The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the shadow and food supplementation on the physiologic behavior and performance of Santa Inês lambs under rangeland conditions in the semi-arid region of Paraíba. Twenty-seven male lambs were used, with an average body weight of 21.5 kg and 120 days of age. They were randomly distributed in three environments [without shade (WS), natural shade (NS) and artificial shade (AS)] and fed growing three levels of concentrate supplement (0, 1.0 and 1.5 % of live body weight). The analysis of variance revealed significant effect of period (morning x afternoon) on rectal temperature. However, no significant effect was observed for the environment and diet factors. Breathing frequency was higher in the afternoon than in the morning in the WS (35.28 and 61.64 mov/minute) and AS (30.28 and 51.76 mov/minute) environments. The diet influenced DM ingestion in SS environment. Skin temperature was higher in afternoon than in the morning, independent of the studied factors. The animals supplemented with concentrate mixtures had a performance better than the control ones. It was concluded that shading improved the indexes of thermal comfort and animal physiology and production parameters. Santa Inês breed showed high adaptability to the adverse conditions of the semi- arid region of Paraíba. The performance of Santa Inês lambs under a buffel enriched native rangeland, can be improved by supplementation with concentrate.
environment; feed conversion; breathing frequency; rectal temperature
