Physiological and Behavioural Responses to Hot of Goat Born in Cold Environment

(RESPONS FISIOLOGI DAN PERILAKU KAMBING YANG LAHIR DI LINGKUNGAN DINGIN TERHADAP LINGKUNGAN PANAS)

W. Sayang Yupardhi
Laboratory of Physiology, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Udayana University, Denpasar Bali 80232.

ABSTRACT
Temperature considerably affects the production of animals, particularly imported animals from temperate to tropical countries like Indonesia. In this study responses of goats toward changing temperatures were observed. The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of hot environment on the physiological and behavioural responses of the goats (body temperature, heart beat, respiration rate, dry matter (DM) and water intake, DM digestibility and Nitrogen retention. Fourteen female Saanen goats (6 month-old) which were born in cold room, of which 7 were then kept in a cold room and the other 7 in a hot room were used in this experiment. Data were analyzed with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). If a significant differences found by the ANOVA, it was isolated and identified by using a test for least significant differences (LSD). Result of the experiment showed that goats in the hot room/environment had higher and significantly different respiration rate and water intake, but had lower N retention than those of goats in the cold room. This indicates that goats born in cold environment tend to be stress after few weeks staying in the hot environment.

Key words : Saanen goat, temperature, heart beat, respiration rate, humidity, intake dry matter and water, digestibility, and N retention.

ABSTRAK
Suhu banyak mempengaruhi produksi ternak terutama ternak impor yang berasal dari daerah dingin ke daerah panas (Indonesia). Pada kesempatan ini respons panas pada kambing diteliti. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mempelajari pengaruh panas pada fisiologi dan perilaku (suhu tubuh, denyut jantung, kecepatan pernafasan, konsumsi bahan kering dan air, nilai cerna bahan kering dan retensi ) ternak kambing. Dalam penelitian ini digunakan 14 ekor kambing Saanen betina (umur 6 bulan) yang lahir di ruangan dingin; 7 ekor dipelihara di ruangan dingin sedangkan 7 ekor lainnya di ruangan panas. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis dengan sidik ragam. Hasil pengukuran yang berbeda nyata selanjutnya dianalisis dengan mengisolasi dan mengidentifikasi data tersebut dengan menggunakan tes least significant differences (LSD). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kambing yang dipelihara di ruangan (lingkungan) panas mempunyai kecepatan pernafasan, konsumsi air yang lebih tingi tetapi retensi N yang lebih rendah dan berbeda nyta dibandingkan dengan kambing yang lahir di ruangan (linngkungan) dingin. Hal ini mengindikasikan bahwa kambing yang lahir di linkungan dingin mengalami stres setelah beberapa minggu dipelihara di daerah panas. Implikasi ini akan berakibat dirugikannya para pengusaha industri ternak.

Kata kunci : Kambing Saanen, suhu, lelembaban, denyut jantung, kecepatan pernafasan, konsumsi bahan kering dan air, nilai cerna, dan retensi N.

INTRODUCTION
There are many stress factors which are known to affect the health, well being, and production of animals. Some of those factors are ambient temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind, air pollution, deprivation of water or food, noise , crowding, social dominance, interspecies association (Barrett and Larkin, 1974), and diseases such as parasites and diarrhea (Church, 1971). These factors result in poor health condition and production of animals particularly in tropical countries like Indonesia especially of animals imported from temperate countries.
High environmental temperature affects animals’ production. The production is the most efficient when animals are at comfortable environmental temperatures. The zone of thermal comfort for adult female Nubian goats, weighing from 35 to 40 kg, lies between 150 and 200C (Applemen and Delouche, 1958 cited by Sugeng Prasetyo, 1983). In high environmental temperatures the feed intake declines as a result of reduce foraging efficiency. Furthermore, a voluntary reduction in feed intake occurred to reduce basal heat production. Terril (1968) stated that increased respiration rate and thus heat loss from water evaporation is the main mechanism of controlling body temperature under hot condition
Observation of goats in normal physiological state suggests that the average body temperature, heart beat and respiration rate are 390C, 88 beats/minute, and 28 rates/minute, respectively. Body temperature increases during feeding, muscular exercise, heat and at the end of pregnancy, but decreases after ingesting large amounts of cold water (Bianca, 1968). He also pointed out that there was a diurnal fluctuation in body temperature. It was lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon.
According to Bianca (1968), animal which was kept in above thermal comfort condition would suffer from heat stress. By increasing heat loss through evaporation, the body temperature can be maintained. An experiment carried out by Appleman and Delouche in 1958 (cited by Sugeng Prasetyo, 1983) reported the rectal temperature increased by 1.10C in four adult non-pregnant female Nubian goats by increasing the ambient temperature from 200 to 350C. He also found a four fold increase in respiration rate, while the pulse rate appeared to fall slightly and increase only as the temperature approached 400C. Bianca and Kunz (1978) also carried out an experiment where they found that change of the climatic condition from normal (200C, 50% RH) to hot (400C, 36% RH) for four hours increased the rectal temperature by 1.20C, increased the respiration rate from 26 to 61 rates/minute, and augmented the heart rate by 15 beats/minute, on breed of Gernsforbige Begirgsziege.
Feed intake and rumination may decline and water intake may increase under high environmental temperature. The pulse rate may increase but the most noticeable effects are creases in the rate and volume of respiration (Terrill, 1968). Other experiment using male Alpine goats that were fed greed forage ad lib. twice a day showed that voluntary feed intake as influenced by climatic conditions, and high temperature and humidity depressed the voluntary feed intake as well (Chesnot, 1972). Further he stated that at low temperature and low humidity, the food digestibility remained the same or did not change.
Need of water generally rises as ambient temperatures rises. Whereas evaporation from the respiratory tract is the principle mechanism of water cooling, requirement would be expected to increase whenever this cooling mechanism is required to maintain body temperature (Terrill, 1968). Water consumption increased from 2.3 to 4 liters per goat per day when ambient temperature rose from 10 to 400C. In this study, responses of goats on hot environment were studied, particularly of the physiological and behavioural aspects
MATERIALS AND METHODS.

