Leonardo Conti

Spatial Identification of Animals in Different Breeding Systems to Monitor Behavior

The aim of this paper was to focus the evolution of the application of technologies to identify and monitor animals. In time, a lot of various solutions have been thought up in order to record spatial data and time spotting of the animals in grazing areas. From first radio-telemetry approaches in the fifties to automatic photographing or videotaping, technology has made huge progress thanks to the digital revolution. Instruments have become more sophisticated, precise and automatic. The analysis of their capacity and limits could be useful to offer a complete overview about new opportunities for planning good research methodology. Bibliographical studies point out analogies, differences and technological advances of different systems of identification useful both for wild and domestic animal populations. The survey of conventional radio technologies, satellite telemetry, and RFID systems allows investigation of the real potentials and new opportunities of different solutions. In order to collect data to conduct a comparative analysis, new RFID products were tested on pigs on an outdoor farm located in a hilly area in the north of Italy. The preliminary results of electronic identification system to monitor pig behavior are presented in this paper. Outcomes of the paper trace the working out of new features of these technologies: automatic elaboration of databases, precision of remote sensing, minimizing instrument and human mistakes. All these characteristics enable researchers to operate widely and efficiently. Furthermore, researchers will be able to integrate the technologies in order to create an environmental analysis methodology aimed to optimize and rationalize animal management performance.

Alarm guard systems for the prevention of damage produced by ungulates in a chestnut grove of Middle Italy

Wildlife populations, in particular ungulates and carnivores, have had a significant increase in most Italian regions over the last decades and for this reason ecosystems and agricultural and forest productions are threatened by damage produced by wildlife. In order to evaluate effective methodologies and technologies to mitigate the impact of this phenomenon, innovative protection systems, such as electronic acoustic alarm guard sensors, were tested. These devices are able to randomly produce a significant number of sounds and light projections. At the same time, camera traps were used, as a support instrument to show the presence or absence of wild fauna. Video analysis has provided information on the effectiveness of security systems, on the most suitable methods of installation and management of devices and their ecological impact. Experimental trials were carried out in a chestnut grove located in an Apennine area of the Middle Italy during the harvesting period (autumn). The results obtained have shown that these technologies seem to be particularly suitable for crops that concentrate production in a short time (e.g. vine and chestnut) and in areas not excessively large. Widespread use of devices could mitigate the conflict between public bodies involved in the management of wildlife and farmers.

Poultry farming solutions for a sustainable development of marshlands areas of South Iraq

The Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems of University of Florence carried out cooperation projects in the South Iraq, funded by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, focused on the development of rural areas. All the proposed interventions were designed taking into account some key points, such as the development of sustainable farming systems, the protection of the environment, the empowerment of women role. Among the main activities, a particular importance is given to the simple solutions for poultry breeding that represents an important economic resource for many farmers and a source of food for a large segment of the population. Therefore the main aim of the project was to define new building solutions to apply in the area of marshlands. A mobile poultry shelter was designed and built to meet the demand for meat and eggs from a typical rural family. This shelter was designed to be used for extensive breeding, with animals free to graze outside during the day. A suitable self-building methodology was applied to obtain results from farmers without specific skills for wood construction thanks to which they learn the appropriate way to build poultry shelters. As conclusion, poultry breeding can be spread in the area of marshlands using the simple selfbuilding structures presented in the study.

Productive performance of broilers at the final stage of breeding submitted to different levels of metabolizable energy in different thermal environments

The Brazilian poultry industry is an activity in constant development due to the high indices of productive efficiency. The accelerated evolution of poultry production has allowed to obtain early and very efficient broilers able to convert different foods into animal protein. However, due to this intensive breeding system, a series of metabolic and management problems appeared, with emphasis on thermal stress. The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological responses of broiler chickens in the final stage of breeding (21 to 42 days of life), submitted to two thermal conditions, one representative of the thermoneutrality situation (T1) and one giving a situation of cyclic stress by heat (T2). For each experimental thermal condition, the birds were submitted to different levels of metabolizable energy of 3,050, 3,125, 3,200, 3,275 kcal kg-1. At 28, 35 and 42 days, the birds and the feed leftovers were weighed to measure the performance variables: CR (feed intake), GP (weight gain) and CA (feed conversion), viability of the rearing (Vb), productive efficiency index (PEI). As conclusions, the GP was 13.6% higher for the birds maintained at the thermoneutrality situation T1. The PEI was 32.5% higher for the birds maintained in T1 condition, when compared to those kept in T2. However, both in thermoneutral and in heat stress conditions, the increase in the level of metabolizable energy in the diet did not influence the performance and the productive efficiency index of broiler chickens aged between 21 and 42 days of age.

Simplified Method for the Characterization of Rectangular Straw Bales (RSB) Thermal Conductivity

This research aims to design and implement tools and methods focused at the assessment of the thermal properties of full size Rectangular Straw Bales (RSB) of various nature and origin, because their thermal behaviour is one of the key topics in market development of sustainable building materials. As a first approach a method based on a Hot-Box in agreement with the ASTM C1363 – 11 standard was adopted. This method was found to be difficult for the accurate measurement of energy flows. Instead, a method based on a constant energy input was developed. With this approach the thermal conductivity of a Rectangular Straw-Bale (RSB λ) can be determined by knowing the thermal conductivity of the materials used to build the chamber and the internal and external temperature of the samples and of the chamber. A measurement a metering chamber was built and placed inside a climate chamber, maintained at constant temperature. A known quantity of energy was introduced inside the metering chamber. A series of thermopiles detects the temperature of the internal and external surfaces of the metering chamber and of the specimens allowing to calculate the thermal conductivity of RSB in its natural shape. Different cereal samples were tested. The values were found consistent with those published in scientific literature.