R. Bras. Zootec.01/Dec/2003;32(6 Sup..2):1956-61.
Cutaneous and respiratory evaporation rates of sheep in hot environments
DOI: 10.1590/S1516-35982003000800020
Ten adult Corriedale sheep were evaluated for respiratory (ER) and cutaneous (EC) evaporation rates. The animals were observed about 10 times each by recording changes in their live weigth with high-sensitiviy strain gauges, under different conditions of air temperature (21.1 to 41.9ºC) and partial vapour pressure (1.53 to 3.01 kPa). Average evaporation rates were 0.7599±0.0094 g.h-1.kg-1 for ER and 1.3029±0.0591 g.h-1.kg-1 for EC. Cutaneous evaporation was considered as an important heat loss mechanism for sheep in hot environments. There were discussed the effects of sex, fleece thickness, air temperature, and air humidity.
Keywords: cutaneous evaporation; heat loss; respiratory evaporation; sheep