off-farm job − 29 miles.

Overseas Animal Production Activities of Private Industry

Overseas Animal Production Activities of Private Industry

Animal Production Activities of Foundations

The Foundation Directory (1967) lists 6,803 foundations having total assets of $19,927,000,000. There are now over 22,000 foundations with total assets of 20.5 billion dollars and they vary in size from 2 to 3.58 billion (The Foundation Center Annual Report, 1968). Only 13 foundations have assets exceeding 200 million dollars and only 27 have assets of over 100 million. The Center report states “more than 90 percent of all assets are held by less than seven percent of the Foundations.” It lists the 10 largest foundations as The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Duke Endowment, The Pew Memorial Trust, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Bernice P. Bishop Estate, Lilly Endowment, Inc., Carnegie Corporation of New York and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As defined in the Foundation Directory (1967) a philanthropic foundation is “a non-governmental, nonprofit organization having a principle fund of its own, managed by its own trustees or directors, and established to maintain or aid social, educational, charitable, religious, or other activities serving the common welfare.”