Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T06:29:57.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interrelationships between lack of shading shelter and poultry litter supplementation: food intake, live weight, water metabolism and embryo loss in beef cows grazing dry Mediterranean pasture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

N. Silanikove  and
M. Gutman
N. Silanikove
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Science, Agricultural Research Organization, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50 250, Israel
M. Gutman
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources, Agricultural Research Organization, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50 250, Israel
Get access

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the usefulness of providing shade for beef cows grazing summer dry Mediterranean -pasture and supplemented with a food high in non-protein nitrogen (poultry litter). Two groups of 30 cows each, in the last trimester of pregnancy, were placed on 1 June in two paddocks of similar grazing pressure, topography, vegetation cover and botanical composition. In one of the sub-units the cows had free access to a large shaded area, provided by 10 to 12 large eucalyptus trees, whereas in the second sub-unit, access to shade was denied until 31 August. Respiration rate, used as an index of heat stress, was much higher in the non-shaded cows (102 breaths per min) than in the cows with access to shade (62 breaths per min). In response to the much higher heat stress in the non-shaded cows, total body water and haematocrit value (an index of plasma volume) were higher than in the cows with access to shade. Metabolizable energy (ME) intake was apparently much lower in the non-shaded cows, as reflected in a much higher non-esterified fatty acid concentration in plasma. Consequently, large differences in live weight gradually developed during the course of the trial, the cows with access to shade becoming much heavier than those with no access to shade. An increase in the consumption of poultry litter by the non-shaded cows was interpreted as an effort to reduce internal heat load by avoiding grazing and by preferring food which induces a lower heat increment upon ingestion and digestion. Above-normal serum concentrations of cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase support previous results that the combination of low ME intake and high ammonia load induces a toxic effect on the liver. Although all the cows were pregnant at the onset of the study, successful parturition was recorded in 26 of the 30 cows having access to shade, and in only 20 of the 30 (F < 0·05 by t test) of the non-shaded cows. It is concluded that providing shade for beef cows under summer Mediterranean conditions will reduce the danger of embryonic loss. However, an interaction with metabolic burden, such as ammonia load and a negative energy balance, can make the situation much worse.

Keywords

beef cowsheat stressmetabolismpoultry manurereproductive performance
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , December 1992 , pp. 371 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adam, I., Young, B. A., Nicol, A. M. and Degen, A. A. 1984. Energy cost of eating in cattle given diets of different form. Animal Production 38: 53–56.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Biggers, B. G., Geisert, R. D., Wetteman, R. P. and Buchanan, D. S. 1987. Effect of heat stress on early embryonic development in the beef cow. Journal of Animal Science 64: 1512–1518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blaker, W. D. 1987. Computer program from the parametric and nonparametric comparison of several groups to control. Computers in Biology and Medicine 17: 37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, K. L. 1967. The energy metabolism of ruminants. Hutchinson, London.Google Scholar
Conrad, J. H. 1989. Feeding farm animals in hot and cold environments. In Stress physiology in livestock, vol II, (ed. Yosef, M. K.), pp. 206–226. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl.Google Scholar
Graham, N. McC. 1964. Energy cost of feeding activities and energy expenditure of grazing sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 15: 969–973.Google Scholar
Gutman, M. and Seligman, N. 1979. Grazing management of Mediterranean foothill range in the upper Jordan river valley. Journal of Range Management 32: 86–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzer, Z., Benjamin, R., Gutman, M., Silanikove, N., Levy, D. and Seligman, N. 1990. The precision and logistics of the tritium dilution technique for measuring green pasture intake in free ranging beef cattle. World Review of Animal Production 25: 57–60.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, W. V. and Howard, B. 1972. Comparative water and energy economy of wild and domestic mammals. Symposia of the Zoological Society, London 31: 261–296.Google Scholar
Patterson, D. S. P. 1963. Some observations on the estimation of non-esterified fatty acid concentrations in cow and sheep plasma. Research in Veterinary Science 4: 230–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, T. B., Shrode, R. R., Kunkel, H. O., Leighton, R. E. and Rupel, I. W. 1960. Variation in certain blood components of Holstein and Jersey cows and their relationship to daily range in rectal temperature and to milk and butterfat production. Journal of Dairy Science 43: 1263–1274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F. and Wright, I. A. 1983. The use of blood metabolites in the determination of energy status in beef cows. Animal Production 37: 335–343.Google Scholar
Shalit, U., Maltz, E., Silanikove, N. and Berman, A. 1991. Water, sodium, potassium and chlorine metabolism of dairy cows at the onset of lactation in hot weather. Journal of Dairy Science 74: 1874–1883.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silanikove, N. 1987. Impact of shade in a hot Mediterranean summer on feed intake, feed utilization and body fluid distribution in sheep. Appetite 9: 207–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silanikove, N. 1989. Inter-relationship between water, food and digestible energy intake in desert and temperate goats. Appetite 12: 163–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silanikove, N. 1992. Effects of water scarcity and hot environment on appetite and digestion in ruminants: a review. Livestock Production Science 30: 175–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silanikove, N., Holzer, Z., Cohen, D., Benjamin, R., Gutman, M. and Meltzer, A. 1987. Interrelationship between metabolism of tritiated water, 22sodium and dry matter intake by beef cattle consuming wheat straw and poultry litter in free choice. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 88A: 113–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silanikove, N. and Tadmor, A. 1989. Rumen volume, saliva flow rate and systemic fluid homeostasis in dehydrated cattle. American Journal of Physiology 256: R809–R815.Google ScholarPubMed
Silanikove, N. and Tiomkin, D. 1992. Toxicity induced by poultry litter consumption: effect on measurements reflecting liver function in beef cows. Animal Production 54: 203–209.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. K. and Pearson, R. A. 1986. Effects of ambient temperature and head cooling on energy expenditure, food intake and heat tolerance of Brahman and Brahman × Friesian cattle working on treadmills. Animal Production 43: 83–90Google Scholar
Webster, A. J. F., Osugi, P. O., White, F. and Ingram, J. F. 1975. The influence of food intake on portal blood flow and heat production in the digestive tract of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 34: 125–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winchester, C. F. and Morris, M. J. 1956. Water intake rates of cattle. Journal of Animal Science 15: 722–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfen, D., Flamenbaum, I. and Berman, A. 1988. Dry period heat stress relief effects on prepartum progeSterone, calf birth weight, and milk production. Journal of Dairy Science 71: 809–818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar