Thermal stress index for native sheep.

The 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. A principal component analysis summarized the measurements of physiological variables into only one variable (y1). Using SigmaPlot software, multiple regression of y1 with the environmental variables and their combinations produced a number of indices. The equation chosen was the heat stress index for sheep, TSI = 24.153 - (0.0523*A) + (0.746*B) + (4.104*Vp), with R = 0.668. The correlations presented high values, where these correlation values were assumed to indicate the efficiency of each index as indicators of the animals' response to the environment. Thus, it was assumed that the TSI presents a high efficiency.