Turkey Wattle Temperature Response to Distinct Environmental Factors

Abstract

KeywordsWind speed, thermal comfort, relative humidity, environmental exposure. ABStRACtRearing environmental conditions are important for turkey production, because this bird is particularly sensitive to heat stress. This study aimed at measuring the wattle temperature response of turkeys of three different ages (61, 96, and 131 days old) exposed to different combinations of dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed ranges, as an indication of their physiological responses. The experiment was conducted with 42 male birds housed in a controlled environment chamber and exposed to different combinations of two air speed (WS) ranges (WS 1 = 0.3-0.6 ms -1 , considered low, and WS 2 = 1.2-1.6 ms -1 , considered high), dry bulb temperature (DBT) between 22 and 34 °C, and relative humidity (RH) between 40 to 90 %. The statistical analysis showed that WS, DBT, and RH significantly influenced wattle temperature of 61-d-old turkeys, while only WS and DBT influenced this response when turkeys were 96 days old. Furthermore, DBT was highly correlated with both low and high WS. In 131-day-old turkeys, WT response was virtually the same at both wind speed ranges when high DBT was applied. Turkey wattle temperature was influenced by wind speed, and was dependent on both environmental dry bulb temperature and relative humidity, as well as bird age.

Changes in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) blood gases and electrolytes in response to multigenerational heat stress

“…Tropical areas such as Bangladesh and Egypt have several successful quail farms, indicating that quail can adapt to hot and humid weather [6,7]. The thermoneutral zone of Japanese quail is 18 to 30˚C with optimal temperatures between 21 to 27˚C, whereas upper critical temperatures of chicken, turkeys, and ducks are 23.86 to 25.46˚C, 27˚C, and 25.5 to 27.4˚C, respectively [8][9][10][11][12]. Japanese quail also have short generation intervals and can reach sexual maturity at 5 to 6 weeks of age allowing for many generations to be studied in a shorter period of time relative to other poultry species.…”

Evaluation of Welfare in Commercial Turkey Flocks of Both Sexes Using the Transect Walk Method

“…The transect walk can be used at different ages in turkeys, provides relevant information on animal welfare during the rearing period, and allows farmers to make changes and improve welfare for current flocks [ 11 ]. The health and welfare of commercially farmed turkeys supposed to be attributed to the high growth potential of the commonly used commercial hybrids [ 12 , 13 ], and also depend on environmental factors such as air quality [ 14 , 15 ], ambient temperature [ 16 , 17 ], light intensity and duration of day length [ 18 , 19 ], and stocking density [ 2 , 20 ]. All these factors, if not within the recommended limits, can cause significant physical distress to the animals [ 16 , 17 ] and consequently have a negative impact on animal performance [ 2 , 20 ], and post-slaughter product quality [ 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”