Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the thermal comfort of broilers reared under two lighting programs (almost continuous and intermittent) in broiler houses with yellow or blue lateral curtains. The experiment was carried out from June 24, 2004 until May 12, 2005. Six consecutive flocks were housed in four 12 × 10 m broilers houses internally divided into four pens of 200 birds each. Six flocks were raised on the same litter. The registration of data was accomplished at 3-hour intervals, for 24 hours twice a week. In the center of each pen and outside the house, dry and wet bulb temperatures, black globe temperature, and air velocity were collected. Based on the data collected at each time, air temperature (AT) (ºC), black globe humidity temperature index (BGHTI), radiant thermal load (RTL) (W/m²), and relative air humidity (RH) were determined. Harmonic analysis was used to estimate m, R, and f parameters. In general, the best results in terms of thermal comfort for the birds were found when near-continuous lighting program and yellow curtain were used.
Highlights
The “optimal climate”, which does not require any adjustment to provide thermal comfort for poultry reared indoors, does not exist in Brazil
The main effects of flock, week and curtain color were significant (P
The details of the interaction curtain × light show that there was no effect of curtain colon on air temperature, wet bulb globe temperature and radiant heat load when the nearly continuous lighting program was used (Table 2)
Summary
The “optimal climate”, which does not require any adjustment to provide thermal comfort for poultry reared indoors, does not exist in Brazil. In every Brazilian region, the climate factor needs to be corrected to provide favorable environmental conditions to birds. Cold, and daily temperature variation (thermal range) are the weather factors that most affect poultry behavior, performance, and disease resistance. When internal poultry house conditions are adequate, birds respond with high weight gain and feed intake, low feed conversion ratio and low mortality. One solution is to prevent the loss of heat generated inside the poultry house to the outside, saving heating costs. The use of side curtains to control ventilation and a drop ceiling (both made of waterproof material) are sufficient to reduce internal heat losses
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