The objetive of this work was to determine physiological and productive parameters and the thermal comfort indices in "Santa Inês" breed of sheep created in two different shelters, one being covered with clay tile (TBA) and the other covered with cement fiber tiles (TFC), in the municipality of São João do Cariri, Paraíba State, Brazil, during the months of August to October 2003. Twenty castrated male sheeps were distributed in individual bays. The environmental indices analyzed were the temperature and humidity of the black globe index and the thermal charge of radiation index. The data used were the air temperature, black globe temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity. The physiological indices reffered were the rectal temperature (TR) and the respiratory frequency (FR) and the production indices refered were the weight gain, food conversion and the dry matter consumption. The shelters with TBA and TFC did not present significant differences in indices of thermal comfort, neither in the morning nor in the evening periods. There was a little increase in the indices during the evening period. The animals could maintain a TR within the normal limits and during the evening period the FR was higher than that in the morning. The production indices did not vary between the systems analyzed and were considered satisfactory.
thermal comfort; air temperature; environment
