Thermoneutral zone for laying hens based on environmental conditions, enthalpy and thermal comfort indexes.

Controlling environmental conditions inside laying hens facilities systems and their effects on physiology and performance is essential in defining management strategies to alleviate the adverse effects of thermal stress in laying hens. Thus, we estimated thermoneutral zones for laying hens exposed to different heat-challenging conditions based on environmental conditions, enthalpy, and thermal comfort indexes being evaluated out in four thermal environment-controlled wind tunnels equipped with heating and air moistening function, housed in an experimental room with an area of 31.92 m.

Heat negatively affects lactating swine: A meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was carried out to evaluate the effect of heat on the performance of lactating sows and their litters. The database containing information on the effects heat stress has on the productive and reproductive performance of lactating sows was composed by 20 articles published in international journals from 2000 to 2016, totalizing 2222 lactating sows. The duration of lactation was corrected to 21d.