Effect of microclimatic variables on physiological and hematological parameters of crossbred cows in summer season

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1 B-3480 [1-5] Indian J. Anim. Res., Print ISSN: / Online ISSN: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE Effect of microclimatic variables on physiological and hematological parameters of crossbred cows in summer season Ranjana Sinha 1*, Madan Lal Kamboj 1, Ashish Ranjan 2 and Indu Devi 1 Division of Livestock Production Management, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal , Haryana, India. Received: Accepted: DOI: /ijar.B-3480 ABSTRACT The present investigation was conducted to study the effect of climatic variables on physiological responses and haematological parameters of crossbred cows in summer season. In this study 16 crossbred cows were selected and randomly divided into two groups (G1 and G2). Cows of control group were housed in shed with sprinkler, whereas the cows of treatment group were housed in shed with fogger plus fans and mosquito net. Data on various physiological and haematological parameters were recorded and analysed statistically. Analysis revealed that, the maximum temperature and THI were significantly (P<0.05) lower in treatment shed as compared to control shed. Significantly (P<0.05) higher dry matter intake and milk yield in treatment (13.64±0.44 and 18.18±0.36 kg) as compared to control group (12.33±0.37 and 15.94±0.47 kg) were recorded during peak hot period. Rectal temperature, respiration rate and pulse rate was significantly (P<0.05) lower in treatment (38.28±0.05, 36.42±2.98 and 78.65±1.09 C) as compared to control group (38.57±0.14, 51.15±4.34 and 83.59±0.83 C). However, haemoglobin concentration (g/dl) and white blood corpuscles (10 3 /cmm) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in treatment (10.54±0.36 and 12.35±0.64) as copared to control group (9.52±0.43 and10.88±0.57). Therefore, it can be concluded that fogger with fans is the fundamental mean to protect the animals from thermal stress under loose housing during summer season. Key words: Crossbred cow, Haematological parameters, Heat stress, Milk yield, Physiological response INTRODUCTION Climate change is thought to be a main risk for viability and sustainability of livestock production in tropical and sub-tropical regions (Gaughan et al., 2009). Sustainability has become an important keyword in association with modern livestock production. Heat stress has negative impact on production, reproduction and general health of livestock under tropical climatic conditions (Hansen, 2007; Kumar et al., 2012). In dairy animals, water spray with or without fans had improved production performance of livestock during heat stress (Collier et al., 2006). Increasing airflow and wetting frequency has significant improvement of milk production due to evaporative heat loss from the skin of dairy animals (Hillman et al., 2001; Domingos et al., 2013). Rectal temperature and respiration rate more than 39.0 C and 60 per minute indicated that, the cows are under heat stress and drastically reduced milk production and fertility (Kadokawa et al., 2012). Productivity of cows is reduced in hot environment due to poor thermoregulatory mechanism and less feed intake and poor metabolism rate (Abdelatif and Alameen, 2012; Rhoads et al., 2013). Housing system and microclimatic conditions affects the physiological reaction and levels of different blood parameters in the animal body (Wojcik et al., 2004). Testing of physiological and haematological parameters is fundamental to assessment of the health status in dairy herds. MATERIALS AND METHODS Location of Study: The present study was conducted on Karan-Fries cows maintained at Livestock Research Centre of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, for a period of three months (May 2014 to July. 2014) during summer season. The farm is situated at 250 meters above sea level on North latitude and East longitude. The maximum temperature goes upto 49 0 C during summer and may touch 2 0 C in winter season. The average rainfall is about 700 mm, most of which is received during July to September with occasional rain during winter (Dec. to Jan.) season. Experimental design and animals: Sixteen healthy lactating crossbred cows were randomly selected from the institute herd and were divided into two groups with eight in each control (G1) and treatment (G2) on the basis of similarity in parity and lactation yield. All the experimental animals were kept under loose housing system having concrete walls of 9 inches thickness and asbestos sheet was used as roofing *Corresponding author s ndriranjana@gmail.com 1 Livestock Production Management, NDRI, Karnal, (India). 2 Ph.D. Scholar, Animal Genetics and Breeding Division, NDRI, Karnal, (India).

