CLOACAL AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES OF BROILERS SUBJECT TO THERMAL STRESS

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Abstract
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 (p0.05, Scott-Knott test) compared to the control treatment (30 °C). Acclimation of broilers to thermal stress occurred from the second day of stress.

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