Environmental temperatures currently considered within comfort zone for broiler rearing may be misleading or even obsolete from actual values. Some factors such as animal genetics, nutrition and poultry management, mainly acclimatization to tropical and subtropical conditions, influence in determining the comfort zone for birds. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of five different thermal environments on animal welfare and rearing performance of broiler chickens, setting an ideal temperature range (comfort zone) for each of the first three weeks of poultry breeding. The chicks (375) were randomly placed into five climatic chambers set to distinct thermal conditions, being: one as recommended by the literature, another as stated by CASSUCE and the other three at different levels of apparent cold stress (mild, moderate and severe). The findings showed that best poultry performance and ideal comfort indices (based on Black Globe Humidity and Temperature Index) were achieved within a temperature range between mild cold and CASSUCE comfort temperature, rather than those previously reported in the literature.
One measure of the thermal status of poultry is cloacal temperature measured with a cloacal thermometer; however, this method requires handling the bird, is invasive, and can be stressful. Infrared thermography is an alternative means for assessing bird thermal status. The objective of this study was to investigate the body temperature response of pullets subjected to different environmental air temperatures during the growing phase and to evaluate the relationship between the cloacal temperature and the body parts surface temperature. A total of 648 chicks (Lohmann LSL Lite) were used in 2 different phases, phase I (day 1 through 6 wk of age) and phase II (week 7 through 17). During phase I, chicks were reared at 1 of 3 different thermal environments: thermal comfort (35°C–19°C), mild heat stress (38°C–22°C), or mild cold stress (28°C–17°C). In phase II, pullets were randomly redistributed to 1 of 4 daytime temperature treatments: 20°C; 25°C; 30°C; and 35°C, all with night time temperature of 20°C. Cloacal temperature and body surface temperature for 8 parts (head, eye, comb, chest, back, wing, leg, head area, and body area) were obtained weekly from 4 to 2 birds per treatment, respectively, during phase II. There were no effects for the interactions between the 2 experimental phases for cloacal and body parts surface temperature. There was a strong correlation ( P < 0.001) between cloacal temperature and each body part temperature; cloacal temperature followed a quadratic response to environmental air temperature treatments. Pullets subjected to 35°C/20°C and 30°C/20°C had the highest body parts temperatures compared with the other 2 treatments ( P < 0.05). The leg surface temperature was greatest in all treatments, and the chest the lowest. Regression between cloacal and body parts temperature had a 95% predictive accuracy of better than 0.4°C, suggesting a useful alternative to direct cloacal temperature measurement.
Appropriate ventilation of poultry facilities is critical for achieving optimum performance. Ventilation promotes good air exchange to remove harmful gases, excessive heat, moisture, and particulate matter. In a turkey brooder barn, carbon dioxide (CO2) may be present at higher levels during the winter due to reduced ventilation rates to maintain high temperatures. This higher CO2 may negatively affect turkey poult performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of subjecting tom turkey poults (commercial Large White Hybrid Converters) to different constant levels of atmospheric CO2 on their growth performance and behavior. In three consecutive replicate trials, a total of 552 poults were weighed post-hatch and randomly placed in 3 environmental control chambers, with 60 (Trial 1) and 62 (Trials 2 and 3) poults housed per chamber. They were reared with standard temperature and humidity levels for 3 wks. The poults were exposed to 3 different fixed CO2 concentrations of 2,000, 4,000, and 6,000 ppm throughout each trial. Following each trial (replicate), the CO2 treatments were switched and assigned to a different chamber in order to expose each treatment to each chamber. At the end of each trial, all poults were sent to a local turkey producer to finish growout. For each trial, individual body weight and group feed intake were measured, and mortality and behavioral movement were recorded. Wk 3 and cumulative body weight gain of poults housed at 2,000 ppm CO2 was greater (P < 0.05) than those exposed to 4,000 and 6,000 ppm CO2. Feed intake and feed conversion were unaffected by the different CO2 concentrations. No significant difference in poult mortality was found between treatments. In addition, no effect of CO2 treatments was evident in the incidence of spontaneous turkey cardiomyopathy for turkeys processed at 19 wk of age. Poults housed at the lower CO2 level (2,000 ppm) demonstrated reduced movement compared with those exposed to the 2 higher CO2 concentrations.
