Seasonal changes in hematological and biochemical profile of dairy cows at high altitude cold desert

Abstract

Cattle are the main source of livelihood for small farmers in high altitude cold desert. They also provide draught power, social and cultural strength. Cattle, therefore, contribute to subsistence farming and enhance the sustainability of smallholder farming systems. Determination of nutritional and health status of cattle is important in modern animal agriculture. Haematological and biochemical aids have been used to identify status of cattle. Keeping this in view, the present study was undertaken to establish hematological and biochemical responses on milk production of Jersey cows at high altitude production in two different seasons (summer and winter). For each period, ambient temperature and relative humidity were recorded and the temperature-humidity index (THI) was calculated as indicator of thermal comfort for cattle. A total of 140 (70 cows in each season) clinically healthy lactating Jersey cows aged 2 – 17 years at 3327 – 3575-meter altitude from mean sea level in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, were used to evaluate the effect of environmental conditions on haematological parameters. The hematological parameters were estimated by using an automatic blood analyzer and biochemical test performed by the serum semi-auto analyzer. Among the hematological parameters, white blood cell (WBC), lymphocyte (LYM), granulocytes (GRAN), red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and platelets (PLT) were analyzed. The results showed a significant difference in most of the parameters due to the variation in ambient temperature, relative humidity and temperature-humidity index. A significant increase (p<0.05) in RBC, Hb, and HCT was recorded in winter season as compared to the summer season. MCV, MCH, MCHC and PLT levels also exhibited the similar trend whereas, the WBC, lymphocyte, monocytes, and granulocytes values found were higher in summer compared to the winter season (p<0.05). However, in case of biochemical profile, glucose and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in summer season but level of albumin went significantly higher (p<0.05) in the winter season. Milk production level was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the summer season. These results provide an insight into the hematological and biochemical responses of Jersey cows to different environmental conditions. As the hematological and biochemical profiles of dairy cows has been altered in response to the different season which ultimately affected on the milk production. This study will be helpful for the better dairy cattle management in different seasons for higher production at the cold arid high altitude region.