Effect of roof painting of aviaries on thermal comfort, productive performance and physiological variables of broilers chickens

SUMMARY The objective this study was to evaluate the thermal comfort, performance and the physiological variables of 21-42 day of age broiler chickens housed in aviaries with painted and not painted fiber cement roof. A completely randomized design was used in a split-plot design where the plots were composed of the sheds (painted and not painted roof) and the subplots were the evaluation hours (6h00, 9h00, 12h00, 15h00 and 18h00) for a 22-day data collection, considered as the replicates. It was observed that the external painting in white of the roof provided improvements inside the shed for airtemperature (Ta), roof temperature (Tr) and the thermal load of radiation (TLR). The relative humidity (RH) and the Globe-Temperature-Humidity-Index (GTHI) varied only according to the collection times. The exterior painting of the roof had no effect on the physiological variables of the broilers. Productivity performance indexes and financial compensation per lot were better for the roof painted shed. As a result, fiber cement roof painted in white is recommended in aviaries located in hot climates, such as the region in this study