The general objective of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of different systems of heating in creep for piglets. The experiment was conducted in a commercial swine production farm, located in Elias Fausto city, in the State of São Paulo. The research was developed in the farrowing house, with 80 animals between the birth and weanning, adopting 4 different heating systems: heat mat, standard heating lamp, electrical resistance and infrared lamp. The ambient variables were observed inside and outside the farrowing house and inside each studied creep, during 18 days. For animal production evaluation of daily weight gain and mortality were registered too. The techno-economic analysis was made considering the consumption of electric energy and the weight gained by animals. The statistical design of the experiment was a randomized block design with 4 treatments and 18 blocks. The heating systems presented significant differences for dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and thermal comfort indexes, radiant thermal load and enthalpy. The treatments standard incandescent bulb and electrical resistance were found to be more adequate from techno-economical point of view.
thermal comfort; animal production; swine production
