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H. W. Liu, Y. Cao, D. W. Zhou, Effects of shade on welfare and meat quality of grazing sheep under high ambient temperature, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 90, Issue 13, December 2012, Pages 4764–4770, https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2012-5361
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Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of providing shade on growth performance, welfare, and meat quality of grazing sheep under high ambient temperature. A total of 120 healthy male Ujumqin wool sheep (a local breed; BW = 18.7 ± 1.27 kg; 14 wk old) were randomly and equally divided into shaded and unshaded treatments with 3 pens per treatment. Sheep were grazed on an unshaded pastureland from 0600 to 1000 h and 1400 to 1800 h. During other times, sheep were confined in shaded or unshaded pens. Body weight was recorded on d 1 and 42 of the experiment. Rectal temperature and respiration rate were recorded on d 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42. At end of the trial, sheep were blood sampled and slaughtered to collect meat samples. Respiration rate was greater (P < 0.05) in the unshaded sheep than shaded sheep on d 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 of the trial whereas no significant differences were found on d 7. Moreover, no differences were observed in final BW, ADG, or rectal temperature throughout the trial. The pH at 24 h postmortem (pH24) and cooking loss were greater (P < 0.01) in unshaded than shaded sheep. On the contrary, lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values at 24 h postmortem were lower (P < 0.05) in unshaded versus shaded sheep. The sheep in the unshaded group had a greater (P < 0.05) cortisol concentration compared with the shaded group. Sheep in the shaded group had lower creatine kinase activity (P < 0.01) as well as observed for glucose (P < 0.05), triiodothyronine (P < 0.01), and thyroxine (P < 0.05) concentrations and white blood cell count (P < 0.05). Compared with the unshaded group, sheep in the shaded group had a greater lymphocytes (LYM) count (P < 0.05). In contrast, the opposite was true for neutrophils (NEU) count (P < 0.01) and NEU:LYM ratio (P < 0.01). In conclusion, the shade cloth, although not enhancing ADG, improved meat quality traits and certain stress parameters in grazing sheep reared under high ambient temperature.
