Infrared Thermography to Evaluate Heat Tolerance in Different Genetic Groups of Lambs

Sensors

Concepta McManus¹  Eliandra Bianchini¹  Tiago do Prado Paim²  Flavia Gontijode Lima⁴  José Braccini Neto³  Marlos Castanheira⁴  Geisa Isilda Ferreira Esteves¹  Caio Cesar Cardoso¹  Vanessa Calderaro Dalcin³ 

[1] Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, DF, Brasil; E-Mails:;Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Goiano–Campus Iporá, Iporá 76200-000, Brasil;Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 91540-000, Brasil; E-Mails:;Escola de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás Paulo 74690-900, Brasil; E-Mails:

关键词: adaptation;    naturalized breeds;    genetic resources;    temperature;    tropical;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150717258

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Heat stress is considered a limiting factor for sheep production. We used information from physiological characteristics linked to heat tolerance to determine whether infrared thermography temperatures were able to separate groups of animals and determine the most important variables in this differentiation. Forty-eight four-month-old male lambs from eight genetic groups were used. Physiological (rectal temperature–RT, heart rate–HR, respiratory rate–RR) and blood traits, infrared thermography temperatures, heat tolerance indices, body measurements, weight and carcass traits were measured. Statistical analyses included variance, correlations, factor, discrimination and regression. Observing the correlations between physiological characteristics (RT, RR and HR) with temperatures measured by infrared thermography, regions for further studies should include the mean temperature of flank, nose and rump. Results show that there are strong relationships between thermograph measurements and RR, RT and HR in lambs, which are suggested to be directly correlated with heat tolerance capacity of the different genetic groups evaluated in this study. The assessment of body surface temperature measured by the thermograph could be used as a noninvasive tool to assess heat tolerance of the animals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.