Estimation of heat exchanges in Boer crossbred goats maintained in a climate chamber

Productive, physiological and behavioral sheep profiles housed on facilities with different roofs in the Amazon region

“…The air temperature was higher on the PC roof. In both environments, it was above the thermal comfort zone for sheep (Eustáquio Filho et al 2011;Marques et al 2021), which can provide thermal discomfort and affect the productive performance of animals (Kawabata et al, 2013). High values of room temperature (34 °C) were reported by Borges et al (2018) in work carried out with Santa Inês sheep confined in northern Maranhão.…”

“…It was higher in the shed with FC tiles, a fact that may be associated with lower air temperature and, from a thermal point of view, this inversion is beneficial to the animals, favoring the processes of latent heat transfer, contributing to the maintenance of thermoregulatory mechanisms of homeothermic animals, especially under high-temperature conditions (Furtado et al 2018). However, the average relative humidity in the sheds was high, above the ideal for sheep (Eustáquio Filho et al 2011;Marques et al 2021), which can compromise their vital functions since the high relative humidity associated with high temperatures make it difficult to lose heat in the sensitive form, as the atmospheric air becomes saturated with water vapor, forcing the animal to resort to latent heat loss mechanisms, with energy expenditure and increased physiological variables (Leite et al 2019).…”

“…Temperatures from 10 to 26 °C can provide thermal comfort to small ruminants, with a relative humidity of 65±5% (Eustáquio Filho et al 2011;Marques et al 2021), and animals exposed to hot environments make physiological adjustments to maintain homeotherms, such as increased rectal temperature, surface temperature, and respiratory rate and cardiac (Seixas et al 2017; Leite et al 2019), reduce food consumption and increase water intake (Torres et al 2017;Leite et al 2019;Furtado et al 2021), with a reduction in heat exchange in the sensitive form and an increase in latent heat exchange (Marques et al 2021).…”

Estimation of Rectal Temperature of Goats Based on Surface Temperature

“…Body core temperature is a good measure of heat tolerance in homeothermal animals, and its variation represents the result of all the processes of gaining and losing body heat (Marques et al, 2021). Goats are known among ruminants, for their ability to tolerate high air temperatures, due to their ability to reduce metabolic activities, preventing body temperature from increasing during heat stress, reducing the risk of death for the animals, but causing falling productivity (Marques et al, 2021).…”

“…Body core temperature is a good measure of heat tolerance in homeothermal animals, and its variation represents the result of all the processes of gaining and losing body heat (Marques et al, 2021). Goats are known among ruminants, for their ability to tolerate high air temperatures, due to their ability to reduce metabolic activities, preventing body temperature from increasing during heat stress, reducing the risk of death for the animals, but causing falling productivity (Marques et al, 2021). When observing the behavior of the RT values of the animals evaluated in the present research, it can be noted that despite the significant increase of the same, due to the increase in air temperature, its values remained within the range considered normal for the species, which according to Souza et al (2008), is located between the temperatures of 38.6 and 39.9 °C, showing the rusticity of these animals in the face of adversities, environmental caused by high air temperatures.…”