The research was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Elton and Claire Maddox and is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.

A brief summary of the completed project is shown below. A complete report, along with information on other Association research, may be obtained by going to USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org.

The project summary is as follows:

Project #697: Low-Cost Solar Heater for Poultry Barns

(Dr Sanjay Shah, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.)

Dr Sanjay Shah and colleagues at North Carolina State University recently completed a research project in which they developed and tested a low-cost solar heater for use in poultry houses. The solar collector is made from black plastic and heated by the sun.

Air coming into the poultry house is heated as it passes through the solar collector, supplementing heat provided by propane heaters, thus reducing the potential propane usage. The study shows that use of the solar heater is economically and technically feasible for use in poultry houses.

The research summary can be found on the USPOULTRY website. Information on other Association research may also be obtained by visiting the USPOULTRY website, www.uspoultry.org.