2 2 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH material. The animals of control group were housed under existing loose housing system consisted of covered floor area made up concrete cement, open floor area with brick paved and feeding was done through an elevated manger. The roof was made of asbestos at a height of 12 feet and width of 10 feet. Automatic water sprinklers were installed inside the covered area to reduce heat stress. The animals of treatment group were housed under modified loose housing system characterized by raising the roof height to 15 feet and width to 20 feet. In the modified shed, sand bedding was provided both inside half of covered area and in open paddock adjoining the covered area. The feeding was done at ground level installing fenceline feeding system. In order to alieviate the impact of heat stress, time-controlled foggers were used, which added air circulation using heavy duty fans. All experimental procedures were approved by the institutional animal ethics committee, NDRI, Karnal. Environmrntal conditions: The microclimatic data for maximum, minimum, dry and wet bulb temperature, were recorded by installation of maximum and minimum thermometers (OMSONS TM ) and dry and wet bulb thermometer in open and covered area of both control as well as in experimental sheds. The thermometers were hanged at equal heights on the animal body level and data were recorded trice a day at 9:30 AM, 2.00PM and 6:00 PM of Indian Standard Time (IST). Temperature humidity index (THI) was calculated by using the U.S. Weather Bureau formula (McDowell, 1972). THI = 0.72 (Cdb + Cwb) Cdb Dry bulb temperature ( 0 C) Cwb Wet bulb temperature ( 0 C) Recording of dry matter intake and milk yield: The dry matter intake (DMI) per day was calculated for both groups at weekly intervals by taking into account daily average amount of greens, dry roughages and concentrate mixture consumed and residue left during the experiment. The daily milk yield (kg) of both groups was recorded for individual animal by using circular spring balance with capacity of 40 kg and accuracy of ± 0.05 kg at each milking time. Physiological and hematological parameters: The recording of various physiological parameters such as rectal temperature by using medical digital thermometer, skin temperature using non-contact infrared thermometer, respiration rate and pulse rate by counting the flank movements and pulse of coccygeal artery of cows for one minute. Approximately 5 ml venous blood sample were collected in vaccutainer tube containing EDTA at weekly intervals during morning hours. The plasma cortisol level was estimated by bovine cortisol ELISA test Kit (Endocrine Technologies, INC. USA). The estimation of various hematological parameters such as haemoglobin (Hb), (TLC), DLC, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC was done by haematogy analyzer. Statistical analysis: Data recorded on various parameters except microclimatic variable were analyse by paired t test. Data on microclimatic variable were analysed by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were compared using Duncan s multiple range test. All the analyses were performed using SPSS 11.0 statistical package. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Micro and macro climatic variables: The minimum and maximum temperature and THI for both shed have been presented in Table 1. Overall maximum temperatures ( C) were 35.44±0.44, 33.50±0.53 and 37.16±0.64 and minimum temperature ( C) were 21.53±1.02, ± 0.94 and ± 1.24 for control, treatment and open paddock, respectively. Results indicated significantly (P<0.05) lower overall maximum temperature in treatment as compared to control shed. The Mean values of maximum temperature recorded in treatment and control sheds were found to be significantly (P<0.05) lower than that in the open area. In similar to present findings, Verma et al. (2015) reported lower maximum temperature under cooling system with forced ventilation in Murrah buffalo heifers. Use of sprinkler with fans helped to ameliorate the thermal stress during heat stress in beef cattle (Gaughan et al., 2010). Animal shed with inadequate ventilation reduces milk production in dairy cows upto 25% during summer season (Bucklin et al., 2000). The lower maximum temperature in treatment group may be due to provision of cooling system and due to fast air exchange through forced ventilation (fogger with fans). The mean THI values for control shed, treatment shed and open paddock were 78.28±1.98, 74.24±1.50 and 82.20±2.17, respectively. The mean THI value for treatment shed was significantly lower (P<0.01) as compared to control shed. Present findings are in accordance with eariler reports of Khongdee (2008) and Chandra et al. (2012) in dairy cattle. Reduction of THI values might be attributed to forced ventilation and better way of cooling, this may be due to reduce relative humidity by forced ventilation, resulting in better replacement of humid air by fresh air (Verma et al., 2015). Table 1: Mean ± SE of maximum, minimum temperature and temperature humidity index (THI) in sheds of two groups of cow Parameters Control shed (G1) Treatment shed (G2) Open paddock Maximum temperature ( C) a ± b ± c ±0.64 Minimum temperature ( C) 21.53± ± ±1.24 THI ab ± a ± b ±2.17 Mean with different superscripts a, b, c in a row differ significantly (P<0.05)

