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Raw earth, like wood and stone, is one of the oldest building materials used across the world. Nowadays, given the growing role of circular economy, researchers are ever more interested in raw earth-based building materials, because they are widely available and environmentally friendly. The use of this traditional material has positive environmental consequences, especially in traditional rural building reuse and in rural landscape preservation. In fact, raw earth is locally available and totally recyclable and, thanks to its perfect integration into the landscape, it improves site visual perception. Additives and/or chemical stabilizer agents (i.e., Portland cement) are often used in the production of raw earthbased building components in order to increase their mechanical performance and durability. This production process reduces the environmental sustainability of the base material and causes a relevant increase on the embodied energy (i.e., the total energy required for the extraction, processing, manufacturing, and delivery of building components). This research work aimed at investigating how to improve the mix-design of earth-based building materials in order to increase their mechanical properties without any addition of chemical agents. A physical stabilization was performed on an original texture soil by adding various particle sizes. Mechanical tests were carried out on five different soil mixes by changing soil composition, aggregates, and water. Specimens made with mix-design 5 offered the best results in terms of flexural and compressive strength values which were 1.65 MPa and 6.74 MPa, respectively. Mix 3 obtained the lowest linear shrinkage rate (6.04%). Since raw earth-based materials are highly sensitive to soil composition and aggregates, this study attempted to obtain a repeatable process to produce semi-industrial adobes by optimizing and controlling various natural materials (i.e., soils, aggregates, and water).

Natural ventilation is the most used system to create suitable conditions, removing gases, introducing oxygen in livestock buildings. Its efficiency depends on several factors and above all on the number, the dimensions and the position of wall openings and internal layout of livestock buildings. The aim of this research was to develop optimized layout solutions for improving natural ventilation effectiveness in free-stall barns for dairy cows by using a CFD approach. A validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was applied in a case study which is highly representative of building interventions for renovating the layout of free-stall barns for dairy cows located in an area of the Mediterranean basin. Firstly, dairy cow behaviour was analysed by visual examination of time-lapse video-recordings. Then, simulations were carried out by using the validated CFD model and changing the position of internal and external building elements (i.e., internal office and external buildings for milking) in order to find the best condition for the thermal comfort of the animals. The results showed that the best conditions were recorded for a new configuration of the building in terms of air velocity distribution within the resting area, the service alley and the feeding alley for dairy cows, and in the pens for calves. In this new layout, the office areas and the north-west wall openings were located by mirroring them along the transversal axis of the barn. Therefore, the CFD approach proposed in this study could be used during the design phase, as a decision support system aimed at improving the natural ventilation within the barn.

Improved raw data handling is one of the requirements that research should fulfil in the design of IoT device-based data acquisition systems for enhancing the overall system performance. In this study, the system was composed of low-cost acceleration sensors broadcasting to a Raspberry PI. The main aim of this study was to develop firmware for the acceleration sensors with the purpose of maximising the battery life-time and minimising the information loss during data transfer while allowing high accuracy in the discrimination of the cow lying-standing behaviour. The attainment of these goals was achieved by using an aggregated accelerometer variable, computed on-board of the IoT device, together with the idea of saving in the payload the most recent variables. The comparisons conducted between the base firmware installed on the device and the new firmware developed showed the outstanding performance of the latter in terms of Raspberry PI CPU usage, storage memory occupation, and packet loss. The algorithms of lying-standing behaviour discrimination were implemented and assessed by using the new firmware, producing excellent values of the most used accuracy measures.

Different treatments of six selected Mediterranean agro-industrial by-products, i.e., citrus pulp, olive pomace cattle and poultry manure, whey and silage, were investigated through LCA application with the aim of analysing their environmental sustainability, in terms of “level of greenness”. In detail, an AD-based treatment system composed of four biogas plants fed by a mix of the selected agro-industrial by-products (scenario 1) was compared with the conventional treatment of those feedstocks (scenario 2), i.e., land application, biowaste composting, olive pomace treatment, and feeding treatment. The results clearly demonstrated that the AD-based treatment system is the most environmentally sustainable solution, since the environmental damages associated with the investigated scenarios are equal to 11.08 μpt and 598.44 μpt, for scenario 1 and scenario 2, respectively. These results confirmed that, as reported in the literature, anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial feedstocks is considered to be a “green” solution with high saving potential with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and plays a relevant role in renewable energy production by valorising agro-industrial by-products, by contributing to closing of organic matter cycles within a circular economy perspective. The results achieved in this study could represent a guideline to improve sustainability of energy generation by AD-based systems. In fact, since the results were obtained by means of real-world modelled scenarios, they could be extended to other AD-based systems analogous to that analysed in this study for developing and supporting sustainable economy concepts and energy-food-waste nexus approaches.

