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Abstract
Data obtained from studies on 6 mature, pedigree Jersey cows during the New Zealand summer were used in covariance and multiple correlation analyses in an attempt to determine some of the relations among the 4 variables: rectal temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and air temperature.
Definite positive relations were found among the physiological variables which are presumably biologically inter-related. Each of the 3 was positively related to air temperature through the balance of body heat gains and losses.
The value of multiple correlation analysis has been questioned where a number of mechanisms are involved in the maintenance of a biological equilibrium, the mechanisms themselves being inter-related. However, if certain assumptions are made and if the technique is used as a means of predicting rectal temperature changes, then good predictions can be obtained from considerations of pulse rate, respiration rate, and air temperature, and lesser, but reasonable, predictions from considerations of the former 2 alone. Pulse rate appears to be more important than respiration rate in this respect.
There were important differences between cows in the relative emphasis placed on the different biological mechanisms involved in the maintenance of homeostasis.