Poultry housing in the Arab World: Applying principles of thermal exchange to improve performance (A case study of Morocco)

Abstract

The design, siting and orientation of many modern poultry houses in Arab countries indicate that the principles of thermal exchange are not widely known or, if known, are too often ignored. In this paper the measures which could be used to reduce the fatal effect of the heat stress phenomenon are presented by modelling and simulating a typical poultry house. A case study was conducted to show the influence of each parameter on the behaviour of the building. The most influential parameters are: ventilation, shape, orientation, number of occupants etc. The evaporative cooling systems models were linked to thermal building software, TRNSYS, and the assessment of a poultry house equipped with passive cooling systems will be presented. The simulations show that the heat stress phenomenon could be avoided. The experimental study of the poultry house equipped with a passive cooling system shows a decrease of the internal air temperature (up to 9 °C), and an improvement of the production quality, which is shown by a decrease in mortality rate and an increase in body weight.