Adaptive profile of dairy cows in a tropical region

• Published in: International journal of biometeorology Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 105 - 113
• Main Authors: de Vasconcelos, Angela Maria, de Albuquerque, Cleverton Caçula, de Carvalho, Jefferson Ferreira, Façanha, Débora Andréa Evangelista, Lima, Fátima Révia Granja, Silveira, Robson Mateus Freitas, Ferreira, Josiel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air temperature; Alanine; Alanine transaminase; Albumins; Animal Physiology; Animals; Aspartate aminotransferase; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Blood levels; Body Temperature Regulation; Cattle; Cell size; Cholesterol; Creatinine; Dairy cattle; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Error analysis; Erythrocytes; Female; Hemoglobin; Hot Temperature; Humidity; Humidity indexes; Lactation; Leukocytes; Meteorology; Original Paper; Physiological responses; Physiology; Plant Physiology; Relative humidity; Respiration; Respiratory rate; Seasons; Summer; Temperature; Thyroid hormones; Thyroxine; Triglycerides; Triiodothyronine; Tropical environment; Tropical environments; Urea; Wind speed; Winter; Thermoregulatory responses; Multivariate analysis; Blood values; Dairy cattle; Adaptation
• ISSN: 0020-7128; 1432-1254
• DOI: 10.1007/s00484-019-01797-9

The objectives of this study were to determine the main variables which act in the adaptive profile and the dynamic of the thermoregulatory responses of Sindi and Girolando dairy cows in tropical conditions using multivariate analyses as the auxiliary method. Thirty dairy cows were evaluated, in which the data were collected monthly during 12 months. Rectal temperature (R T ) and respiratory rate (R R ) were measured twice a day (morning and afternoon), along with meteorological variables (air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed), and later the Black Globe and Humidity Index and Radiant Heat Load were calculated. Blood samples were collected for estimating the levels of triiodothyronine (T 3 ), thyroxine (T 4 ), hemoglobin concentration (HC), red blood cells (RBC), packet cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), white blood cells (WBC), glucose (GLU), cholesterol (CHO), triglycerides (TRI), creatinine (CRE), total protein (TP), urea (URE), albumin (ALB), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). The more active variables in the adaptive profile for Sindi cows were T 4 , PCV, RBC, WBC, TRI, CRE, HC, T 3 , and URE, while PCV, RBC, ALB, TP, R T , R R , URE, ALT, and AST variables were more active for Girolando cows. All animals were classified according to their corresponding group when considering all variables under study. The classification error percentage was > 40% in the Sindi cows when the physiological responses were considered, whereas an 80% success rate was observed in Girolando cows in the winter and summer seasons. The physiological responses of the dairy cows are similar in winter and distinct in summer in tropical conditions.