Research Projects

Livestock is one of the major sources of revenue generation for farmers in general and farmer women in particular. The revenue is generated from various yields of livestock such as milk, meat and dung. It is obvious that the increase in these yields will lead to an increase in the farmer women's income. It was observed that the various yields such as milk and meat of livestock is negatively affected due to the heat stress during the aggressive climatic conditions in arid and semi-arid zones of India. Therefore, an economical and environmentally eco-friendly solution to provide the livestock is the need of the hour to enhance the farmer women's income. The crop residue can act as an insulating material and Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can store and release the heat based on the need. The application of crop residue for insulation and performance of PCM for decreasing/increasing temperature of various systems are widely used and documented in the literature. Although the crop residue is used to some extent in different purposes such as fodder, however, it is also burnt which pollutes the environment. The proposed study will design a product that can be used as an additional layer in f livestock rearing shelter to provide comfort which will in turn affect positively the various yields of livestock. The product will be designed using a wooden/metal frame, crop residue(s), PCM(s), a metal container for PCM, etc. The experimental setups will be developed at a laboratory scale as well as farmer location(s). The performance along various dimensions such as comfort, cost, and carbon footprint reduction will be recorded for different input parameters. The modeling, simulation, and design of experiments will also be carried out for the system to know more insights. An optimization study will also be carried out to minimize the cost of shelter to get the maximum benefit and make it more affordable for the farming community. Developing a proper technology to use crop residues and PCMs at an affordable cost can significantly improve the productivity of the livestock, converting waste to wealth, and also can reduce the carbon footprints. The proposed solution for livestock rearing in a conducive environment will be definitely a step towards doubling the farmer women's income.