In precision livestock farming, accelerometers have been adopted to recognise cow’s behavioural activities with the final aim of generating early alarm of illness or specific physiological statuses. Accelerometers are widely used for their low cost and easy integration with other ICT devices and, when they are adopted to acquire data for cow’s behavioural activities recognition, models based on acceleration threshold values make it possible to obtain low computational classifiers. In this study, a model based on an acceleration threshold algorithm is proposed in order to detect cow’s oestrus activity. In detail, a threshold to predict oestrus onset was determined based on experimental data acquired during specific experimental tests carried out in a free-stall barn for dairy cows. Oestrus onset was validated by using images from a video-recording system. Novelty in the results achieved in this study regards the model features that are suitable for the production of a plug-and-play cow’s behaviour monitoring system based on specific firmware-equipped devices.

Plastic films can be considered as a high-value auxiliary material in agriculture with multiple important uses to fulfil, including covering films in greenhouse cultivation system. Such an application enables several benefits and, therefore, it is going through an important upsurge, especially in regions where protected crop cultivation is highly widespread. However, the increased demand for these covering films arouses concerns for their post-use treatment with regard to both the consumption of Non-Renewable Primary Energy (NRPE) resources and the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). Therefore, environmental analysis is needed to find and follow cleaner paths for the management and treatment of this kind of Agricultural Plastic Waste (APW), especially in the light of the gap currently existing in the specialised literature. In this context, this paper reports upon findings from a combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of single environmental issues (i.e., energy and water consumption, and GHG emissions) applied to a Sicilian firm, representative of APW collection and recycling to obtain Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) granules. The results showed that electricity consumption for the whole recycling process is the most NRPE resource demanding and the most GHG emitting input item. Moreover, the washing phase of disused covering films is the highest water demanding within the recycling process. Potential improvements could be achieved by shifting from fossil energy source to renewable one. The installation of a wind power plant would lead to around 56% and 85% reduction in NRPE resource exploitation and GHG emission, respectively. Finally, despite the huge consumption of water and NRPE resources and the resulting GHG emissions, the production of recycled-LDPE granules is far more sustainable than the virgin counterpart.

Among the most straining trends that farmers have to face there are: on one side, to guarantee welfare and adequate life conditions for animals and to reduce the environmental footprint, on the other side, to develop new strategies to improve farm management reducing costs. The current conditions and the expected developments of the dairy sector highlight a strong need for more efficient and sustainable farming systems. Studying heat stress, herd management and housing and animals’ productive and reproductive performances is fundamental for the economic and environmental sustainability of the dairy chain. New and effective tools to cope with these challenges have been provided by Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), which is nowadays increasingly applied and makes possible to control quali-quantitative parameters related to production, health, behaviour, and real-time locomotion per animal. The research key challenge is to turn these data into knowledge to provide real-time support in farming optimisation. This research focuses specifically on different systems to collect, process and derive useful information from data on animal welfare and productivity. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted to generate a decision support system for farmers.

The suitability of the co-digestion of feedstock-mixtures (by-products and agricultural residues) depends on their ability to produce biogas. In this study, the effects of mixing five feedstocks (citrus pulp, olive pomace, poultry manure, Italian sainfoin silage and opuntia fresh cladodes) on anaerobic digestion for biogas production have been investigated by carrying out biomethane potential (BMP) tests on six different mixing ratios of the selected five biomasses. The BMP test results demonstrated that all the six studied feedstock-mixtures could be potentially used for renewable energy generation by biogas plants. More in detail, two mixing ratios of the studied feedstock-mixtures showed the best biomethane potential of 249.9 and 260.1 Nm3CH4/tVS, respectively. Since this research study made it possible to screen the suitability and technical feasibility of the feedstock-mixtures analysed, the results provide the basis for subsequent pilot scale evaluation of anaerobic digestion in Mediterranean area, where by-products and agricultural residues are profuse and necessary to produce advanced biofuels.

