Annual Monetary Gain Research Articles

Genomic selection using indicator traits to reduce the environmental impact of milk production

The aim of this simulation study was to test the hypothesis that phenotype information of specific indicator traits of environmental importance recorded on a small-scale can be implemented in breeding schemes with genomic selection to reduce the environmental impact of milk production. A stochastic simulation was undertaken to test alternative breeding strategies. The breeding goal consisted of milk production, a functional trait, and environmental impact (EI). The indicator traits (IT) for EI were categorized as large-, medium-, or small-scale, depending on how the traits were recorded. The large-scale traits were stayability and stature; the medium-scale traits were live weight and methane in the breath of the cow measured during milking; and the small-scale traits were residual feed intake and methane recorded in a respiration chamber. Simulated scenarios considered information for just one IT in addition to information for milk production and functional traits. The annual monetary genetic gain was highest in the large-scale scenario that included stayability as IT. The annual monetary gain in the scenarios with medium- or small-scale IT varied from €50.5 to 47.5. The genetic gain improvement in EI was, however, best in the scenarios where the genetic correlation between IT and EI was ≥0.30 and the accuracy of direct genomic value was ≥0.40. The genetic gain in EI was 26 to 34% higher when indicator traits such as greenhouse gases in the breath of the cow and methane recorded in respiration chamber were used compared with a scenario where no indicator trait was included. It is possible to achieve increased genetic gain in EI by using a highly correlated indicator trait, but it requires that the established reference population for the indicator trait is large enough so that the accuracy of direct genomic values will be reasonably high.

Carbon Credits Earned by Hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal Array

In this paper, a study has been carried out to evaluate carbon credit earned by hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) array. The study has been based on overall thermal energy and exergy output of PVT array. The hybrid PVT array is a proposed system consisting of 36 hybrid PVT modules connected in a series and parallel combinations. The annual energy and exergy gain has been evaluated by considering four types of weather conditions (a, b, c, and d types) of Bangalore. This paper gives the total carbon credit earned by as per norms of Kyoto Protocol Bangalore climatic conditions. We have found that the total carbon credit earned by hybrid PVT array annually in terms of thermal energy is Rs. 1.34 lakhs and in terms of exergy is Rs. 0.61 lakhs, respectively. The total annual monetary gain in terms of overall thermal energy gain and overall exergy gain comes out to be Rs. 3.83 lakhs and Rs. 1.75 lakhs, respectively.