Development of an animal adaptability index: Application for dairy cows

The objective of this study was designed to evaluate the association between physiological responses, hormonal, hematological and serum biochemical values features aiming to propose an adaptability index (AI) for dairy cows in tropical conditions. Thirty adult dairy cows were used, including 15 Sindi and 15 Girolando breeds with mean weight of 338.52 ± 42.79 kg and 487.54 ± 60.67 kg, respectively. These data included rectal temperature (RT), respiratory rate (RR), both were measured twice a once a month for twelve months. For the serum of blood sample, the levels of glucose (GLU), cholesterol (CHO), triglycerides (TRI), total protein (TP), creatinine (CRE), albumin (ALB), urea (URE), aspartate aminotrasferase (AST) and alanine aminotrasferase (ALT) and hormonal concentrations (triiodothyronine – T3 and thyroxine – T4). For the total blood samples were analyzed for hematology variables: red blood cell count (RBC); hemoglobin concentration (HC); packet cell volume (PCV); mean corpuscular volume (MCV); white blood cell (WBC). The AI was development using multivariate analysis to "weigh" the influence of each variable in the animal responses. The variables more important for adaptive aspects of Sindi and Girolando cows were respectively: GLU; MCV; AST; PCV; RBC; HE; TP; ALB; ALT; RR; T4; RT; T3; URE; CHO; TRI; CRE; WBC and ALB; GLU; TP; AST; RR; ALT; CRE; CHO; RT; RBC; T4; HE; PCV; MCV; URE; TRI; WBC; T3. The difference between breeds was just over 8% for AI. We...
Source: Journal of Thermal Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research