The aim of this study was the development of a method to improve the effectiveness of heat treatment (HT) for insect pest control in flour mills by thermal analyses and temperature trend models. Specific attention was paid to surface temperatures of thermal bridges (TBs), which represent HT weakness points because they provide refuge to insects and increase expenditure of electric power due to heat flux loss. Air and TB surface temperatures were monitored in a flour mill during execution of an HT. A first thermal analysis showed that values of indoor air temperatures near TBs were always lower than the computed temperature level that would also guarantee insect mortality on TB surfaces. Since the length of the steady-state air temperature profile was lower than that lethal to all insect vital stages, time series forecasting models based on trend analyses were used to simulate the suitable HT duration. The results highlighted that HT should be increased by 9 h to achieve an air temperature above 45 °C. Finally, to obtain TB surface temperatures lethal to insects, simulations were performed of building interventions capable of reducing sensible heat flux loss through the TBs by using insulating materials. The method described in this paper could help operators define a more suitable HT length and support flour mill owners in decision-making when building interventions to improve heat capacity of the mill envelope should be considered to reduce the power consumption of HT.

Among the renewable energy sources, the production of biogas from biomass by anaerobic digestion has developed significantly in the last twenty years in Italy, especially in the North. In this field, a new concept proposes the production of biogas in a more sustainable way by a sustainable intensification of crop rotation, use of agro-industrial wastes, and recycling the nutrients of by-products used to produce biogas. Among the by-products used to extract biogas, re-using residual biomass of citrus processing industries, like citrus pulp, has been recently put forward. Given the uncertainty of data relating to biomass quantities, this research aims at filling the gap in the knowledge of the production and yield of citrus pulp for energy uses. Therefore, this study investigates the suitability of using citrus pulp as a possible matrix of the blend needed to feed anaerobic digesters in territorial areas where biogas sector is still developing. This aim is relevant to plan the development of new biogas plants in a sustainable way with regard to environmental protection, and specifically, in terms of reduction of both soil consumption for dedicated energy crop and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions derived from biomasses logistic supply, as well as the re-use of agro-industrial wastes. On this basis, a case study was analysed by using GIS tools and descriptive statistics as well as by investigating the specific regulatory framework. The results of the statistical analyses showed that there is great variability in citrus production for the different citrus fruits because of the species specialisation of some farms and their various production capacities. The results of the GIS analyses highlighted that localisation of the citrus processing areas is highly concentrated in specific geographic areas. Therefore, it would be desirable that the future policies of development of biogas sector, take into account the availability and distribution of agricultural biomasses in the territory. Finally, the regulatory framework was found of crucial importance in supporting or inhibiting the utilisation of the biomass in a specific sector, with regard to the case study considered.

Renewable energy sources represent a suitable alternative to conventional fossil fuels, due to the possible advantages in terms of environmental impact reduction. Anaerobic digestion of biomasses could be considered an environmental friendly way to treat and revalorise large amounts of by-products from farming industries because it ensures both pollution control and energy recovery. Therefore, the objective of this study was to define a methodology for evaluating the potential biogas production available from citrus pulp and olive pomace, which are suitable agricultural by-products for biogas production. In the first phase of the study, the spatial distribution of both olive and citrus-producing areas was analysed in Sicily, a geographical area of the Mediterranean basin highly representative of these types of cultivation. Then, a GIS-based model, which had been previously defined and utilised to evaluate the amount of citrus pulp and olive pomace production, was applied to this case study. Based on the results obtained for the different provinces of Sicily, the province of Catania was chosen as the study area of this work since it showed the highest production of both citrus pulp and olive pomace. Therefore, a further analysis regarded the quantification of olive pomace and citrus pulp at municipal level. The results of this analysis showed that the total amount of available citrus pulp and olive pomace corresponded theoretically to about 11,102,469 Nm3/year biogas. Finally, the methodology adopted in this study made it possible to identify suitable areas for the development of new biogas plants by considering both the spatial distribution of the olive and citrus growing areas and the locations of the existing processing industries.

