Document Type : Original Article
Author
Associate professor in Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AERI), Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization(AREEO), Karaj, Iran
Abstract
This research was carried out with the aim of determining the efficiency of production units and optimization of energy consumption in dairy cattle farms. Information was collected through questionnaires and document studies, The input energy and output energy were calculated. Energy indices were determined. With the approach of Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA), The amount of energy consumption optimization in inefficient units and the total energy that could be saved was determined. The results showed that the total amount of input energy is 193690.75 MJ per head of cow, and animal feed had the largest share of input energy with 76.96%. 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 0.19, -156804.272 MJ per a head of cow, 0.086 kg/MJ and 11.636 MJ/Kg respectively. Average technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were calculated for dairy farms in Tehran province as 0.892, 0.931 and 0.958 respectively. The average target energy in dairy farms of Tehran province was determined to be 129,764.15 MJ per a head of cow. The conducted research showed that by optimizing energy consumption in inefficient dairy farms in Tehran province, an average of 63926.53 MJ per a head of cow can be saved and energy use efficiency and energy productivity can be upgraded 0.284 and 0.128 Kg/MJ, respectively.
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