Association of temperature humidity index during summer with haematological parameters in native and crossbred goats of Kerala

Yamin Debia,Beena V,Zarina Aziz,Ramnath V,Venkatachalapathy R Thirupathy

doi:10.51966/jvas.2021.52.3.222-227

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the association of temperature humidity index (THI) during summer with haematological responses in Malabari, crossbred and Attappady goats of Kerala. The research work was conducted at University Goat and Sheep Farm, KVASU, Mannuthy, Thrissur district in Kerala from March to May, 2020. In-house temperature and in-house relative humidity were measured daily at 7.00 AM, 10.00 AM, 2.00 PM and 5.00 PM. Haematological parameters such as total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leucocyte count (TLC), haemoglobin concentration (Hb), volume of packed red cells (VPRC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were analysed during 2nd, 32nd day and 60th day of the study. There was no significant change in TEC, VPRC levels in between the breeds and within the observed days. However, TLC were significantly increased for Malabari goats and MCHC were significantly increased in all the breeds at 32nd day of study period. The Hb concentration were significantly increased in crossbred and Attappady black at 32nd day of study period. There was a significant decrease in MCV values in 2nd and 32nd day for all the breeds. The study demonstrated certain altered hematological features in all the breeds under study indicating the adaptive ability of these animals during heat stress.

Highlights

The study was conducted to investigate the association of temperature humidity index (THI) during summer with haematological responses in Malabari, crossbred and Attappady goats of Kerala
Goats are known for their tolerance to heat stress but they suffer from thermal stress beyond their comfort zone and environmental temperatures for goats fall in the range between 13-27oC (Mishra, 2009)
The observation was in accordance with Alam et al (2011), Bhatta et al (2014), Okoruwa (2014) and Habibu et al (2017) who found an elevated haemoglobin concentration (Hb) in goats in the afternoon than in the morning which could be due to high demand for oxygen which in turn necessitated high concentration of red blood cells to support respiratory activity under heat stress condition

Summary

Introduction

The study was conducted to investigate the association of temperature humidity index (THI) during summer with haematological responses in Malabari, crossbred and Attappady goats of Kerala. Temperature humidity index (THI), a reliable indicator of stressful thermal environment could be used for measuring the heat load in animals. This study was undertaken to assess the association of THI with haematological parameters in Malabari, crossbred and Attappady goats of Kerala.

Results

Conclusion