Improving Resilience to Heat Stress
The impact of heat stress on animal production is evaluated by assessing the animal comfort. This can be measured using indices like Iberian heat tolerance test (HTC). HTC is used to evaluate heat tolerance capacity of cattle by measuring rectal temperature that rise above 101.0 °F (38.33 °C).
Higher HTC value indicates higher heat-tolerant capacity of the animal. Further, this index paid pathway for the development of other models such as coefficient of adaptability, biochemical index of heat tolerance and discomfort index or milk production decline index. The genetic resilience can be achieved through repeated selection for better performance and heat tolerance in animals. The heat tolerance capacity significantly varies between spe- cies/breeds in addition to individuals. The natural selection procedures help in the development of breeds with a better ability to withstand heat stress in tropical regions. The heat- tolerant tropical local or indigenous breeds are distinguished by their small size, low productivity and distinct morphological characters such as skin or hair type, sweating capacity, tissue insulation and special appendages in comparison with normal breeds. The sweating rate is also differing between animals of same breed due to genetic variation in thermoregulation. The heat tolerance capacity of local breeds may be propagated by cross breeding with an exotic breed to enhance the performance level. This cross breeding is successfully adopted in beef cattle and meat chicken to improve heat tolerance.28.15
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