Evaporative cooling in late gestation heat-stressed transition Murrah buffaloes improves milk production through hormone-metabolite interaction

Animals adapt to stress by hormone-metabolite interaction. This is necessary to protect animal health status and subsequent milk production. To investigate this, sixteen healthy late-gestation dry Murrah buffaloes were selected and divided into two groups of eight animals each. One group of buffaloes (Cooled/CL) was managed under fan and mist cooling system during dry period. Another group (Non-cooled/NCL) remained without the provision of cooling during dry period. After parturition, all the animals were managed under evaporative cooling. Milk yield was significantly (p<0.05) higher in CL (10.25 +/- 0.23 kg/day) relative to NCL (8.92 +/- 0.17 kg/day) buffaloes without any significant variation in milk composition. The average dry matter intake was significantly (p<0.05) higher in CL as compared to NCL group. The non-esterified fatty acids were significantly (p<0.05) higher in CL relative to NCL buffaloes. Significantly (p<0.05) higher glucose level was found on the day of calving in CL as compared to NCL buffaloes. The level of insulin was higher in NCL buffaloes as compared to CL buffaloes. The growth hormone was higher in CL relative to NCL buffaloes. Evaporative cooling in late gestation therefore proves to be a potential tool to alleviate the adverse effect of thermal stress thus affecting subsequent milk production.