Janice Maria Coelho Barnabé

Temperatura superficial de materiais utilizados para cobertura individual de bezerreiros

The aim of this study was to evaluate surface temperature of covering materials used in individual hutches for calves during lactating period, through thermal images. The experiment was carried out from January to March of 2012, lasting for 56 days, on 24 individual housings for Girolando calves. The treatments were composed of three types of covering materials: palm straw, recycled polymer tile and asbestos cement tile. A completely randomized design was adopted, and in order to compare means the Tukey test (p < 0.05) was used. The results showed that there was a significant difference among the studied treatments, in which the recycled tiles presented lower mean temperature values on the superior surface throughout the experimental period, being the maximum value around 36.9 oC and the minimum 14.4 oC. Straw-covered and recycled-tile-covered hutches presented a better thermal performance when compared to asbestos-cement-covered ones, probably a better thermal comfort condition for housed animals.

The effect of RGB monochromatic and polychromatic LED lighting on growth performance, behavior, and development of broilers

Growth performance, behavior, and development of broilers reared under red, green, and blue monochromatic and/or multicolor LED-based illuminants is investigated. The lighting treatments were performed on a 24h lighting basis during six weeks. Monochromatic red(630 nm), green(520 nm), and blue(460 nm), and simultaneous blue-green, and whitelight housing illumination was employed. Bodyweight, food consumption, and behavior were monitored and compared amongst light treatments. The behavioral data showed that broilers reared under green lighting presented the lowest respiratory rate (87 mov. min-1) while those under red lighting presented the highest (96 mov. min-1). Results also showed that broilers under blue and/or green monochromatic illumination exhibited up to 6%, and 8.9 % increase in final bodyweight when compared to those under red or white-light, respectively. The highest feed intake, and lowest body weight gain was observed in broilers reared under blue and red illumination, respectively.