Evaluation of environmental and physiological indicators in lactating dairy cows exposed to heat stress

Shu, Hang; Guo, Leifeng; Bindelle, Jérôme; Fang, Tingting; Xing, Mingjie; Sun, Fuyu; Chen, Xiaoyang; Zhang, Wenju; Wang, Wensheng

doi:10.1007/s00484-022-02270-w

Original Paper
Published: 30 March 2022

Evaluation of environmental and physiological indicators in lactating dairy cows exposed to heat stress

Hang Shu ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7124-3873^1,2,
Leifeng Guo¹,
Jérôme Bindelle ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6974-4313²,
Tingting Fang³,
Mingjie Xing³,
Fuyu Sun³,
Xiaoyang Chen³,
Wenju Zhang¹ &
Wensheng Wang¹

International Journal of Biometeorology volume 66, pages 1219–1232 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

This study aimed to better understand environmental heat stress and physiological heat strain indicators in lactating dairy cows. Sixteen heat stress indicators were derived using microenvironmental parameters that were measured at the surrounding of cows and at usual fixed locations in the barn by using handheld and fixed subarea sensors, respectively. Twenty high-producing Holstein–Friesian dairy cows (> 30.0 kg/day) from an intensive dairy farm were chosen to measure respiration rate (RR), vaginal temperature (VT), and body surface temperature of forehead (FT), eye (ET), and muzzle (MT). Our results show that microenvironments measured by the handheld sensor were slightly warmer and drier than those measured by the fixed subarea sensor; however, their derived heat stress indicators correlated equally well with physiological indicators. Interestingly, ambient temperature (T_a) had the highest correlations with physiological indicators and the best classification performance in recognizing actual heat strain state. Using segmented mixed models, the determined T_a thresholds for maximum FT, mean FT, RR, maximum ET, mean ET, VT, mean MT, and maximum MT were 24.1 °C, 24.2 °C, 24.4 °C, 24.6 °C, 24.6 °C, 25.3 °C, 25.4 °C, and 25.4 °C, respectively. Thus, we concluded that the fixed subarea sensor is a reliable tool for measuring cows’ microenvironments; T_a is an appropriate heat stress indicator; FT, RR, and ET are good early heat strain indicators. The results of this study could be helpful for dairy practitioners in a similar intensive setting to detect and respond to heat strain with more appropriate indicators.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the assistance received from Yinxiang dairy farm in Shandong, China.

Funding

This work was supported by Major Science and Technology Program of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, grant number 2020ZD0004; Key Research and Development Plan of Hebei Province, grant number 20327202D; and Key Research and Development Plan of Hebei Province, grant number 20326602D.

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Authors and Affiliations

Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 100086, Beijing, China
Hang Shu, Leifeng Guo, Wenju Zhang & Wensheng Wang
AgroBioChem/TERRA, Precision Livestock and Nutrition Unit, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium
Hang Shu & Jérôme Bindelle
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 100193, Beijing, China
Tingting Fang, Mingjie Xing, Fuyu Sun & Xiaoyang Chen

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Hang Shu
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Leifeng Guo
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Jérôme Bindelle
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Tingting Fang
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Mingjie Xing
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Fuyu Sun
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Xiaoyang Chen
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Wenju Zhang
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Wensheng Wang
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Correspondence to Wensheng Wang.

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The experimental protocols were approved by the Experimental Animal Care and Committee of Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (approval number IAS2021-220).

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Shu, H., Guo, L., Bindelle, J. et al. Evaluation of environmental and physiological indicators in lactating dairy cows exposed to heat stress. Int J Biometeorol 66, 1219–1232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-022-02270-w

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Received: 04 November 2021
Revised: 23 January 2022
Accepted: 07 March 2022
Published: 30 March 2022
Issue Date: June 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-022-02270-w

Keywords

Heat stress
Heat strain
Dairy cow
Ambient temperature
Physiological indicator
Threshold