Environmental temperature and serum cortisol levels In growing-finishing pigs

Authors

  • Antonio César Alves Fagundes Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Departamento de Nutrição e Produção Animal, Pirassununga, SP
  • João Alberto Negrão Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Departamento de Ciências Básicas, Pirassununga, SP
  • Roberto Gomes da Silva Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Departamento de Zootecnia, Jaboticabal, SP
  • Jacinta Diva Ferrugem Gomes Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Departamento de Ciências Básicas, Pirassununga, SP
  • Luiz Waldemar de Oliveira Souza University of Minnesota, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, Animal Sciences Department, Saint Paul, USA
  • Romualdo Shigueo Fukushima Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Departamento de Nutrição e Produção Animal, Pirassununga, SP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/S1413-95962008000700019

Keywords:

Swine, Cortisol concentration, Heat stress

Abstract

Thirty-six castrated males and females Landrace x Large-White pigs (74 to 149 days of age) were randomly allotted to two environmental conditions: high temperature in a climatic chamber (HT; 22.2 to 32.8 ºC) and comfort temperature in a conventional shed (CT; 17.6 to 26.6 ºC), with night-and-day variations. Blood samples were weekly collected from animals of both HT and CT conditions for determination of serum cortisol levels. Cortisol levels of both sexes were not different, and there was no interaction with environmental temperature. Pigs of HT showed significantly higher average cortisol level (P<0.01) than the CT ones (7.06 and 4.82 mg/dL, respectively). Increasing in serum cortisol was continuous and linear (P<0.05) during the experimental period, suggesting the cortisol as a possible indicator of the heat stress in growing-finishing pigs.

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Published

2008-12-01

How to Cite

Fagundes, A. C. A., Negrão, J. A., Silva, R. G. da, Gomes, J. D. F., Souza, L. W. de O., & Fukushima, R. S. (2008). Environmental temperature and serum cortisol levels In growing-finishing pigs. Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Research and Animal Science, 45(supl.), 136-140. https://doi.org/10.11606/S1413-95962008000700019

Issue

Vol. 45 (2008): Suplemento

Section

UNDEFINIED

License

The journal content is authorized under the Creative Commons  BY-NC-SA  license (summary of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 | full text of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode) 

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