The study discriminated cow feeding behaviour from standing one.A novel classifier based on acceleration thresholds was trained and tested.The acceleration thresholds were statistically determined.Classifier was implemented in sensor-based system with 4Hz-sampling frequency.Classifier accuracy was higher compared to other literature studies. Change in feeding behaviour is one of the indicators useful to help identifying when animals become ill. The need to analyse a large number of animals at a time due to the increase in the herd dimension in intensive farming has led to the use of automated systems. Among automated systems, inertial sensor-based systems have been utilised to distinguish behavioural patterns in livestock animals.In this study, a new approach based on statistical analyses of accelerometer data, which were collected from wearable sensors fixed at the cows collar, was defined and developed in order to define thresholds suitable for real-time classification of cow feeding and standing behavioural activity. The obtained classifier could be implemented within a software tool of a movement sensor-based system composed of low-cost devices. Accuracy of the classification was assessed by computing specific indicators: Misclassification Rate, Sensitivity, Precision, Specificity, Quality Percentage, Branching Factor, and Miss Factor. The results showed that the classifier produced the following values of the indicators: 5.56%, 93.33%, 95.45%, 95.56%, 89.36%, 0.05, and 0.07, respectively.The proposed threshold-based classifier allows for monitoring individual cows automatically and continuously and it is suitable for Real Time Computing Applications, since it does not require high computational time and resources.

Innovative systems and automated computational procedures, such as those based on computer vision or inertial wearable sensors, have recently been adopted to provide effective and accurate monitoring and analysis of cow behaviour and respond to different issues related to cow health and welfare. In this study, a new and open source algorithm, characterised by a linear computational time, was defined and implemented with the aim to improve real-time monitoring and analysis of walking behaviour of dairy cows. It was applied to a novel inertial sensor-based system composed of low-cost devices, including wearable sensors, open source software, operating with a 4-Hz sampling frequency. The algorithm computed the number of steps of each cow from accelerometer data by making use of statistically defined thresholds. Two vector variables were considered to study the accelerometer signals, i.e., Signal Vector Magnitude and Signal Magnitude Area. Algorithm accuracy was carried out by comparing total error (E) and Relative Measurement Error (RME), and a sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the computed thresholds was carried out to analyse the variation of the error made by the algorithm. The results showed that the algorithm produced an E equal to 9.5%, and a RME between 2.4% and 4.8%. The sensitivity analysis confirmed that the proposed thresholds provided the minimum errors and that RME is less suitable than E for measuring the accuracy of the step counter. In fact, the underestimated and overestimated numbers of steps counted by the algorithm tended to compensate each other in RME computation.

The necessity to investigate suitable alternatives to conventional fossil fuels has increased interest in several renewable energy resources, especially in biomasses that are widely available and make it possible to reach environmental and socio-economic improvements. Among solutions for bioenergy production, anaerobic digestion technology allows biogas production by reusing agricultural residues and agro-industrial by-products. By considering the basic concepts of the Biogasdoneright® method, the objective of this study was to estimate the theoretical potential net electricity and heat production from anaerobic digestion of citrus pulp and olive pomace highly available worldwide. A model was developed and applied in a study area of the Mediterranean basin, where the biogas sector is still very limited despite the importance of both agricultural and agro-industrial activities, especially with regard to citrus and olive cultivation processing. Firstly, the application of a geographical information system (GIS) software tool allowed the estimation of the biogas potentially produced from citrus pulp and olive pomace re-use. Then, the development of a technical assessment demonstrated that 15.9 GWh electricity and 88,000 GJ heat per year could be generated from these by-products, satisfying approximate 17% of the electricity demand of the agricultural sector of the study area (90.2 GWh y−1). The achieved results could be relevant with regard to the intervention priorities established by the European Union related to the planning activities supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds within the Smart Specialisation Strategy.

Natural ventilation is the most common passive cooling system in livestock buildings. The aim of this research is to assess airflow distribution inside a free-stall barn for dairy cows by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling and simulation. The model is validated by using the average values of experimental data acquired in a free-stall barn, which is considered relevant because it is located in a region characterised by hot climate conditions during the summer that could induce animal heat stress. Simulations are carried out in steady-state conditions, and simulated data are validated by the average values of air velocity measurements. Since the modelled air velocity distribution in the barn fits the real one well, the CFD model is considered reliable to simulate other conditions. The application of the proposed CFD model in the simulation of specific building design alternatives could be aimed at studying the related airflow distribution in order to find the best configuration.

