Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation
Heat stress is one of the most important problems that dairy cows have to face and the use of cooling systems is becoming more and more important. The first reaction that has the animal to cope with the environmental variations is to modify its behaviour. This study was aimed to investigate the effe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Italian Journal of Animal Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1828051X.2021.1903818 |
| _version_ | 1818107433632923648 |
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| author | Mirco Corazzin Alberto Romanzin Vinicius Foletto Carla Fabro Francesco Da Borso Mario Baldini Stefano Bovolenta Edi Piasentier |
| author_facet | Mirco Corazzin Alberto Romanzin Vinicius Foletto Carla Fabro Francesco Da Borso Mario Baldini Stefano Bovolenta Edi Piasentier |
| author_sort | Mirco Corazzin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Heat stress is one of the most important problems that dairy cows have to face and the use of cooling systems is becoming more and more important. The first reaction that has the animal to cope with the environmental variations is to modify its behaviour. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of heat stress and a cooling system on the feeding behaviour of Italian Holstein Friesian dairy cows in late lactation. Two experiments were performed. In the first experiment, eight dairy cows were firstly kept 7 d under thermoneutral condition, and then under mild heat stress (temperature humidity index, THI, ranging between 72 and 78) for others 7 d. The second experiment consisted of 8 dairy cows used in a two-period cross-over design where the treatment was the use or not of a sprinkler system for cooling cows under mild heat stress. Cows were equipped with a noseband pressure sensor able to detect rumination and eating time, number of rumination and eating chews, number of rumination boluses and rumination intensity. Heat stress reduced rumination time, number of rumination chews and boluses (p < .05), and tended to reduce the number of eating chews (p < .10). Cooled cows increased rumination and eating time (p < .05), rumination intensity (p < .01), and the number of rumination and eating chews (p < .05). In conclusion, feeding behaviour was deeply influenced even by mild heat stress, which was effectively improved by the use of a sprinkler system.HIGHLIGHTS Mild heat stress reduced rumination time, number of rumination chews and boluses of dairy cows in late lactation Cooling cows with sprinklers was effective in alleviating heat stress in terms of feeding behaviour |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T01:59:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b8df43b8a5a4c7789c6b4a5dce47db2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1594-4077 1828-051X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T01:59:23Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Italian Journal of Animal Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b8df43b8a5a4c7789c6b4a5dce47db22022-12-22T01:24:31ZengTaylor & Francis GroupItalian Journal of Animal Science1594-40771828-051X2021-01-0120160061010.1080/1828051X.2021.19038181903818Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactationMirco Corazzin0Alberto Romanzin1Vinicius Foletto2Carla Fabro3Francesco Da Borso4Mario Baldini5Stefano Bovolenta6Edi Piasentier7Dipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineDipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Animali, University of UdineHeat stress is one of the most important problems that dairy cows have to face and the use of cooling systems is becoming more and more important. The first reaction that has the animal to cope with the environmental variations is to modify its behaviour. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of heat stress and a cooling system on the feeding behaviour of Italian Holstein Friesian dairy cows in late lactation. Two experiments were performed. In the first experiment, eight dairy cows were firstly kept 7 d under thermoneutral condition, and then under mild heat stress (temperature humidity index, THI, ranging between 72 and 78) for others 7 d. The second experiment consisted of 8 dairy cows used in a two-period cross-over design where the treatment was the use or not of a sprinkler system for cooling cows under mild heat stress. Cows were equipped with a noseband pressure sensor able to detect rumination and eating time, number of rumination and eating chews, number of rumination boluses and rumination intensity. Heat stress reduced rumination time, number of rumination chews and boluses (p < .05), and tended to reduce the number of eating chews (p < .10). Cooled cows increased rumination and eating time (p < .05), rumination intensity (p < .01), and the number of rumination and eating chews (p < .05). In conclusion, feeding behaviour was deeply influenced even by mild heat stress, which was effectively improved by the use of a sprinkler system.HIGHLIGHTS Mild heat stress reduced rumination time, number of rumination chews and boluses of dairy cows in late lactation Cooling cows with sprinklers was effective in alleviating heat stress in terms of feeding behaviourhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1828051X.2021.1903818rumination timeeating timesensorcoolingsprinkler |
| spellingShingle | Mirco Corazzin Alberto Romanzin Vinicius Foletto Carla Fabro Francesco Da Borso Mario Baldini Stefano Bovolenta Edi Piasentier Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation Italian Journal of Animal Science rumination time eating time sensor cooling sprinkler |
| title | Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| title_full | Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| title_fullStr | Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| title_short | Heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| title_sort | heat stress and feeding behaviour of dairy cows in late lactation |
| topic | rumination time eating time sensor cooling sprinkler |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1828051X.2021.1903818 |
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