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Impact of summer heat stress on the thermal environment of bovine female genital tract

Tropical Animal Health and Production volume 52, pages 3449–3455 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Summer heat stress (HS) is associated with a reduction in conception rate, increase in services per conception, and early embryonic death. However, the impact of summer HS on the thermal environment of different regions of the bovine female genital tract remains unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of summer HS on the thermal environment of different regions of the genital tract in the cow. Three non-pregnant Japanese Black cows were investigated using a specially designed digital thermometer to record the temperatures of the rectum (RT), vagina (VT), cervix (CT), uterine body (UBT), and uterine horns (UHT) on days 0, 1, 2, 3, and 8 of the estrous cycle (day 0 = heat) in February (winter), May (spring), and August (summer). During the experiment, the temperature humidity index (THI) was recorded. THI during summer was higher (P ˂ 0.001) than in winter and spring (78.45 ± 0.32 vs. 60.26 ± 1.20 and 68.51 ± 0.80, respectively) and was higher than the alert THI indicating HS (i.e., THI > 73). Consequently, the VT, CT, UBT, and UHT were elevated during summer HS (P < 0.05) in comparison to winter and spring. THI was positively correlated (P < 0.01) with RT, VT, CT, UBT, and UHT. Linear regression revealed that VT, CT, UBT, and UHT increased by 0.05 °C per unit of THI. VT was more highly correlated than RT with THI and with the temperature of other regions of genital tract. HS induced increases in the temperatures of different regions of the female genital tract. The relationship between THI and VT could be incorporated into a mathematical model to predict the thermal load of HS on different regions of the female genital tract.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their appreciation to Prof. Takeshi Osawa, University of Miyazaki, who provided insightful comments and suggestions for this article. We also thank all of the members of the Laboratory of Theriogenology, University of Miyazaki, Japan, for their assistance in experimental procedures.

Funding

This work was supported in part by a research grant (2011) from the Graduate School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Miyazaki.

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Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Theriogenology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Nishi 1-1, Gakuen-Kibanadai, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan

    Hossam El-Sheikh Ali, Youji Tamura & Go Kitahara

  2. Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Hossam El-Sheikh Ali

  3. Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Hossam El-Sheikh Ali

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, 889-1692, Japan

    Hiroshi Sameshima

Authors
  1. Hossam El-Sheikh Ali
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  2. Youji Tamura
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  3. Hiroshi Sameshima
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  4. Go Kitahara
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Correspondence to Go Kitahara.

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Ethical approval

All experimental procedures were approved by the institutional review board for animal experiments of the University of Miyazaki (Approval No. #2009-001-3).

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Supplementary table 1

The monthly weather conditions (AT and RH) throughout the year of the experiment (2011) (DOCX 14 kb).

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El-Sheikh Ali, H., Tamura, Y., Sameshima, H. et al. Impact of summer heat stress on the thermal environment of bovine female genital tract. Trop Anim Health Prod 52, 3449–3455 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-020-02378-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-020-02378-4

Keywords

  • Digital thermometer
  • Estradiol-17β (E2)
  • Estrous cycle
  • Female genital tract
  • Progesterone (P4)
  • Temperature gradient