Microclimate of creep for piglets submitted to different systems of heating during the winter period

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a eficiência dos diferentes sistemas de aquecimento em abrigos escamoteadores para leitões. Foi desenvolvida na sala da maternidade, com 80 animais entre o nascimento e o desmame, adotando-se 4 diferentes sistemas de aquecimento: piso térmico, lâmpada incandescente, resistência elétrica e lâmpada infravermelha. As variáveis ambientais foram registradas no ambiente externo, sala da maternidade e no interior de cada abrigo escamoteador avaliado, ao longo de 18 dias. Para avaliação zootécnica foram registrados ganho de peso diário (GPD) e mortalidade. A análise técnico-econômica foi feita considerando-se o consumo de energia elétrica e o GPD dos animais. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com 4 tratamentos e 18 blocos. Os sistemas de aquecimento apresentaram diferenças significativas para temperatura de bulbo seco umidade relativa do ar (UR), e para os índices de conforto, carga térmica radiante e entalpia, sendo que os tratamentos que se mostraram mais adequados, do ponto de vista térmico e técnico-econômico, foram lâmpada incandescente e resistência elétrica.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