EFFECT OF AIR VELOCITY AND TEMPERATURE ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF WEANLING PIGS

ABSTRACT Four environmental chambers were constructed for subjecting weanling pigs to various air velocities and temperatures under typical production conditions where the pigs were allowed to modify their behavior to reduce the effect of an adverse thermal environment. The chambers had wire mesh flooring, nipple waterers, nursery pig feeders, and held eight weanling pigs. An air distribution system with an air straightener was developed to get uniform air velocities throughout the chamber. There were 128 pigs subjected to various combinations of air velocity and temperature in the chambers for a two-week period when the pigs were three to five weeks of age. Air velocity ranged from around 0.11 m/s to 0.40 m/s. and air temperature ranged from around 23.9 C to 35 C. For the environmental range studied, average daily gain (ADG) was significandy affected (P < 0.05) by air velocity but not air temperature during the second week of the experiment. ADG increased as air velocity decreased. Average daily feed intake (ADI) was significantly affected (P < 0.01)* by air temperature but not air velocity during both weeks of the experiment. ADI increased as air temperature decreased. The kg gain/kg feed consumption (G/F) had no significant trends..