ABSTRACT

The profitability of a rabbit farming system must consider the rabbit’s breed, nutrition, management, sanitation and mainly the thermal environment that the animal will be exposed during the productive period. The aim of this study was to compare the internal thermal environment of two rabbit houses, one with ridge vent and the other without ridge vent. Geostatistical technique was used to evaluate the spatial variability of enthalpy. Data were collected at 48 points in each house during eight days at the end of summer season 2016. Measurements of dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were made for 1 min at three times a day at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. In addition, the enthalpy was calculated and a data analysis was performed using geostatistical tools and isocolor maps through interpolation by kriging. Based on results from geostatistics, it was possible to characterize the variability magnitude and structure of this variable inside the rabbits’ houses with and without ridge vent. The heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of enthalpy in several regions of two houses was also observed through generated isocolor maps. The ridge vent assisted in obtaining a more favorable internal environment for rabbit breeding because this house showed more comfortable conditions of enthalpy values, besides lower heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of enthalpy.

Key words:
ambience; welfare; rabbit breeding; geostatistics; mapping