Termografia infravermelha da superfície ocular como indicador de estresse em suínos na fase de creche

• Autor(a) principal: Pulido-Rodriguez, Lina
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Titto, Evaldo, Henrique, Fábio, Longo, Ana, Hooper, Henrique, Pereira, Thuanny, Pereira, Alfredo, Titto, Cristiane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/22626
• topic: infrared thermography; stress indicator; piglets; welfare

Weaning is a critical phase in pigs’ life due to maternal separation and the introduction of a new diet. Infrared thermography measurement taken in the ocular region appears to be a reliable indicator of the stress condition of the pig. The aim of this study was to eva- luate the relationship between ocular surface temperature by infrared thermography and cortisol in piglets post weaning. Sixty-six piglets were evaluated once a week, during 7 weeks, in two periods of the day (7am and 15pm) and ocular surface temperature and dor- sal surface temperature were collected using a thermographic camera and a laser surface thermometer, respectively. Saliva was also collected to determine salivary cortisol. Statisti- cal analysis included fixed effects of week and period of the day and their interaction, and relationship between thermography, dorsal surface temperature and cortisol were done by Pearson’s correlations with 5% significance level. Salivary cortisol did not differ betwe- en periods, but it was higher in the first three weeks after weaning (P<0.05). During the first two weeks after weaning cortisol presented high and positive correlation (P<0.05) between ocular surface temperature (0.89) and dorsal surface temperature (0.80). The two superficial temperatures had a moderate and positive association (r=0.41; P<0.0001) during all experiment. This study highlights that the ocular surface temperature obtained through infrared thermography can be a superficial body temperature indicators, besides being a non-invasive and fast method of measurement. However, more research is needed to deepen the relationship between ocular surface temperature and cortisol during chronic stress