Animals
Fourteen female Saanen goats which were born in cold room, were used for this experiment. The goats were 6 months old and their initial live weight varied from 24 to 26.5 kg. The goats were constrained in individual metabolism cages for small ruminant. The experiment was conducted at Melbourne University, for 4 weeks.
Treatment
Seven goats were housed at an average environmental temperature of 23.30C (21 – 24.50C) (cold room) and another 7 goats at 30.30C (26 – 34.70C) (hot room).

Feeds and Feeding Management
All goats were fed with the same feed twice a day, one half in the morning (7 – 8 a.m.) and other half in the afternoon (4 – 5 p.m.).
Drinking water was made available at all times. During the fist and second week the water was mixed with anti worm or anti parasitic agent called Coccidiostat before it was given to the goats. This step was taken to prevent the goats from parasitic infestation. Feed and water offered and refused were measured daily.
Preliminary period (pre feeding) of 5 days was allowed to accustom the goats to the feeds and the new environment. Light were on for 12 hr unless accidentally out of order.

Measurement
Physical environment temperature and humidity were recorded in experimental environment using a thermo hygrographs. Physiological measurements of the goat i.e. heart beat, respiration rate, and body temperature were carried out every 3 hr in a day starting at 5 a.m. during the experiment. Dry matter (DM) and water intakes were recorded. Digestibility trial was conducted once every week during the experiment.

Statistical Analysis
Data were analyzed with the Analysis of Variance/ANOVA (Sokal and Rohlf, 1981). If a significant difference was found by the ANOVA, it was isolated and identified by using a test for least significant differences/LSD (Steel and Torrie, 1960).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Body Temperature and Heart Beat
Goats in cold room had similar (P > 0.05) body temperature as goats in hot room (38.80C vs. 39.60C) (Table 1). This result was similar to that of the work of Bianca (1968) where he found that the average body temperature of goats was 390C. Their average heart beat was also similar (117 vs. 112) between goats in cold and hot room; it seems that heart beat is not affected by temperature but by the animals’ activities. Bianca (1978) reported lower rate of heart beat in goat (88 beat/minute). This may be due to the difference in size, age, and species of the goats used for the experiment.

Respiration Rate
Respiration rate of goats in hot room was 204.3% higher and highly significant different (P

Table 1. Physiological and Behavioural Responses to Hot of Goats Born in Cold Environment
Room Humidity Body temp. Heart Respiration Intake DM N
Temp. _________ digest. Reten-
(0C) (%) (0C) beat/min. rate/min. DM Water (%) tion.
(g) (ml) (g/day)
23.3 72.9 38.8 117 37 813.7 2306.0 65.69 20.18
(cold)

30.9 65.3 39.6 112 127** 696.2* 2474* 67.31 1.76**
(hot)
*P

Dry Matter (DM) Intake
DM intake of goats in hot room was 21.8% lower and significantly different (P

Water Intake
Water intake of goats in hot room was 7.3% higher and this was significantly different (P

DM Digestibility
While in hot environment, DM digestibility of goats increased (P > 0.05) (Table 1). This was due to the longer retention of feed in the rumen which resulted in the increasing of DM digestibility (Church, 1971).

N Retention
N retention of goat at hot room (environment) fall which was about 109.1 % lower (P

CONCLUSION
When animals were move to hot environment, those which born in cold environment had significantly higher respiration rate and water intake but, had lower N retention than those of animals in the cold room. This indicates that animals born in cold environment tended to suffer from stress after few weeks staying in the hot environment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENS
To all staff and colleagues of the Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Melbourne the author is grateful for their assistance and allowing me to use the facilities for experiment.

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