EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS FOR POULTRY PRODUCTION

In agribusiness, the poultry production stood out in recent decades by a trend of technological advances that have transformed the venture into a genuine economic activity. The knowledge of the thermal environment of the facilities allow the evaluation of response to changing weather ahead and offer technical alternatives to ensure adequate performance based on locality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the indoor breeding of broiler chickens under the standpoint of constructive and thermal systems and their correlation. Poultry houses in the city of Videira, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, during the winter were evaluated. We evaluated the internal heat of the birds, between 07:00 a.m. and 19:00 p.m. and estimated through the psychometrics properties of the air, the internal temperatures of the air associated with a relative humidity of 80% in order to determine how much these temperatures can be reduced by humidifying the environment and subsequently analyzing the relative efficiency of these sheds. In winter conditions, the poultry houses were considered optimal and relative efficiency was isolated based on the low external temperatures. However, the internal thermal conditions were uncomfortable for the birds during the hot days. Moreover, the external temperatures were relatively close to the comfort zone for most of the time. In these times, the systems could be turned off and the curtains opened, providing better thermal conditions and lower power consumption.