Vol. 11, Special Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
L Likhitha, RMV Prasad, T Raghunandan and P Jayalaxmi

Abstract:
The present study was undertaken at sheep unit of Livestock Farm Complex (LFC), College of Veterinary Science, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-30. Twelve growing healthy Deccani and NARI Suwarna female sheep of 7- 8 months of age with a body weight of 25-30 kg were procured from Livestock Research Station, Rajendranagar. In each breed, 12 sheep were selected and used for the study. Effect of heat stress had shown a significant change in morning and noon recorded rectal temperature, pulse rate and respiration rate within the breed. The haemato-biochemical parameters viz., RBC, WBC, Hb, PCV, MCV, MCH, MCHC, total protein, Urea, albumin, BUN, Creatinine, ALT and AST had also shown a significant change in Deccani and NARI Suwarna. The differences between the breeds were not found to be significant at hourly intervals for all the behavioural patterns that were studied such as foraging, drinking, rumination, standing, lying, excreting and walking. Cortisol had shown a significant difference during the mid of the experiment. NARI Suwarna sheep had shown a nonsignificantly higher cortisol values when compared to that of Deccani. The variations between breeds of all the physiological responses and haemato- biochemical parameters were not found to be significant. The results obtained through different heat tolerance tests regarding heat tolerance coefficient studies could be interpretated that Deccani had shown a more resistance compared to NARI Suwarna.