Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of electric fan installation for milk production improvement of dairy cattle in Thailand. The study was conducted using 2 small-holder dairy farms in Chiang Mai province, during April to August 2004. Electric fans were installed in front of each row of cows. Each of the two rows of cows in the barn was defined as an experimental unit, thus each farm had two experimental units. The fans were operated alternately in 7-day intervals between rows of cows within each farm during the day or between 8.00 am to 8.00 pm. Non-operation periods were used as control. Milk yields were recorded. Data on environmental temperature and humidity were obtained from Chiang Mai Meteorological Center. Result from statistically analysis of milk record suggested an interaction between lactation period and fan installation. Therefore, this interaction term of lactation period and fan installation (PERIOD_FAN) was added as a variable to the regression model. Due to the repeated data collection of milk yield from the same cow (alternate week), milk yield was analyzed by repeated measure analysis (Mixed model). Least square means were calculated for all levels and used to compare between each pair-wise values. The final data were collected from the total of 18 cows with 2,072 data. Overall means and SEM of milk yields and days in milk separated into farm were 14.7±0.06 kg/day and 176.3±2.2 days, and 15.2±0.22 kg/day and 202.5±3.7 days for farm A and farm B, respectively. For multivariable analysis, only PERIOD_FAN and humidity were significantly associated with milk yield. Only the first period of lactation showed that the amount of milk yields during fan installation was higher than that of non-fan installation (p<0.05). Cows with fan installation produced approximately 1.2 kg/cow more milk than cows without fan installation during this period. In conclusion, the use of electric fan operated during the day time increased milk production of cows during the first period of lactation. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2006. Vol 19, No. 6 : 811-815)
Highlights
Thailand is defined as a humid tropical country with an average monthly temperature-humidity-index (THI) of 75.7 (Johnson, 1989)
During hot-dry and rainy seasons in Thailand, the average temperature is always higher than 27°C with the mean THI more than 78 (Figure 2)
The humidity in Thailand is relatively high during rainy season (>80%) which results in further decrease in milk production of dairy cattle (Bianca, 1965)
Summary
Thailand is defined as a humid tropical country with an average monthly temperature-humidity-index (THI) of 75.7 (Johnson, 1989). The introduction of Holsteins would results in moderate to severe limitations in milk production potential largely due to the temperature/humidity and related nutritional factors. It was observed that milk production was reduced by high environmental temperature and humidity (Regan and Richardson, 1938; Armstrong et al, 1988). The tropical rain forest is characterized by uniformly high temperature and heavy rainfall without possessing any distinct dry season. The tropical savannah climate on the other hand is characterized by less precipitation with three distinct seasons, a rainy season (June to October), a hot dry season (March to May) and a cold dry season (November to February). In Thailand, severe decrease in milk production of dairy cattle due to high temperature and humidity may be expected during the rainy season (Pongpiachan et al, 2000)
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