Microcontroller based low cost device for determination of aerobic stability of silages

Abstract

Aerobic stability is one of the important factors affecting the nutritive value of silages for livestock and determined by various methods. The aim of the current experiment was to design a microcontroller based low cost device using CO2 sensor for determination of aerobic stability of silage and compare with the conventional temperature measurement system. It was hypothesised that the time taken to increase the silage temperature by 2oC above room temperature and produce 10 g CO2 kg- 1 DM might be similar or comparable for the same silages when the silage is exposed to air simultaneously. The microcontroller based low cost device was designed and allowed discrimination between silages in terms of aerobic stability as in the temperature measurement system. The data obtained by microcontroller based low cost device is consistent with data obtained by the temperature measurement system. The time taken to increase silage temperature by 2oC above room temperature and produce 10 g CO2 kg-1 dry matter (DM) of silage were similar in both measurement systems. It was also found that the high correlation coefficients between CO2 production and temperature until reflection point of temperature obtained and ranged from 0.990 to 0.995 for sugar beet pulp silage (SNPS) and corn silage (CS). The CO2 sensor has provided the opportunity in designing a simple and handy device with an affordable cost to measure the aerobic stability of silage as accurately as temperature measurement sys