Abstract
Simple SummaryHair cortisol concentrations are measured for the assessment of long-term stress in animals. The objective of this study was to assess the levels of stress in retired, abandoned and unproductive cows housed in traditional shelters through the measurement of their hair cortisol levels. The study further aimed to explore the association of the hair cortisol concentrations with other cow and resource-based welfare indicators. High hair cortisol levels were associated with dung lying in the sheds, low dry bulb temperature and shelters having little access to the yards. At the cow level, high hair cortisol levels were associated with injuries on the joints and body, dehydration, old age, and low body hair loss level. The study concluded that hair cortisol is an effective tool to assess stress levels in cows under field conditions.India, the country with the largest population of dairy cows in the world, has a policy of retiring abandoned and non-lactating cows in shelters, but the level of provision for their welfare in these shelters is unclear. Cows in 54 shelters across India were assessed for historic evidence of physiological stress, through determination of hair cortisol in 540 samples from 10 cows in each shelter by enzyme immunoassay. Animal-based and shelter resource-based welfare measures were recorded and correlations with the hair cortisol investigated by multivariable analysis. High hair cortisol concentrations were associated with dung in the lying area of the cowshed, a low dry bulb temperature there and little cow access to yards, as shelter-based variables. At a cow level, high hair cortisol concentrations were associated with dirty flanks, hock joint ulceration, carpal joint injuries, body lesions, dehydration, an empty rumen, old age, and low levels of body hair loss. Hair cortisol level promises to be an effective biomarker of stress in cows when conducting studies under field conditions.
Highlights
Hair cortisol is a biomarker of chronic stress in animals and its analysis provides an objective assessment of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity over a long time period [1]
The purpose of this study was, to assess hair cortisol concentrations in a range of old, retired and unproductive cows housed in traditional cow shelters or retirement homes in India and explore its association with other indicators of welfare, measured both on the cows and in their housing conditions
Hair cortisol concentrations in shelters cows were elevated by the dirtiness of the cows, swellings and injuries of the limbs and body, age lactation and dehydration in the cows in the shelters
Summary
Hair cortisol is a biomarker of chronic stress in animals and its analysis provides an objective assessment of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity over a long time period [1]. The other matrices for detection of cortisol, principally urine, blood, saliva and faeces, cannot provide long term retrospective evaluations of cortisol [12,13,14]. Hair cortisol analysis is more reliable to assess long term stress than blood, saliva, urine and faeces because the sebum of hair has lipophilic properties, which facilitate the effective binding and aggregation of the circulating cortisol in the shafts [1,5,11,13,15]. Animals 2019, 9, 248 detect long-term retrospective levels of cortisol in farm animals, principally cattle [9,13,15,16,17,18,19]. It has been analysed in humans [12], dogs [20], horses [21], pigs [22] and wild animals, such as rhesus macaques [10], polar bears [4], rats [23], coyotes [24], and kangaroos [25] for studying reproductive and adrenal endocrinology
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