3 Dry matter intake and milk productions: Overall means daily dry matter intake in G1 and G2 cows were 12.33±0.37 and 13.64±0.44 kg per day per cow, respectively, and were significantly (P<0.05) higher in treatment group as compared to control group (Table 2). Dry matter intake is reduced by 0.85 kg with every 1ºC rise in air temperature above the thermo-neutral zone (West, 2003). However, Bouraoui et al. (2002) reported that DMI decreases by 9.6 % with rise in the THI value above the comfort level 72. Average daily milk yield (kg) of control and treatment groups were 15.94±0.47 and 18.18±0.36, respectively and were significantly (P<0.01) higher in G2 group as compare to G1 group (Table 2). Reduction of feed intake in dairy cows is directly associated with negative energy balance, which is responsible for lower synthesis of milk (Wheelock et al., 2010). Zheng et al. (2009) reported significantly decreased milk yield and milk quality of dairy cows under heat stress. Sinha et al. (2017) reported an increase in milk production when the cows housed under modified shed due to cow were more comfortable and better utilization of feeds. Physiological and hematological parameters: Physiological and hematological parameters of treatment and control group are presented in Table 3 and 4. Overall mean values of rectal temperature, skin temperature, respiration rate, pulse rate, in control and treatment group were 38.57±0.14 and 38.28±0.05; 37.09±0.43 and 36.66±0.47; 51.15±4.34 and 36.42±2.98; 83.59±0.66 and 80.32±0.82, respectively. The average respiration and pulse rate per minute were significantly (P<0.05) lower in G2 group as compared to G1 group. Various authors (Sinha et al., 2017; Ankush et al., 2014; Chanpongsang et al., 2010 and Brown- Brandl et al., 2005) reported significantly decreased pulse Vol. Issue, () Table 2: Mean ± SE of dry matter intake (DMI) and milk yield (MY) of cows in two groups Group Fortnightly DMI Overall Control 11.26± ± ± ± ± ± a ±0.37 Treatment 11.98± ± ± ± ± ± b ±0.44 Milk yield Control 16.92± ± ± ± ± ± a ±0.47 Treatment 17.04± ± ± ± ± ± b ±0.36 Mean with different superscripts a, b in a column differ significantly (P<0.05) Table 3: Mean ± SE of physiological parameters and cortisole level of crossbred cows in two groups Parameters Control shed (G1) Treatment shed (G2) Rectal temperature ( C) a ± b ±0.05 Skin temperature ( C) 37.09± ±0.47 Respiration rate a ± b ±2.98 (Number/minute) Pulse rate (Number/minute) a ± b ±1.09 Cortisole level (ng/ml) 6.07 a ± b ±0.11 Mean with different superscripts a, b in a row differ significantly (P<0.05) and respiration rate in dairy cattle kept under cooling system with force ventilation and animal were more comfortable. The cortisol level of plasma in control and treatment group was 6.07±0.16 ng/ml and 5.25±0.11 ng/ml, respectively. The cortisol level in summers was significantly lower in treatment group as compared to control group. The cortisol level is an important indication of heat stress during summer season. Present study was found to be in agreement with the findings of Dikmen et al. (2008) and Collier et al. (2005) who found that there is an increase in cortisol level in heat stressed animals. However, plasma cortisol level was increased when animals were exposed to heat stress (Marai and Habeeb, 2010). The average haematological parameters such as haemoglobin concentration and white blood cells in treatment group were significantly (P<0.05) higher as comparison to control group. The other haematological parameters except lymphocyte, neutrophils, eosinophils and monocytes were slightly higher in treatment group as compared to control group, although it was statistically non-significant. The low level of heamoglobin in control group may be due to haemodilution effect, as more water is transported in circulatory system due to evaporative cooling and low level of nutrition supply with rise of temperature (Koubkova et al., 2002; Abdelatif et al., 2009). However, decreased red blood cell count under stress conditions may be due to destruction of erythrocyte and haemodilution effect (Marai and Haeeb, 2010), which might be due to depression of thyroid secretion which is associated with decreased Table 4: Mean ± SE of haematological parameters of crossbred cows in two groups Parameters Control group Treatment group (G1) (G2) RBC (10 6 /cmm) 6.18± ±0.98 Haemoglobin conc (g/dl) 9.52 a ± b ±0.36 WBC (10 3 /cmm) a ± b ±0.64 PCV (%) 27.46± ±0.55 MCV (µ 3 ) 47.28± ±2.01 MCH (pg) 15.87± ±1.30 MCHC (g/dl) 33.26± ±0.71 Lymphocytes (%) 56.43± ±2.80 Neutrophils (%) 41.53± ±0.86 Eosinophils (%) 4.21± ±0.45 Monocyte (%) 3.69± ±0.21 Mean with different superscripts a, b in a row differ significantly (P<0.05)

4 4 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH erythropoiesis (Garkal and Kekan, 2016). The increased leucocytes counts (eosinophils, neutrophils, lymohocytes etc) in control groups may suggest the increased infestation and biting of pests to cows. However all the mean values were within normal physiological limits (Schalm s et al., 2000). CONCLUSION It can be concluded that fogger in combination with fan helped to ameliorate the thermal stress and improved feed intake, milk production, physiological and haematological parameters in crossbred dairy cows. REFERENCES Ankush, P., Khan, A., Koul, A. and Thirumurughan, P. (2014). Heat stress ameliorating effect of water showering on physiological parameters of crossbred dairy cattle. Indian Vet. J., 91(6): Abdelatif, A.M. and Alameen, A.O. (2012). Influence of season and pregnancy on thermal and hae-motological responses of crossbred dairy cows in a tropical environment. 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