Biomass is seen as one of the most dominant future renewable energy sources. In detail, agro-industrial by-products represent a cheap, renewable, and abundant feedstock useful for several new products, including biochemical, biomaterials, and above all biogas, which are taking on an ever-increasing role in Italy. In this context, the tomato chain was analysed aiming at estimating the amount of processed tomato and the related waste production as a new suitable resource for producing biofuel as a new frontier within the context of a circular economy. Due the importance of the tomato industry, this research aims at filling gaps in the knowledge of the production and yield of the by-products that are useful as biomass for energy use in those territorial areas where the biomethane sector is still developing. This aim could be relevant for planning the sustainable development of the biomethane sector by reducing both soil consumption for dedicated energy crops and GHG emissions coming from the biomass logistic supply. The achieved results show the localization of territorial areas highly characterized by this kind of biomass. Therefore, it would be desirable that the future policies of development in the biomethane sector consider the availability and the distribution of these suitable biomasses within the territory.

Yearly, in Europe, more than 1 million tonnes of plastic materials are used in agricultural activities. Among the possible applications, plastic films for protected cultivation practices are highly used worldwide because of the significant advantage deriving from the shortening of the growing period. However, in the absence of a correct policy disposal of plastic films, environmental degradation could take place with serious ecological and economic consequences. In this study, a geographical information system (GIS) - based model to locate and quantify the yearly amount of agricultural plastic waste (APW) coming from crop-shelter coverage used in greenhouses system was put forward and was applied in a study area located in southern Italy, highly characterised by protected cultivation practices. Firstly, the areas with the highest density of crop shelters were mapped, then a suitable index to determine APW amount was computed and applied to obtain heat maps related to covering plastic films. Finally, sensitivity analyses were carried out by varying thickness, lifetime, and density of the covering films of the greenhouses, located in the considered samples. The index ranged between 976 kg ha−1yr−1and, 2484 kg ha−1yr−1. The results showed that the density of greenhouses and tunnels-greenhouses is still elevated nearby the coastline, highlighting that the guidelines of the territorial plan of the Province of Ragusa concerning the displacement of protected crops from the coast to the internal rural areas were disregarded. Moreover, the GIS-based model results could provide basic information for the analysis of the environmental impact due to transportation of APW. Therefore, these results could offer a suitable tool to improve the correct disposal management of covering plastic films and the related recycle policy.

Greasy sheep wool is currently considered a special waste for its high bacterial load, with expensive disposal costs for sheep breeders. For this reason, wool is often burned or buried, with serious consequences for the environment. On the other hand, sheep wool is well regarded as one of the most performative insulating natural fibers due to its thermo-hygrometric and acoustic properties. In the building sector, sheep wool meets the requirements of green building components because it is an eco-friendly material, there is a surplus of it, it is annually renewable, and totally recyclable. If used instead of common insulation materials (e.g., fiberglass, rock wool, polyurethane foam, polystyrene), sheep wool offers significant benefits for sustainability such as a reduction in the production costs for new insulating materials and in environmental pollution. Mechanical and physical properties of sheep wool investigated in previous studies were assessed and discussed with the aim of providing an organized framework of possible applications of wool fibers in building components. This paper highlights in detail aspects that have not yet been investigated enough to detect new potential uses of sheep wool fibers in rural buildings and the reuse of traditional ones.

This study focused on applying batch and continuous co-digestion approaches to investigate the effects of a feedstock mixture (FM) constituted by ten Mediterranean feedstocks highly available in the Mediterranean area (i.e., olive pomace, olive mill wastewater, citrus pulp, poultry litter, poultry and cattle manure, whey and cereal straw) on methane production for bioenergy generation. For the same feedstock mixture (FM), two different anaerobic digestion (AD) tests were carried out to evaluate the possible inhibitory effects of some biomasses on the biological process. The first AD test showed a methane yield equal to 229 Nm3CH4/tVS (27% lower than that measured during the batch test). During the second AD test, the specific production was 272 m3CH4/tVS. Both tests showed a similar methane content of methane in the biogas, equal to about 57%. The first AD test showed an inhibition effect of the process: total conversion of the organic matter into biogas was not ended. The second batch test demonstrated that the selected FM could be viable to carry out the co-digestion and could provide a flexible solution to generate advanced biofuels in biogas plants located in the Mediterranean area.

