HEAT STRESS IN POULTRY INDUSTRY

Abstract

Th e results of our 15-year long research on the eff ects of global warming in our region that relies on the database obtained from the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Serbia strongly suggested changes in the pattern of disease events associated with inevitable occurrence of heat stress in poultry regardless of the species and category. Having in mind the accelerating global warming and geographic position of Serbia the occurrence of frequent cyclical and intense meteorological extremes is expected (Kapetanov et al., 2011; Kapetanov et al., 2013; Kapetanov et al., 2013). In our country and surrounding regions characterized by continental climate, the risk from the heat stress in poultry production is limited to summer months. Still, summer period has been getting longer and is associated with increasing trend of tropical days and annual trend of global warming spreading of 0.2o geographic latitude. Heat stress of poultry is one of the most challenging problems of poultry production causing substantial damages and aff ecting all parameters of production performance and is oft en associated with sudden and massive deaths. Having in mind the aforementioned data, the objective of our research was monitoring of changes in mortality structure associated with temperature oscillations during production process with an aim of emphasizing some major sources, consequences and preventive measures related to heat stress.

Keywords

• heat stress
• poultry
• prevention