Abstract
This study aimed to assess the effect of thermal-hydraulic variables in female buffaloes with or without direct solar exposure in a year of strong El Niño through behavior responses and infrared thermography to reinforce the environmental comfort indicators, in Marajó Island, Pará, Brazil. The experiment was carried out in Cachoeira do Arari municipality and 20 female Murrah buffaloes were randomly assigned to two groups: Group WS (n = 10) was kept in pickets with native trees. Group NS (n = 10) was kept in crush squeeze with no shade. Data on air temperature (AT, °C), relative air humidity (RH, %), wind velocity (WV, m/s), rectal temperature (RT), respiratory rate (RR), and body surface temperature (BST) were collected. Practical Buffalo Comfort Climatic Condition Index (BCCCI), practical Buffalo Environmental Comfort Index (BECI), Temperature and Humidity Index (THI) and Benezra's Thermal Comfort Index (BTCI) were obtained. Infrared thermography analysis was carried out with a FLIR T-series T640bx camera. Data on time spent grazing, ruminating, idleness, and in other activities were recorded. A significant difference in AT of ~1°C was found between the groups at 6 a.m., 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. THI indicated emergency conditions. Female buffaloes were at danger PBCCCI conditions at 2 p.m. There was also significant difference for RT between treatments at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., whose values were higher (P < 0.05) for animals from NS Group, with the highest mean time at 2 p.m. Pearson correlation was significant and positive (P < 0.01) between RT mean and VUL, TI and ORB mean, maximum and minimum temperatures. The total time given to grazing was 518.2 min for the group NS and 629.5 min for the group WS. Rumination was more pronounced in the afternoon shift for the group NS. Buffaloes kept in a system with trees graze, ruminate and perform other activities with more intensity than animals raised in systems without access to shade, and tend to hyperthermia, mainly at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., in Marajó Island, Pará, Brazil.
Highlights
The Marajó Archipelago, Pará, Brazil, is the largest marine fluvial complex in the world, with an area of 49,606 Km2 and 438,694 thousand inhabitants, and has the second largest buffalo population in Brazil, 377,150 thousand
Buffaloes are well adapted to hot, humid climates and muddy terrain, but show signs of discomfort when exposed to direct sunlight due to their specific structural characteristics such as dark skin, small number of sweat glands/skin area and thick layer of skin epidermis [2]
The study area is within the 50 km radius of the Institute of Meteorology (INMET) weather station (Figure 3)
Summary
The Marajó Archipelago, Pará, Brazil, is the largest marine fluvial complex in the world, with an area of 49,606 Km2 and 438,694 thousand inhabitants, and has the second largest buffalo population in Brazil, 377,150 thousand. Buffaloes are well adapted to hot, humid climates and muddy terrain, but show signs of discomfort when exposed to direct sunlight due to their specific structural characteristics such as dark skin, small number of sweat glands/skin area and thick layer of skin epidermis [2]. Regarding weather and climate conditions, in years considered as El Niño and/or La Niña, there are mechanisms that modulate atmospheric conditions and promote anomalous changes in the most diverse planet regions, including the thermal-hydro Amazon regime, affecting the monthly, quarterly, seasonal, and annual distribution of rainfall regime, and mean and extreme temperature conditions. Through the UKMOHadCM3 model it was possible to identify that El Niño events in the 21st century will increase by 20% over the last century, and La Niña tend to intensify their frequency by five times the values observed in the twentieth century [5, 6]
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