The necessity to investigate suitable alternatives to conventional fossil fuels has developed the interests in many renewable energy alternatives, especially biomass resources which are widely available and allow to reach both environmental and socio-economic improvements. Among the bioenergy solutions the anaerobic digestion technology makes it possible to produce biogas by reusing and valorising agricultural residues and by-products. In Southern Italy, to date, the development of biogas sector is still very limited, despite the importance of the agricultural sector, especially of citrus and olive cultivation. For this reason, in previous studies the availability of two by-products, i.e., citrus pulp and olive pomace, was analysed in order to choose the most suitable area for a sustainable development of new biogas plants according to the new Biogasdoneright concept. In this paper, after a resume of the multi-step methodology which allowed the computation of biogas production, it was demonstrated that 15.9 GWh-e electricity and 24.5 GWh-e heat per year could be generate by reusing only these two kind of by-products, and could satisfy approximate 17% of the total electricity demand of the agricultural sector (90.2 GWh-e/year) in Catania.

The increase in the design and utilisation of real-time location systems has produced a huge amount of data to be handled in real time. As a consequence, challenges still exist in improving the analysis process of data streams by designing new tools. In this context, a software tool for automatic and real-time analysis of cow velocity data acquired by an ultra-wide band real-time location system (UWB RTLS) in a free-stall barn was designed and developed. A functionality implemented in this software determined the instant velocity of each cow over time, which was represented through an interactive graph (CowVelocityGraph). Feasibility of the software tools for the visualisation and analysis of UWB data was assessed. A use case of this software tool was carried out to verify its suitability to acquire useful information related to the occurrence of cow's oestrus, which is the case study of this research. The results showed that a pattern, related to the behaviour of the cow analysed, could be identified in CowVelocityGraph when the state of oestrus occurred, allowing for visualisation and analysis of UWB data. The software developed in this study provides the user with the ability to work in real time by acquiring the RTLS data updated at short time intervals, greatly exploiting the UWB RTLS potentialities. Further tests need to be repeated in different farming conditions, on a significant number of cows. On a broader perspective, this study addressed the lack of analysis tools for data streams acquired in livestock houses.

A hypothetical regional biogas power generation system based on multiple biomass feedstocks for the Catania province in Sicily was developed. A three-step approach of data collection, GIS-based analysis, and techno-economic assessment was used to analyze and design the biogas power generation system. Based on the amount of available and useable biomass, the biogas power generation system with a nominal electricity capacity of 3.6 MW-e can convert 211,000 t/year biomass into 15,374,000 m3 biogas, 30,000 metric ton soil amendment, and generate 23.1 GWh-e electricity and 35.5 GWh-e heat per year. The geographic information system (GIS) based analysis determines the size and location of four biogas plants in the system. The techno-economic assessment concludes that the system is able to satisfy 27% of the total agricultural electricity demand in the province and shows excellent economic performance with a discounted payback period of less than 6.5 years for the entire biogas power generation system. The results clearly demonstrate that the regional biogas production system can offer a sustainable solution for renewable electricity generation using agricultural residues and food wastes in Sicily. This study also elucidated that the three-step approach is a suitable method to carry out such analysis and to facilitate establishing biogas plants in different regions.

To valorize agricultural wastes and byproducts in southern Italy, anaerobic co-digestion of six feedstocks (citrus pulp, olive pomace, cattle manure, poultry litter, whey, and corn silage) was studied to produce biogas for renewable energy generation. Both batch and semi-continuous co-digestion approaches were adopted to carry out the investigation. The feedstocks were mixed at different percentages according to their availabilities in southern Italy. The batch anaerobic co-digestion demonstrated that six studied feedstock mixtures generated an average of 239 mL CH4/g VS loading without significant difference between each other, which concluded that the feedstock mixtures can be used for biogas production. Considering the feedstock availability of citrus pulp and olive pomace in Sicily, three feedstock mixtures with the highest volatile solids concentration of citrus pulp (42% citrus pulp, 17% corn silage, 4% cattle manure, 8% poultry litter, and 18% whey; 34% citrus pulp, 8% olive pomace, 17% corn silage, 4% cattle manure, 8% poultry litter, and 18% whey; and 25% citrus pulp, 16% olive pomace, 17% corn silage, 4% cattle manure, 8% poultry litter, and 18% whey, respectively) were selected to run the semi-continuous anaerobic digestion. Under the stabilized culture condition, the feed mixture with 42% citrus pulp, 17% corn silage, 4% cattle manure, 8% poultry litter, and 18% whey presented the best biogas production (231 L methane/kg VS loading/day). The corresponding mass and energy balance concluded that all three tested feedstock mixtures have positive net energy outputs (1.5, 0.9, and 1.2 kWh-e/kg dry feedstock mixture, respectively).

