Determination of heating and cooling degree-day values and heating and cooling-days in broiler husbandry: central Anatolian case

Abstract

The general aim of barns is to create suitable environments for animals against adverse weather conditions. Barns should be designed in such a way as to minimize the effect of weather changes and keep indoor conditions at the values of animals' desire. It is observed that the energy costs of unsuitable barns are high and the efficiency is not at the expected levels. Degree-day methods can be used to obtain information about the energy needs of any building. With this method, measurement values or meteorological data can be informed about the heating and cooling energy quantities of buildings. However, depending on the climate change in recent years, the climate changes that have taken place in order to provide optimum comfort in the barns should be examined. For this purpose, the Central Anatolia Region covering 13 provinces of Turkey was chosen as a studying area. The annual average daily temperature values of 13 meteorological stations in the region were used. For a broiler house, heating and cooling degree-day values and day numbers were calculated according to the based temperature values. Relationships between heating degree-day values, cooling degree-day values and degree-day numbers calculated according to the based temperature values were investigated by the linear regression analysis. As a result, it was determined upon an evaluation of the calculated heating degree-day, heating degree-day number, cooling degree-day and cooling degree-day number values that the cities of Aksaray, Ankara, Karaman, Kirikkale and Konya are most suited for broiler breeding.