Simultaneity between nutrition and thermoregulatory responses in ruminants

ABSTRACT

Studies on ruminant nutrition have been notable in recent years for the efficiency of the results and for providing useful information about maintaining or increasing the maximum growth rate and productive and reproductive performance of the animals. The association of several research lines can generate useful information. For the ruminants, the rumination process is a complex and occurs stimulated by the physical presence of food, which is the basis of any ruminant animal’s diet, and which above all generates endogenous heat from ruminal movements and metabolic processes that occur simultaneously. This amount of heat is associated with the absorption of heat from the external environment and can cause effects on animal performance. Thus, there is a need to study the factors and how they will directly or indirectly affect animal production, aiming at maximizing livestock production in the tropics. The objective of this review is to discuss nutritional influences in relation to thermoregulatory responses of ruminants, in addition to providing useful information from the different cases cited in the literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Body temperature
• heat stress
• hormonal secretion
• metabolism
• physiological responses

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.