This paper presents the results of a research study which had the objective of investigating the effect of a sprinkler system coupled with forced ventilation on the heat stress of dairy cows bred in a free stall barn without paddock. To this aim, an experiment was carried out inside a free-stall dairy house equipped with two different cooling systems: a fogging system associated with forced ventilation in the resting area and a sprinkler system associated with forced ventilation in the feeding alley. The experiment regarded two adjacent pens of the barn and was constituted by three different trials carried out in the following periods: 27 th June - 7 th July (P1), 25 th July - 4 th August (P2), 24 th August - 3 rd September (P3). The experimental protocol of each trial required that the treatment group was housed in one pen where the two cooling systems were always activated following an established timetable, whereas the control group was housed in the other pen, where the sprinkler system associated with forced ventilation was always deactivated. Climatic parameters were measured inside each pen of the barn and outside. Then, thermal humidity index (THI) was calculated. Rectal temperature and respiration rate of a sample of dairy cows were monitored each day during the three periods considered (P1, P2 and P3). During the three trials the cows of both groups were subjected to climatic conditions that resulted in average daily THI values between 72.8 and 74.7, corresponding to mild or moderate heat stress. However, during daytime, air temperature and relative humidity reached values corresponding to a severe heat stress, as attested by the maximum THI values that were higher than or very close to 80. Furthermore, it was observed that the sprinklers do not influence the microclimatic conditions. However, the physiological parameters values of the treatment group were always significantly lower than the corresponding ones of the control group. Specifically, the system especially influenced the respiration rate that, in the treatment group, was close to 50 breath/min, while in the control group it reached 70 breath/min. The sprinkler system had more limited effects on rectal temperature that, however, in the treatment group was significantly lower than in the control group (38.7°C to 38.8°C vs 39.1°C to 39.4°C) in all the three periods of the experiment. These results show that the sprinkler system could be useful to mitigate heat stress in dairy cows.

Among the causes that influence cow welfare, heat stress induced by microclimatic conditions is one of the most relevant and many studies have investigated the efficacy of different cooling systems on animal health status. Nevertheless, the direct influence of the cooling systems on possible modifications of dairy cow behaviour has been addressed in a few studies and the related results were affected by the presence of a paddock, which gave a refuge from hot temperature. Since an alteration of the daily time budget spent by dairy cows in their usual activities can be associated with changes in their health status, this study investigated the effects of the alternation of two different cooling systems on lying, standing, and feeding behaviour of a group of dairy cows bred in a free-stall dairy house where animals had no access to a paddock. The barn was equipped with a fogging system associated with forced ventilation installed in the resting area and a sprinkler system associated with forced ventilation installed in the feeding area. The two systems were activated alternately. The results demonstrated that the management of the two cooling systems affected the analysed behaviours. Though the activation of the cooling system installed in the resting area encouraged the decubitus of animals in the stalls, the activation of that one of the feeding alley could not be able to influence the standing behaviour and had only a moderate positive influence on the feeding activity.

