Effect of floor cooling on performance of lactating sows during summer

Forty Landrace×Large White lactating sows were used to evaluate the effects of cooling of the floor when maintained under
high temperature conditions during summer on their productive and reproductive performance. The sows were allocated in a
completely randomized design with two treatments with 20 replicates according to parity number and body weight, with each
animal being considered an experimental unit. The treatments consisted of cooling of the floor under the sow with water circulation
at about 17 °C and no cooling. The resulting temperatures of the floor were 27.6 and 35.8 °C for the cooled and the control
treatments, respectively. The sows from both treatments were exposed to average maximum and minimum environmental
temperatures of 26.9 and 20.8 °C, respectively. Sows maintained on a cooled floor had a higher feed intake (6.47 vs. 5.61 kg/day;
Pb0.01). Despite this higher intake, sows maintained on a cooled floor had higher body weight and body protein losses during the
lactation period (Pb0.01) in connection with a higher milk yield and subsequent growth of the litter (2280 vs. 1798 g/day;
Pb0.01). There was an effect of treatment on rectal temperature, surface temperatures and respiratory rate (Pb0.01) with lower
values in sows submitted to floor cooling. It is concluded that floor cooling under the lactating sow improves its productive and
reproductive performance, as well as the performance of its litter.

Silva et al. (2006) Effect of floor cooling on performance of lactating sows