Hair cortisol; Indicator; Monitoring; Phenotype; Welfare; Animal Science and Zoology
Abstract :
[en] Stress in dairy herds can occur from multiple sources. When stress becomes chronic because of a long duration and inability of animals to adapt, it is likely to deeply affect the emotional state, health, immunity, fertility and milk production of cows. While assessing chronic stress in herds would be beneficial, no real consensus has emerged from the literature regarding the indicators of interest. The goal of this study was to compare and evaluate potential biomarkers for chronic stress after inducing stress over a 4-week period through severe overstocking, restricted access to feed and isolated unusual events. A total of 30 cows were involved in the experiment and two similar groups were constituted. Over a 4-week period, the 15 cows of the stress group were housed in overstocked conditions, with 4.6 m2 per cow, including resting and feeding areas. In this area, only seven individual places at the feeding area were available for the 15 cows to generate competition for feed access. Twice during the trial and over a period of 2 h, an additional stress was induced by moving cows to an unfamiliar barn and diffusion of stressing noises (dog barking). Meanwhile, the 15 cows of the control group stayed in the original barn, with more than 10 m2 per cow and more individual places at the feeding area than cow number. On a weekly basis, several variables considered as potential biomarkers for chronic stress were recorded. Collected data were analysed using single trait linear repeated mixed models. No differences were observed regarding milk yield, BW of cows or body condition score but the milk loss was more pronounced in the stress group. The activity was more heterogeneous and the rumination of cows was lower in the stress group. The heart rate was lower in the stress group and showed more heterogeneity at the end of the stress period. No differences were observed regarding salivary cortisol, blood glucose, β-endorphin, thyroxine and leucocyte profile. A higher level of hair cortisol and blood fructosamine were observed in the stress group at the end of the stress period. Regarding the practical use of the highlighted biomarkers, milk loss may be an effective and easy way to detect general problems, including stress. The blood fructosamine and the hair cortisol concentrations are promising indicators to assess chronic stress in commercial farms.
Disciplines :
Animal production & animal husbandry
Author, co-author :
Grelet, C; Walloon Agricultural Research Center (CRA-W), 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Vanden Dries, V; Walloon Agricultural Research Center (CRA-W), 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Leblois, Julie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Ingénierie des productions animales et nutrition ; Elevéo asbl by awé groupe, 5590 Ciney, Belgium
Wavreille, José ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT
Mirabito, L; French Livestock Institute (IDELE), 75595 Paris, France
Soyeurt, Hélène ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT
The authors gratefully thank Fran?ois Rouelle, Maxence Didelez, Sophie Mathieux, Maxime Druez, Quentin Vigneron, Mohamed El Morabit, Matthieu Dubuisson, Octave Christophe, Petimat Kitaeva & Olivier Genard for their highly valuable work. The authors also acknowledge Virginie Decruyenaere, Eric Froidmont and Pierre Rondia for their help. Preprint reference: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-569271/v1. HappyMoo project and the CRA-W acknowledge INTERREG NWE (grant agreement n? NWE730) and the Walloon Region for their financial support.HappyMoo project and the CRA-W acknowledge INTERREG NWE (grant agreement n° NWE730) and the Walloon Region for their financial support.
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