Papers by Giorgio Provolo
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2015
ABSTRACT Emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases from animal manure are an environmental concer... more ABSTRACT Emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases from animal manure are an environmental concern and new techniques should be carefully examined to establish their effect on emissions across the whole management continuum, including storage operations. Biogas plants are becoming more common at farm facilities and the management of digestate raises some concerns regarding potential emissions to the air when mechanical separation is adopted. The aim of this study was to evaluate how mechanical separation affects ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions from the storage of different fractions obtained from separation of codigested pig and cattle slurries. A laboratory scale experiment was carried out in a temperature controlled room where 25 L of unseparated digestate and the relative solid and liquid fractions were stored in duplicates for 32 days at 17 °C. Each manure was sampled weekly for chemical analysis (total nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, total solids, volatile solids and pH). Potential emissions from agitated samples were estimated twice a week using a dynamic chamber technique and acid traps for ammonia and a trace gas analyser for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Results from chemical analyses indicated that mechanical separation of digested manure increased nitrogen losses during storage when both separated fractions are taken into account, by 35 and 86% for the pig and cattle slurries, respectively. However, the flux measurements from the agitated samples showed that there was a lower potential for ammonia emissions during storage for the separated fractions than the digested unseparated slurry (9 and 23% reductions for the pig and cattle slurries, respectively), probably due to the lower TAN concentration of the liquid fraction. The treatment resulted in a significant reduction (40%) of GHG emissions for cattle slurries but had no consistent effect for pig effluents. The results of this study suggest that adoption of mitigation techniques should be considered for the management of the liquid and solid fractions of digestates in order to reduce the increased environmental impact during storage.
MILK the vital force, 1986
Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 2009
Behavioural activity is used as an indication of animal comfort, and lying and standing behaviour... more Behavioural activity is used as an indication of animal comfort, and lying and standing behaviours are often used as a sign of well-being in cattle and to evaluate the quality of stalls. The aim of this study was to compare the values of different behavioural indices at different scan-sampling frequencies and to evaluate the different methods of data aggregation that are used to obtain daily behavioural indices. The lying, standing, feeding and drinking behaviours of 69 cows in a free-stall barn were recorded over 7 days using continuous video recording. The temperature humidity index (THI) was recorded at 15-min intervals during the entire experimental period. Behavioural indices were calculated based on scan sampling intervals of 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120-min, as well as for different time periods during the day. The results highlighted how lying, standing and feeding behaviours can be properly interpreted by analysing images taken on an hourly basis (highly correlated with 10, 20 and 30-min scan samples; r > 0.85, P < 0.01) and restricting the period of analysis between the two daily milkings (07:00-14:00) and the evening hours (19:00-22:00) after the second milking (highly correlated with daily behaviour; r > 0.898, P < 0.01). Night hours might not be considered in the calculation of daily behaviour because they did not improve the quality of the indices obtained. The analysis of the indices has also revealed how the activity of cows 1-2 h after milking is highly affected by farm management. The results obtained indicate that video or automatic recording systems provide adequate data that can be used to effectively analyse cow activity.
ABSTRACT Behavioral monitoring may be useful to assess the welfare, state of health and comfort o... more ABSTRACT Behavioral monitoring may be useful to assess the welfare, state of health and comfort of farm animals. Lying behavior is often used as an indication of well-being in cattle and for evaluating the stall quality. The use of electronic data loggers to automate behavioral recording has become increasingly common. We tested the use of the Pedometer Plus tag (S.A.E. Afikim, Israel) for measuring the lying behavior of dairy cattle (n=18 lactating cows). Behavior was recorded for 11 days with the Pedometer Plus tag, from which the rest bout, bout duration and rest time were calculated. The lying behavior was simultaneously recorded using a HOBO Pendant G logger as a reference system to validate the Pedometer Plus tag. A linear regression analysis between the measurement methods showed that the recorded lying time (R2≥0.948) and the recorded number of lying bouts (R2≥0.718) were closely related, which was also confirmed by the comparison of the means (lying time, P=0.60; lying bouts, P=0.72). Despite the positive relationship, in some days, slope and intercept were statistically different from 1 and 0, respectively. The recordings of lying time and the number of lying bouts between the devices, for some cows, differed by more than 5%. The Pedometer Plus tag overestimates the number of lying bouts and underestimates the time that cows spend lying down with respect to HOBO pendant G logger recording. The different sampling, editing and filtering methods between devices may contribute to these discrepancies. This system will be advantageous for the reliable, 24 h/d automated recording of individual animals in a herd. This system reduces the difficulty of performing continuous measurements of behavior for a large number of animals over a prolonged period of time. In summary, the Pedometer Plus tag is likely a useful tool for the measurement of lying behavior in dairy cows.
Solid-liquid separation is a widely used manure treatment option. However, little information is ... more Solid-liquid separation is a widely used manure treatment option. However, little information is available to predict separator performance in a specific operating condition. This study investigates the effect on the separation efficiency of animal species (cattle and swine), use of flocculants, and separator construction and operating characteristics (filtration, pressurised filtration, settling and centrifugation). Using data available from published experiments, we evaluated correlations of the separation efficiencies with the physical and chemical characteristics of the inlet slurries (dry matter, total nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Dry matter concentration of the input manure was found to be the best parameter used to calculate and validate regression equations. Regres sions for the operating conditions of 7 of the 14 subgroups evaluated were significant (P<0.05) for at least one parameter. Pressurised filtration seems to be the process best represented by these regressions that can predict dry matter and nitrogen efficiency with relative root mean squared errors of less than 50%. However, they could only be used for some of the parameters and separation techniques. Therefore, it was not possible to use the available experimental data to define and validate empirical predictive models for all the conditions. Specific studies are needed to define more precise and physically-based models.