The environmental monitoring in animal facilities that includes collected data storage in a robust, practical and feasible way is a constant challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a reliable data logger for monitoring the air temperature and air relative humidity of aviaries and to assess the adequacy of the design using commercially available reference standard instruments. The experimental data logger was installed together with a commercial data logger, a mercury thermometer and a calibrated Vaisala HMP110 air relative humidity probe in a meteorological shelter. Linear regression analysis was performed with the collected air temperature and air relative humidity to develop calibration equations. The Nash-Sutcliffe Index and the relative error were calculated to validate the experimental data logger. The air temperature and the air relative humidity calibration equations presented Nash-Sutcliffe of 0.993 and -0.281 for the commercial data logger, and 0.913 and 0.932 for the experimental data. The mean relative error of the air temperature readings was 3 and 1% and for air relative humidity 5 and 20%, for the experimental and commercial logger, respectively. The experimental data logger reliably stored all collected data without error to the micro-SD card. The experimental data logger can be considered low-cost and sufficiently accurate for monitoring air temperature and air relative humidity in aviaries, presenting field performance very close to the commercial data logger for air temperature measurement, and better performance than the commercial data logger for the measurement of air relative humidity.
El objetivo de este trabajo fue estudiar la influencia de diferentes niveles de estrés térmico del ambiente, incluyendo niveles de confort (25 °C), estrés por calor (28 °C), calor moderado (31 °C), calor alto (34 °C) y calor severo (37 °C), en el desempeño de pollos de engorde en el la última fase de crecimiento (22-42 días), alojados en cámaras climáticas. Se determinaron los parámetros fisiológicos y de comportamiento de los pollos (ganancia de peso (WG), ganancia de peso diaria (DWG), consumo de alimento (FI), índice de conversión alimenticia (FC), mortalidad (MORT), porcentaje de carcasa con relación a la edad y peso corporal (BW), carcasa (CAR), pecho (Bre), muslos (Drum), alas (Win)), de acuerdo a los rangos específicos de temperatura; y se calculó el Índice de Temperatura de Globo Negro y Humedad (ITGH), para el control y evaluación térmica de los tratamientos. En general, las aves mantenidas en temperatura entre 25-28 °C, durante las tres últimas semanas de vida, se comportaron mejor que las expuestas a otras situaciones, e indicando que esta podría ser la temperatura ambiente deseada para las aves en su fase final, en comparación con los otros tratamientos, incluidos los que se mantuvieron a la temperatura recomendada como confort térmico durante todo el período experimental.
The objective of this review was to address the stress effects on meat quality considering the main attributes that involve meat quality. Animal protein production has been increasing with global demand for meat with meat quality a major concern, especially for more demanding consumers who are looking for quality products to meet their needs. The quality of the meat is the result of what happened to the animal throughout the production chain, that is, good rearing conditions result in a better meat quality. Different types of stress can be harmful to animals due to inadequate or improper animal handling on farms, inadequate transport conditions, poorly maintained trucks and roads, and conditions that agitate animals can lead to bruising, thermal stress. The stress in animals occurs when they are in adverse conditions and can significantly compromise meat quality loss. As an example, stress can significantly affect meat quality parameters as drip loss (DL), meat color, change ultimate pH and cause meat anomalies. Among the main parameters of evaluation used for meat quality are color, characterized by luminosity (L*, a*, b*), lipid and protein oxidation, pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and softness. Producing and processing high-quality meat is a challenge since it is necessary to apply methods that promote comfort in a complete sense, in a way that minimizes inducing significant stress. Based on the results presented it is remarkable that stress alters the meat quality, compromising the main attributes that involve it, like color, pH, WHC, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), lipid oxidation, among others andis necessary to avoid or reduce stress caused during the production of the animals to ensure a high-quality meat, resulting in greater profitability for the producer.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.