Department of Livestock Production and Management, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal-637002.
* Part of M.V.Sc., Thesis approved by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai - 51.
A study was carried out to find out the changes in the microclimatic elements of commercial layer houses under different roofing and rearing system and its impact on production performance of White Leghorn layer. Roof type had highly significant (P<0.01) effect on microclimatic elements. Asbestos roofed houses had higher maximum temperature, air velocity and lower minimum temperature and relative humidity than the tile roofed house. Rearing system had little influence on microclimatic elements except for maximum temperature. Cage house recorded higher maximum temperature than deep litter house. Maximum and minimum temperature has highly significant negative correlation with hen day egg production. Roof type had little influence on production performance except for layer house mortality. Cage house accounted for better performance than deep litter house. Asbestos roofed cage house exerted significantly lower mortality and better teed etliciency than other houses.
Microclimate, roof type, rearing system, layer sheds, production performance
