Behavior of pigs subjected to climate control system in the Semiarid Region of Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

The objective was to thermally characterize the facilities during the growth and finishing phases of pigs and to evaluate the influence of climate control systems on the expression of the behaviors of pigs. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Serra Talhada, PE, Brazil, during the spring of 2019. Twenty-seven pigs aged 63 days were used. The animals were submitted to pens without climate control system, with forced ventilation, and with an evaporative adiabatic cooling system. Dry bulb temperature (°C), relative air humidity (%), black globe temperature (°C), and swine behavioral responses were recorded, submitted to multivariate analysis, using the principal component technique. Pens with the evaporative adiabatic cooling system showed a significant reduction in air temperature and an increase in relative air humidity, during the two phases. Pigs submitted to evaporative cooling showed greater ingestive activity and lethargic behavior, typical of the studied phases

Keywords

• animal ambience
• thermal comfort
• ethology
• pig farming