Recently, to obtain biogas from biomass, an innovative system based on both sustainable intensification of crop rotation and use of by-products was developed. This system derives from BIOGASDONERIGHT concept, which was put forward with the aim of making more sustainable biogas production. Among the by-products that could be considered for the anaerobic digestion within this new concept, olive pomace (OP) has been the object of research studies aimed at evaluating its possible reuse for energy purpose in terms of economic sustainability. This possibility is of relevant importance to reduce the environmental burden caused by disposal processes of the residues of olive oil industries. However, to the authors’ knowledge, the amount of processed olives in olive-producing areas, as well as the correct planning of OP use for energy purposes, has not yet been the object of research activities. Therefore, the aim of this research study was to compute the availability of OP, the main waste from the olive oil industry to be disposed of, by following a methodology which included a geographic information system (GIS) based model that allowed the computation of indicators suitable to describe OP potential production within geographical areas. In the first phase of the study, the spatial distribution of the olive-producing areas in Sicily, a geographical area of the Mediterranean Basin highly representative of olive oil production, was analyzed. Then, a GIS-based model, previously defined and applied to evaluate the amount of citrus pulp production, was applied to this case study to estimate OP potential production by the computation of a suitable index. The model required information about olive oil industries, which was gathered by performing specific surveys, and included the computation of indicators regarding olive-producing areas, the amount of olive oil produced, and the amount of OP obtained. In the second phase of this study, the quantification of OP that can be available for biogas production was carried out at a provincial level in an area described by the highest potential of OP production. The total amount of OP available for biogas production corresponded theoretically to 1.9 million Nm3 biogas. This result proved that OP has a high potential to be converted into a resource for renewable energy production, such as biogas. Therefore, it constituted a potential solution to issues related to the environmental burden of OP disposal. Furthermore, the GIS-based model applied in this case study, by giving the potential production of OP, could contribute to build an information base aimed at improving the sustainability of biogas sector. In this context, by considering the availability and distribution of other agricultural biomasses, the results of this study could be useful for applications in geographical areas where biogas sector is still developing. In fact, the obtained results could help identifying the best location of new biogas plants in terms of optimization of the logistics of biomasses supply. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A computer vision-based system for the automatic detection of dairy cow lying behaviour in free-stall barns is proposed. The system is composed of a multi-camera video-recording system and a software component which executes a cow lying behaviour detector model using the Viola–Jones algorithm. A method to carry out the training, testing and validation phase of the modelled cow lying behaviour detector is described. The performance of the system was tested in an area of a head-to-head free-stall barn where a group of 15 Holstein dairy cows was housed. A multi-camera video-recording system was installed to obtain panoramic top-view images of the area under study. Since the Viola–Jones algorithm was not invariant to the rotation of the cow images, two classifiers were modelled, one for each row of stalls located in the barn. These two classifiers were implemented in the software component of the system in order to perform the lying behaviour detection. The system was validated by comparing its detection results with those generated from visual recognition. The ability of the system to detect cow lying behaviour was confirmed by the high value of its sensitivity, which was approximately 92%. Conversely, the value of the branching factor which was approximately 0.08 indicated that one false positive was detected for every 13 well detected cows. These results suggest that the system proposed in this study could be used for the calculation of the cow lying index which is widely used to investigate cow lying behaviour in free-stall barns.

In recent years, biogas from biomasses has increasingly been considered a feasible alternative to energy from fossil fuel. The utilization of biomasses obtained from citrus processing for juice extraction is being investigated for energy purposes, as a biofuel or organic matrix for bioethanol or biogas extraction, besides for the extraction of high added-value by-products and animal feed. In citrus producing areas, uncertainty often exists as to the amount of processed product and, therefore, correct planning of the use of ‘citrus pulp’ for energy purposes has not yet been carried out. The objective of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of the citrus fruit production area and the amount of processed citrus in order to quantify the citrus pulp available for biogas production. It could contribute to build an information base suitable for multi-criteria analysis aimed at finding optimal locations for biogas plants and increasing their number in a territory. The GIS-based methodology, which was applied to the case study of citrus pulp production in Sicily, included official statistics data and information derived from specific surveys and the computation of indicators regarding citrus-producing areas, citrus production, processed production, and the amount of citrus pulp obtained. The results showed that the index that describes the level of availability of citrus pulp for biogas production is suitable to provide information on the potential production of citrus pulp in the different areas of the whole territory analyzed. Furthermore, the total amount of available citrus pulp corresponded theoretically to 15,204,775.8 Nm3 biogas. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The study describes the planning strategy for a tourist itinerary in rural areas located in South-Eastern Sicily which aimed at promoting cultural rural heritage and diversifying the tourist offer. The planning of the tourist itinerary occurred within an appropriate heritage interpretation strategy as a working method which could facilitate the understanding and social use of the heritage sites located along the itinerary. The tourist itinerary combined significant territory potential such as traditional rural buildings and enogastronomy. It included a starting point; which is a heritage site and an already well known “tourist attraction”, and several other tourist resources selected on the basis of the information derived from the analysis of the profile of the average visitor to the area. An interpretation center, which was located at the heritage site, and several interpretation media placed at each stopping point included in the itinerary supported the tourists during their trip. By promoting traditional rural buildings and enogastronomy, the tourist itinerary represents a significant opportunity for rural diversification and, therefore, can contribute to achieving sustainable socio-economic development of rural areas.