Impact of Adverse Environmental Stress on Productive and Reproductive Performance in Osmanabadi Goats

Abstract

Among the livestock species, goats have notable characteristics that make it peculiar to outshine competently in harsh tropical and subtropical environments. Osmanabadi goat breed is a dual purpose (meat and milk) hardy goat breed native to the states of Maharashtra and its adjoining states belonging to the tropical semiarid regions in India. The results from the available literatures indicate the extreme adaptive capability of Osmanabadi goats to the extreme climatic condition. It has been proved that if nutrition is not compromised, Osmanabadi goats were found to cope with heat stress (HS) challenges without compromising production. In males, HS impacts reproduction directly by reducing the semen volume, sperm motility, higher sperm defects, and reduces libido. These impacts were aggravated when feed scarcity coupled with HS. Further, the various experimental findings established that the Osmanabadi goats possessed superior adaptive capability to counter HS through their ability to alter the behavioral, physiological, endocrinological, and different thermotolerant gene expression patterns. In addition, lying time, drinking frequency, respiration rate, rectal temperature, plasma heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), and peripheral blood mononuclear cell HSP70 gene were reported to be the ideal biological markers to quantify the impact of environmental stress in Osmanabadi goats. Also, higher expression of toll-like-receptor 8 (TLR8) and TLR10 in heat-stressed Osmanabadi goats indicated that these two genes could be the immunological markers for HS in goats.