Comparative efficacy of evaporative cooling pad and fogger system on behaviour of broiler chicken

High environmental temperature affects behaviour in poultry due to alteration in microclimate. The experiment was conducted for a period of six weeks to access the comparative efficacy of evaporative cooling pad and fogger system on behaviour of VenCobb broiler chicken (n=180) in semiarid region of Rajasthan. The birds were randomly divided into three treatment groups i.e. T₁, T₂ and T₃ comprising three replications of 20 birds each. The control group T1 had pen without cooling device, while other treatment groups T2 and T3 had evaporative cooling pad and fogger systems, respectively. The behavioural status of broiler birds was recorded using handy cam video recorder. Instantaneous sampling technique was used for recording the behaviour of broiler chicks. The observations were taken for 15 minutes in each replicate between 01.00-03.00 pm, twice a week starting from the 3^rd week and continued throughout the experiment. Feeding activities of broilers in evaporative cooling pad and fogger system were significantly (p<0.01) higher than in control group. Panting, drinking and resting activities were significantly (p<0.05) higher in control group as compared to evaporative cooling pad and fogger system groups but no significant difference was observed in resting behaviour. The leg stretching, scratching, preening and dust bathing activities were significantly (p<0.05) lower in control group than evaporative cooling pad and fogger system whereas, wing flapping was not significantly different among groups. It was concluded that the evaporative cooling pad and fogger system ensured significant improvement in the behavioural performance of broilers during heat stress period.