Res Vet Sci
December 2023
The aim of this study was to evaluate the biochemical, hormonal, and hematological blood responses of native sheep subjected to five temperatures (20°, 24°, 28°, 32°, and 36 °C), using 24 sheep of the following breeds: Santa Inês (SI), Morada Nova (MN), Soinga (SO) and no defined racial pattern (NDRP), kept in collective pens inside the climatic chamber. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a 5 × 4 factorial scheme (5 temperatures and 4 breeds) with 6 animals of each breed at each temperature. There was interaction for urea (P < .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first objective of this study was to develop a thermal stress index for sheep based on environmental and animal data collected in a climate chamber under various environmental conditions. The second objective was to compare published indices of thermal comfort and the proposed index, testing them with the data from this study, with the objective of pointing out the most adequate index to be used by breeders when choosing management procedures. A total of 3024 data were obtained for the physiological variables of the sheep exposed to the eight thermal conditions in the climatic chamber and in ambient condition, kept three days in each thermal condition.
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