Abstract

PASSINI, Roberta; ARAUJO, Maria Angélica Gonçalves de; ALMEIDA, Eduardo Alves de  and  YASUDA, Vinícius Melo. Evaluation of reflective painting of the roof and artificial ventilation on performance and carcass yield of broilers. R. Bras. Zootec. [online]. 2012, vol.41, n.7, pp. 1769-1774. ISSN 1806-9290.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-35982012000700029.

This study was developed with the objective of evaluating reflective paint on covering and artificial ventilation on performance of broilers (males and females). A randomized design with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was used, as follows: 2 external management systems (coverage with and without reflective paint), 2 internal management systems (with and without artificial ventilation) and 2 sexes (male and female), totalizing 8 treatments. A total of 480 1-day old chicks of the Cobb strain were distributed  randomly, according to sex, to treatments. Each treatment consisted of 4 pens - two pens for males and two for females - with 30 birds each. Six birds/pen were sampled. The studies were conducted at IFG-Urutaí Campus. For the performance evaluation, average weight, feed intake and mortality rate were measured weekly.  There are differences between the performance of males and females, with males having greater weight gain and increased feed intake compared with females. The use of environmental changes, such as reflective paint or artificial ventilation, fosters weight gain and feed intake by broilers. There is positive effect of combined use of reflective paint and artificial ventilation in the feed intake of birds.

Keywords : aviculture; poultry environment; thermal comfort.