Intra-monthly variability of some physiological and blood parameters in pigs under different environmental conditions

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of intra-monthly variability of some physiological and blood parameters in pigs under different environmental conditions. For this purpose, 10 pigs (five males and five females) coming from a Sicilian farm were used. On all animals, rectal temperature, respiratory rate and blood sampling were carried out every five days, at six-time points under different environmental conditions, for the whole month of July 2017. For each period, ambient temperature, the relative humidity and the temperature-humidity index (THI) were recorded. Blood samples were tested for haematological (RBC, WBC, Hb, Hct) and haematochemical (GLU, TRIG, CHOL, TP, ALB and CREA) analyses. Our results showed a statistically significant effect of time (P < 0.05) on rectal temperature, haematological and haematochimical parameters. CREA and respiratory rate have not shown statistically significant effect of time. Our data indicate that the majority of parameters evaluated in the pr...