ASSESSMENT OF POULTRY DEEP BODY TEMPERATURE RESPONSES TO AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY USING AN ON-LINE TELEMETRY SYSTEM

摘要

This article evaluates the effectiveness of using a telemetric deep body temperature (DBT) measurement system in determining the effects of stressful combinations of ambient temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH) conditions on poultry. Three levels of ambient temperature (31, 34, and 37°C) and two levels of relative humidity (50 and 80%) were considered. Treatments were applied using a Latin square design and repeated measures of deep body temperature were made during 5 h exposures. Results showed that the measured responses were consistent among all birds, significantly different for the different environmental conditions, and a change in response from one set of conditions to the other was clearly attributed to the change in AT and RH conditions and not to fluctuations in the measurement system or in between bird variation. This ability to detect DBT responses to different environmental conditions in real time could be used as the stepping stone for developing more optimal closed loop environmental controllers which use DBT responses as a feedback variable.