Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Associate Professor in Biosystems Engineering Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AERI), Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Agricultural Ministry of Iran
2 Associate Professor, Animal Science Research Institute, Karaj, Iran
Abstract
Energy is used in different ways in the dairy industry and is wasted in the milk production process for various reasons. By using different production methods, livestock farmers play an essential role in the energy efficiency of their production unit. This research was carried out in 2023 in Tehran province with the aim of determining the indices of energy consumption, identifying efficient and inefficient dairy cattle producing farms in order to increase the efficiency of production units to the maximum and calculating the amount of energy that can be saved resulting from the optimization of energy consumption. Information was collected through questionnaires and document studies and random sampling from different dairy cattle units, and all the activities performed throughout the year were recorded. Energy indices including net energy gain, energy use efficiency, energy productivity and specific energy were determined. The results showed that the total amount of input energy is 172851.75 MJ per head of cow, and animal feed had the largest share of input energy with 72.36%. Among the main feeds consumed by dairy cows, concentrate, alfalfa, corn and straw contributed 40.87%, 11.20%, 20.01% and 0.28% of the total energy consumption, respectively. The amount of total energy output was 36886.482 MJ per head of cow, and milk production had the largest share with 87.02% of the total energy output. The energy use efficiency, net energy gain, energy productivity and energy intensity were determined as 0.21, -135965.27 MJ per a head of cow, 0.067 kg/MJ and 14.94 MJ/Kg respectively.
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