Conforto térmico de ovinos confinados em diferentes tipos de cobertura.

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to compare the indeces of thermic and physiological comfort in the Santa Ines sheep, which were kept in two folds. One was covered with clay roof tiles and the other with fibre cement roof tiles, and situated in the village of Sao Joao do Cariri, a semi-arid region in the state of Paraiba. For the experiment 20 pure-bred animals were utilized, all of them castrated and distributed in individual bays furnished with troughs for feeding and drinking. The experiment was done during the months of August, Setember and October 2003. The environmental indeces analized were the maximum temperature, the minimum temperature, the environmental temperature of the dark globe, the relative air humidity, the wind speed, the dark globe temperature index and both humidity and thermic charge of radiation. The physiological indeces were as follows: rectum temperature, breathing frequency and superficial temperature. It was observed that the folds covered with clay roof tiles and fibre cement tiles did not present any significant difference in the thermic comfort indeces either in the morning or in the afternoon. By comparing both periods, a rise in the thermic comfort indeces was observed in the afternoon. Even with such rise, the Santa Ines sheep were able to keep the superficial temperature and the rectum temperature within normal limits, and the animals kept in the fold covered with fibre cement roof tiles presented a higher breathing frequency, in the afternoon, than the animals kept in a fold covered with clay roof tiles. The animals of this race presented quite acceptable adaptation the environmental conditions and good feeding capacity, demonstrating, to be an adapted race the production, of the commercial point of view, for the cariri paraibano.