Evaluation of the effect of the indoor environment on the physiological responses of early-gestation sows in a commercial house in China

文献类型： 外文期刊

第一作者： Li, Yangyang

作者： Li, Yangyang;Shang, Bin;Li, Tong;Tao, Xiuping;Zhao, Yang;Peng, Feng;Zou, Xiaojun;Zhang, Sixin

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关键词： physiology; sow; temperature humidity index; threshold; index

期刊名称：FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE （ 影响因子：3.2； 五年影响因子：3.5 ）

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年卷期： 2023 年 10 卷

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收录情况： SCI

摘要： Objective: The environment influences the sow's health and physiology during gestation. This study was conducted to evaluate indoor environmental parameters and physiological responses of early-gestation sows and investigate the possible methods for assessing the thermal environment in commercial houses. Methods: A total of 20 early-gestation sows (commercial purebred Yorkshire) with an average body weight of 193.20 +/- 3.62 kg were used for this study in winter, spring, summer, and autumn. The indoor environment parameters comprising dry-bulb temperature (T-db), relative humidity (RH), and carbon dioxide (CO2) were recorded in 30-min intervals. Physiological parameters including heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR) of sows were also measured every 30 min. Wet-bulb temperature (T-wb) was calculated using T-db, RH and atmospheric pressure was recorded at a nearby weather station. Results: The average indoor T-db and RH were 12.98 +/- 2.03 degrees C and 80.4 +/- 6.4% in winter, 18.98 +/- 2.68 degrees C and 74.4 +/- 9.0% in spring, 27.49 +/- 2.05 degrees C and 90.6 +/- 6.4% in summer, and 17.10 +/- 2.72 degrees C and 64.5 +/- 10.9% in autumn. A higher average concentration of CO2 was observed in winter (1,493 +/- 578 mg/m(3)) than in spring (1,299 +/- 489 mg/m(3)), autumn (1,269 +/- 229 mg/m(3)), and summer (702 +/- 128 mg/m(3)). Compared with the HR and RR in the optimum environment, high RH in the house led to a significant decrease in both HR and RR (P < 0.05). In addition, a significant decline in HR was also obtained at high temperatures (P < 0.05). A temperature humidity index (THI), THI = 0.82 x T-db + 0.18 x T-wb, was determined for early-gestation sows, and the THI thresholds were 25.6 for HR. The variation in THI in summer showed that heat stress still occurred under the pad-fan cooling system. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the critical significance of considering physiological responses of early-gestation sows in commercial houses and THI thresholds. We recommend that much more cooling measures should be taken for early-gestation sows in summer.

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