ABSTRACT Behavioral monitoring may be useful to assess the welfare, state of health and comfort o... more ABSTRACT Behavioral monitoring may be useful to assess the welfare, state of health and comfort of farm animals. Lying behavior is often used as an indication of well-being in cattle and for evaluating the stall quality. The use of electronic data loggers to automate behavioral recording has become increasingly common. We tested the use of the Pedometer Plus tag (S.A.E. Afikim, Israel) for measuring the lying behavior of dairy cattle (n=18 lactating cows). Behavior was recorded for 11 days with the Pedometer Plus tag, from which the rest bout, bout duration and rest time were calculated. The lying behavior was simultaneously recorded using a HOBO Pendant G logger as a reference system to validate the Pedometer Plus tag. A linear regression analysis between the measurement methods showed that the recorded lying time (R2≥0.948) and the recorded number of lying bouts (R2≥0.718) were closely related, which was also confirmed by the comparison of the means (lying time, P=0.60; lying bouts, P=0.72). Despite the positive relationship, in some days, slope and intercept were statistically different from 1 and 0, respectively. The recordings of lying time and the number of lying bouts between the devices, for some cows, differed by more than 5%. The Pedometer Plus tag overestimates the number of lying bouts and underestimates the time that cows spend lying down with respect to HOBO pendant G logger recording. The different sampling, editing and filtering methods between devices may contribute to these discrepancies. This system will be advantageous for the reliable, 24 h/d automated recording of individual animals in a herd. This system reduces the difficulty of performing continuous measurements of behavior for a large number of animals over a prolonged period of time. In summary, the Pedometer Plus tag is likely a useful tool for the measurement of lying behavior in dairy cows.
Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 2013
Journal of Animal Science, 2013
The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate the validity of automated monitoring systems as ... more The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate the validity of automated monitoring systems as assessment method for the behavioral activity of dairy cows compared with video recording, and 2) determine the sampling intervals required to obtain reliable estimates of the daily behavior. To determine lying, standing, and walking, 12 cows were equipped with automatic recording devices (IceTag = 12 cows, HOBO Pendant G = 5 cows), and their behavior was simultaneously recorded using a video recording system. The correspondence between the IceTag, HOBO logger, and video recording data was analyzed using 2 × 2 contingency tables, and we determined the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value (positive and negative). Both types of loggers demonstrated high sensitivity (Sen ≥ 0.961) and specificity (Sp ≥ 0.951) for lying and standing behaviors with predictive values near 1.00. The HOBO logger can accurately describe the laterality of lying behavior, whereas the IceTag device inadequately recorded walking, with probability predictive values ≤ 0.303. Daily behaviors of the dairy cows were compared for 10 different sampling intervals (1 s, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 min) collected by the IceTag, using linear regression. A strong relationship (R(2) ≥ 0.978) was found between the total lying times from data on a per-second basis and estimates obtained by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 15 min sampling intervals. The sampling intervals of 1 and 2 min were comparable for all aspects of lying behavior (R(2) ≥ 0.813; P &gt; 0.05 for slope = 1, intercept = 0). Long sampling intervals (30 and 60 min) showed positive relationship for estimating time spent lying and standing (R(2) ≥ 0.774), but were inappropriate for predicting these behaviors, because they lacked accuracy and precision. Both the IceTag and HOBO logger accurately measured all aspects of lying and standing behavior. Reliable estimates of lying and standing time can be generated using relatively short interval lengths (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 10, or 15 min). Shorter sampling intervals (≤ 2 min) are required to accurately measure aspects of lying behavior such as number of lying bouts per day. The automated monitoring systems are time- and labor-saving tools that can be used by research or on farm to assess cow comfort related to lying behavior.
Italian Journal of Animal Science, 2012
ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of feeding frequency on milk produc-t... more ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of feeding frequency on milk produc-tion, dry matter intake (DMI) and cow behav-iour on two dairy farms with conventional and automatic milking systems (AMS) in differ-ent environmental conditions. Cows on two farms were monitored. On the first farm, 96 primiparous cows were milked in a herring-bone parlor while on the second a group of nearly 50 cows were milked in two AMS with a forced traffic. On each farm, treatments consisted of two different frequencies of total mixed ration (TMR) delivery (2 vs 3 on the conventional farm; 1 vs 2 on the AMS farm) replicated in two different periods of the year with THI of 72.6 and 60.7, respectively. The behaviour of the cows was monitored by con-tinuous video recording. Statistical analysis was performed separately for the two farms. Increasing the frequency of TMR deliveries did not result in any variation in DMI but sig-nificantly improved milk yield on both farms. The increase in feeding frequency at the bunk in the AMS farm mitigated the negative effect of hot conditions on production with a 7.6% increase in milk yield. Feeding frequency did not influence cow behaviour on either farm. Hot conditions showed a depressive effect on DMI (nearly 8% on both farms) compared with thermoneutral conditions but caused a reduction in milk yield (an average 17%) only on the farm with multiparous high-producing cows milked automatically. In the hot period, cows on both farms showed a reduction in daily lying time and an increase in daily standing time.
... Coordinatori del progetto: G. Matteo Crovetto (Università degli Studi di Milano) Marisa Meda ... more ... Coordinatori del progetto: G. Matteo Crovetto (Università degli Studi di Milano) Marisa Meda (Regione Lombardia) Mario Marchesi (ERSAF) Hanno contribuito alle attività sperimentali: ... Le bovine erano stabulate alla posta, con abbeveratoi a tazza. ...
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Papers by Giorgio Provolo