Design and Validation of an Artificial Reference Cow for Breath Measurements of Cows in the Cubicles
To mitigate methane production from dairy cows, the primary issue is to evaluate the efficacy of measures to reduce methane production.To evaluate e.g., genetic differences and feeding measures in practice, we need a technique to assess the individual methane production from a large number of cows in the barn.First, we designed and constructed an artificial reference cow (ARC) that simulated exhalation and eructations of cows with known methane production rates.The methane mass balance of the ARC was extensively tested and results showed a strong linear relation between controlled and measured methane mass.Methane concentration release patterns with a sinusoidal curve produced by five simulated cows were compared to patterns measured from real cows.Results showed small differences between simulated and real concentrations with respect to time interval of eructations and lowest and peak concentrations.We concluded that the ARC can be used as a known reference source to develop methane measurement methods.Second, a cubicle hood sampler (CHS) was designed to extract all breath air from a dairy cow that is lying in a cubicle.The CHSs performance was tested by the ARC under laboratory conditions.With the flow rate of 200 m3 h-1, the CHS with fume sample hood, a top curtain, and a cow panel could capture 99.6% emitted methane by the ARC, regardless of nose positions.We concluded that the newly designed CHS was capable of measuring methane production from individual cows in cubicles.
Methane dairy cows artificial reference cow cubicle hood sampler
Liansun Wu Peter W.G.Groot Koerkamp Nico Ogink
Farm Technology Group, Wageningen University and Research Center,Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherl Farm Technology Group, Wageningen University and Research Center,Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherl Wageningen UR Livestock Research, Wageningen University and Research Center,Wageningen, Gelderland,
国际会议
The 2015 International Symposium on Animal Environment and Welfare(动物环境和福利国际研讨会)
重庆
英文
66-73
2015-10-23（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）