The effects of temperature on broilers: A simulation model of the responses to temperature

Lighting, ventilation and temperature

“…It is suggested that 1Á5 m 3 /s  10 À4 per kgW 0Á75 be taken as an appropriate minimum ventilation requirement (the same value as used for laying hens), unless ammonia exceeds 20 to 25 ppm, in which case higher rates of air change should be used.' ' Wathes et al (1981) concluded the most appropriate temperature after brooding, in the economic environment of 1981, was 21-22 C, and the authors of the current paper concluded that ''Use of this relatively low rate [1Á5 m 3 /s  10 À4 per kgW 0Á75 ] will permit application of the optimum temperatures found by Wathes et al (1981) at low heating costs.'' Doubling the ventilation rate from 1Á5 to 3 m 3 /s  10 À4 per kgW 0Á75 was estimated to multiply the heating costs of a broiler house by 3Á25, which emphasised the economic need not to unnecessarily over-ventilate broiler houses.…”

“…Although, many papers in BPS have described various interactions of nutrition and genotype with the environment, those that have described direct responses have had major impacts on environmental control policies for both egg-type and meat-type production. This paper, which highlighted the importance of ventilation in the control of temperature in broiler houses, was one of a series of three that investigated the responses of broilers to temperature; the others were Charles et al (1981) and Wathes et al (1981). In the introduction to the paper the authors stated that ''in temperate climates modulation of the ventilation rate was the primary method of temperature control for broiler houses.…”