Geostatistics applied to swine facilities equipped with evaporative cooling system

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial variation of temperature, relative humidity and black globe humidity temperature (BGHT) index in growing-finishing swine facilities, with and without evaporative air cooler. The experiment was conducted in a 60 x 9 m facility containing 32 pens of 3.20 x 4.00 m each, divided into two sectors. The treatments were without evaporative air cooler (control) and with evaporative air cooler. Temperature and relative humidity data were collected weekly in two periods (morning and afternoon) at 32 different sampling points, encompassing the center of each pen and the outer perimeter of the facility. Animal performance variables were: feed intake, feed conversion, weight out of the nursery, slaughter weight, weight gain and daily weight gain. According to the results, the analyzed variables showed spatial dependence, with lower temperature and higher relative humidity in the evaporative air cooler environment. However, evaporative air cooler system provided better environment thermal conditions inside the facilities, lowering BGHT values, which were lower in the adiabatic cooling sector. Although thermal conditions were better in the air cooler environment, swine performance was not affected