TY - JOUR AU - Paudel, Tulasi Prasad AU - Acharya, Buddhi Ram AU - Karki, Dainik Bahadur AU - Shrestha, Bhola Shankar PY - 2018/12/09 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Effect of heat stress on crossbred dairy cattle in tropical Nepal: Impact on blood parameters JF - Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources JA - J. Agric. Nat. Res. VL - 1 IS - 1 SE - Research Articles DO - 10.3126/janr.v1i1.22237 UR - https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/janr/article/view/22237 SP - 223-230 AB - <p>Chitwan district of Nepal has been known as the dairy kingdom of the country considering its strategic location and<br>potential to easily provision inputs and produce as well as market quality milk across the country. However, the<br>climate especially during summer has been a challenge to farmers that potentially compromise the daily milk yield<br>of cows. Therefore, sixteen crossbred dairy cattle were placed in a RCBD fashion to assess the impacts of cold water<br>bathing in ameliorating effect of heat stress on their performance and body physiology. Routine assessment of the<br>microclimate within the experimental shed and blood parameters was made. The results from the experiment<br>inferred that frequency of bathing (none, once, twice or thrice a day) did not have any significant impact on<br>Haemoglobin, Haematocrit, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride and Bicarbonate levels in the blood plasma(p&gt;0.05). In<br>addition, the animals did not exhibit any signs of physiological distress clinically either. A detailed study scoping<br>temperature humidity index and over a number of other milk and blood parameters are to be tested across a number<br>of other available breeds too in order for the researchers to come to a meaningful strategy to beat the heat stress.</p> ER -