Bed temperature in compost barns turned with rotary hoe and offset disc harrow

Abstract

The success of confinement for dairy cattle in the compost barn model depends mainly on the management of the bed and consists of its turning. This paper characterises the spatial variability of the bed temperature in the compost barn confinement model, as well as verifying whether there was an effect on efficiency from turning the bed with different agricultural implements. The experiment was conducted during the summer and winter of 2016, with 8 days of collection in each period. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics methods and geostatistical modelling with semivariograms and kriging maps. The results of the t-test at a5% significance level indicated that, after turning the bed with the plough or rotary hoe, the temperature values were significantly lower. There was an efficient on bed turning based on different agricultural implements. Spatial dependence was observed on the data, with a better adjustment given by a Gaussian model. Kriging maps allowed the characterization of the spatial variability of bed temperature and the visualization across the compost barn bed at the superficial layer and 0.15 m in depth.