The objective of this work was to evaluate a system of minimal or hygienic ventilation and its influence on thermal comfort, air quality and broiler zootechnical performance of poultries raised during the winter. Two similar sheds were used, with 9,500 Cobb broiler chickens per shed, during a complete productive cycle. In one of the sheds, a positive ventilation system that met minimal need of air renovation, composed by three fans with flow of 300 m³/min, was installed on the ceiling parallel to the floor. The other shed was considered control and did not have a ventilation system. For the first two weeks of age of the broilers, temperature and air relative humidity differed, and the system with minimal ventilation showed the worst comfort conditions. Broilers kept in no ventilation system showed the best results for slaughter weight (with ventilation - 1.549; with no ventilation - 1.577 kg), food conversion (with ventilation - 1.63 kg/kg and with no ventilation - 1.59 kg/kg) and productive efficiency (with ventilation - 285 and without ventilation - 297). There were some differences for concentration of contaminant gases, which were lower in the system with minimal ventilation. The system with minimum ventilation, the way it was designed in the experiment, significantly decreases the temperature inside the poultry shed, compromising the thermal comfort and damaging animal performance. Although the system with minimum ventilation results in lower gas concentrations, none of systems promotes average concentration of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide harmful to birds.
air quality; broiler chicken production; thermal environmental
