In this research automatic infra-red gas heating and wood-burning were analyzed, with three lineages of broilers raised from May 1, 2005 to June 16, 2005 in 1200 m² poultry houses, and slaughtered at the age of 45 days. The energetic consumptions and costs were evaluated for each system, as well as the following zootechnical indexes: mean weight, mortality, feed conversion and consumption. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 2 x 3 model, made up by two heating systems, three lineages of male broilers and six treatments and six replications, totaling thirty six poultry houses with 13,300 birds each. For the statistical analysis the SISVAR 4.6 program was utilized and the comparisons of means were done using the Tukey test. The results obtained were as follows: the energy consumption for wood was 173.21 GJ per lot and the cost was R$ 3.23 GJ per lot, and for gas it was 20.26 GJ per lot with a cost R$ 53.78 GJ per lot. In relation to the zootechnical performance, there were no significant differences between the two systems, but for the lineages significant difference was observed. The Cobb lineage had a 6.62% higher mean weight and 1.04% higher mortality when compared to the Ross 1 lineage.
energy consumption; energy cost; zootechnical indexes; environment; birds
