Environmental conditions, potential heat-stress state and their relations in a sheep barn under hot climate

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine climate conditions, air quality, potential heat stress and their relations in a sheep barn under Greek hot weather conditions. Hourly averaged values of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and coarse and fine airborne Particulate Matter (PM) concentration recorded inside and outside a naturally ventilated sheep barn during July, August and September of 2015 were used. Indoors potential heat-stress levels were assessed by means of the Temperature Humidity Index (THI). Descriptive statistics were presented and relations between the environmental parameters and the THI values were investigated. The results showed that inside the sheep barn, THI was positively correlated (p < 0.0001) with temperature and wind speed and negatively correlated with relative humidity. Additionally, inside the sheep barn, the concentration of coarse PM was positively and negatively correlated (p < 0.0001) with temperature and relative humidity, respectively, whereas the opposite was observed for the concentration of fine PM. Measures that could be applied to alleviate animals’ heat-stress were proposed.