Vol. 11, Special Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Raghavendra G, Mahadevappa D Gouri, Vivek M Patil, Basavaraj Inamdar, Umesh Mirje and Prasanna SB

Abstract:
An experiment was conducted to compare the effect of heat stress on biochemical parameters in dairy cattle, when different heat stress alleviating methods were employed. Twelve lactating dairy cows with similar body weight and production levels were selected and grouped into three treatments with four animals in each group. The treatments viz T1 as control, T2 (micro sprinklers) and T3 (wet gunny bags). Biochemical Parameters viz; serum cortisol (µg/dl) hormone and serum electrolytes (sodium and potassium) levels(mEq/L) were estimated on 0^th, 30^th and 60^th day for all the three treatment groups. The overall mean±SE values of serum cortisol levels of the experimental animals during study period for the group T₁ T₂ and T₃ were 0.92±0.07, 0.75±0.10 and 0.98±0.10, respectively. The statistical analysis revealed non-significant difference among treatment groups for serum cortisol levels. The overall mean±SE values of serum sodium (mEq/L) levels of the experimental animals during trial period for T_1, T₂ and T₃ were 144.27±0.03, 145.55±0.42and 145.15±0.06, respectively. The statistical analysis revealed non-significant difference in serum sodium levels, similarly the overall mean±SE values of serum potassium (mEq/L) levels for T_1, T₂ and T₃ was 4.22±0.10, 4.15±0.06 and 4.34±0.08, respectively. There was non-significant difference observed in serum potassium levels among all the treatment groups. The study indicates that the prevailing climatic condition in the study area showed non-significant effect on all the biochemical parameters, indicating that the environmental conditions might be conducive for livestock farming activities.