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Thermoregulatory responses and reproductive traits in composite beef bulls raised in a tropical climate

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Abstract

It is believed that increased livestock production is limited by tropical climate. Thermal imbalance in bulls can lead to hyperthermia and alter testicular metabolism, causing subfertility or infertility. Therefore, the thermoregulation of composite Canchim bulls (5/8 Charolais × 3/8 Zebu) raised in tropical climate as well as their consequences in the physiological, hematological, hormonal, and andrological parameters were evaluated monthly. The bulls (n = 18; 30.0 ± 1.5 months; 503.8 ± 23.0 kg) were kept on pasture, in a single group, from August 2015 to March 2016, comprising the winter, spring, and summer seasons. Biometeorological variables were continuously monitored, and the Temperature and Humidity Index (THI) was calculated. A greater thermal challenge occurred in spring and summer (THI ≥ 72.0). Nevertheless, the bulls exhibited normothermia (38.6 to 38.9 °C) in these seasons. The cortisol did not vary between seasons (7.0 vs. 8.7 vs. 6.8 ng/mL; P > 0.05) and remained within the physiological patterns. Independent of the seasons, stress leukogram was also not observed, refuting the incidence of acute or chronic thermal stress. It is noteworthy that T3 and testosterone increased (P < 0.0001, P < 0.05) in spring and summer, the time that coincides with the breeding season, when there is increased metabolic requirement from the bulls. The progressive thermal challenge increase did not affect the scrotal thermoregulatory capacity, and in general, scrotal temperature remained at 5.2 °C below the internal body temperature. In summer, there was a 5% reduction in the minor sperm defects (P < 0.05) and DNA fragmentation in 2.4% of spermatozoa, a compatible value for high fertility bulls. The results show that the studied composite bulls can be considered as climatically adapted and constitute a viable alternative to be used in production systems in a tropical climate, even if the breeding seasons occur during the most critical thermal condition periods of the year.

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Funding

This project was financially supported by the Embrapa-Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation [BIOTEC Network (grant no. 0113060010504) and ADAPT+ (grant no. 0212020080003)], by the Federal University of Pará, and by the CNPq-National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

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  1. Federal University of Pará, Av. dos Universitários, s/n, Castanhal, 68746-360, Brazil

    Narian Romanello, José de Brito Lourenço Junior, Messy Hannear de Andrade Pantoja, Daniela Botta, Alessandro Giro & Andréa do Nascimento Barreto

  2. Laboratory of Biotechnology and Animal Reproduction, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa Livestock Southeast, Rod. Washington Luiz, km 234, São Carlos, 13560-970, Brazil

    Waldomiro Barioni Junior, Cintia Righetti Marcondes, José Ricardo Macedo Pezzopane & Alexandre Rossetto Garcia

  3. Fluminense Federal University, Rua Vital Brazil, 64, Niterói, 24230-340, Brazil

    Felipe Zandonadi Brandão & Ana Beatriz Bossois Moura

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  1. Narian Romanello
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The experiment complies with the Brazilian current laws, and all procedures performed were approved by the Committee on Experimental Animal Use and Ethics (Protocol CEUA-CPPSE Declaration 12_2014). Procedures were related according The ARRIVE Guidelines (Kilkenny et al. 2010)

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Romanello, N., de Brito Lourenço Junior, J., Barioni Junior, W. et al. Thermoregulatory responses and reproductive traits in composite beef bulls raised in a tropical climate. Int J Biometeorol 62, 1575–1586 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-018-1557-8

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