Cloacal and surface temperatures of broilers subject to thermal stress

• Main Author: Abreu, Lucas H. P.
• Publication Date: 2017
• Other Authors: Yanagi Junior, Tadayuki, Campos, Alessandro T., Bahuti, Marcelo, Fassani, Édison J.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Institucional da UFLA
• Download full: http://repositorio.ufla.br/jspui/handle/1/29873
• topic: Animal environment; Aviculture; Thermal comfort; Thermographic image; Physiologic parameters

The cloacal and surface temperatures are important physiological parameters to quantify the thermal comfort of animals, its variations may occur as a function of thermal variables. In this context, the goal of the present study was to evaluate the cloacal (tclo) and surface (tsur) temperatures of Cobb 500® broilers, in the second week of life, subjected to different air dry-bulb temperature (24, 27, 30 and 33 °C) and stress durations (1, 2, 3 and 4 days). The experiment was carried out in four climate-controlled wind tunnels. Air relative humidity and air velocity were set at 60% and 0.2 m s-1, respectively. The tclo and tsur were measured daily through digital thermometer and thermographic camera, respectively. Analysis of variance and Scott Knott mean test at 5% probability were applied to the data. The results indicate that the stress by low air temperature (24 and 27 °C) resulted decreased of tclo and tsur (p<0.05, Scott-Knott test). When subjected to high air temperature stress (33 °C), there was no significant difference (p>0.05, Scott-Knott test) compared to the control treatment (30 °C). Acclimation of broilers to thermal stress occurred from the second day of stress.