Influence of the time of day and season of the year on temperature and pH of rumen in cattle

Abstract

Monitoring the temperature and pH of the contents of the rumen can be useful for assessing the state of health and detecting of cows in heat. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of time of day and season of year on the pH of the contents of rumen and its temperature in dairy cows. The research was carried out on 10 clinically healthy fi rst-calf cows of Holstein breed. Cows were milked twice a day at 05:00 and 17:00 they were housed in in a free-stall barn and fed throughout the year at the same ration balanced in accordance with their physiological need. The temperature of the contents and pH of the rumen in cows were measured using special HealthBolus boluses for the care of animals, which were produced at the Federal Research Center Agro Engineering All Russian Institute of Mechanization. The temperature of the rumen began to increase 6 hours after evening feeding and milking, and 1 hour after morning milking it began to decrease. The lowest rumen temperature was observed in spring 38,81±0,001, and the highest in autumn 39,17±0,001. The concentration of hydrogen ions of the rumen (pH) began to decrease 3 hours after morning feeding, whereas 4 hours after evening feeding it began to increase. The lowest rumen pH was observed in the summer 5,99 ± 0,001, and the highest in the autumn-spring period 6,18 ± 0,001. It has been found that the temperature of the rumen in dairy cows has been affected by the time of day and season of year, the pH of the rumen changed similarly to temperature. It was also found that the pH of the rumen has been aff ected by the time of day and season of year.