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Animals
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Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity
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Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 9068

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jalil Ghassemi Nejad

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dept. Animal Science and Technology, College of Animal Life Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea
Interests: stress-related hormones; amino acid supplementation to ruminants; gene expression and immunity in animals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues，

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the environmental effects underlying animal health and productivity, not only in terms of hormonal responses, but also animal production and health. The Special Issue will include articles, reviews, communications, brief reports, and perspective articles.

A good understanding of the environmental effects including extreme weather events on animals is essential to minimize its harmful effects on their health and productivity. In recent years, climate change brings about new issues triggering animal health and productivity by extreme weather conditions. Understanding this will help the scientific communities to provide better strategies (e.g., nutritional and management strategies) to reduce the negative impacts of weather events on animals. The goal of this Special Issue is to publish a collection of excellent reviews and research and communication articles that focus on the field of environmental and extreme weather effects on animals. All contributions to this Special Issue must fall within the scope of the section and journal for which they are submitted, as defined in the respective mission statements.

Dr. Jalil Ghassemi Nejad
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • animal health
  • productivity
  • climate change
  • environmental
  • extreme weather

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 859 KiB  
Article
Heat Stress Trends in Regions of Intensive Turkey Production in Germany—A Challenge in Times of Climate Change
by Björn Sake, Nina Volkmann, Nicole Kemper and Jochen Schulz
Animals 2024, 14(1), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010072 - 24 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1232
Abstract
This study analyzed trends of enthalpy and the temperature–humidity index (THI) over a period of 50 years in outer air, which lead to severe heat stress in turkeys. Weather station data from 15 German districts with high densities of turkey production were used [...] Read more.
This study analyzed trends of enthalpy and the temperature–humidity index (THI) over a period of 50 years in outer air, which lead to severe heat stress in turkeys. Weather station data from 15 German districts with high densities of turkey production were used to investigate the heat input into the barns. Therefore, the parameters of enthalpy and THI with specified thresholds were used for heat stress assessment. Trends in extreme weather situations where these thresholds were exceeded were analyzed and tested for significance using the Mann–Kendall test. In all districts, the heat load increased between 1973 and 2022 for both parameters. Statistically significant heat stress trends were found in 9 of the 15 districts for enthalpy and 14 out of 15 districts for THI. Thus, the established THI thresholds seem to be more sensitive for the detection of heat stress than the chosen enthalpy values. As heat stress is an important issue and a rising concern in times of climate change, farmers and constructors of farm animal facilities should take this into account in future sustainable work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity)
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12 pages, 1536 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Stress Levels in Lactating Cattle: Analyzing Cortisol Residues in Commercial Milk Products in Relation to the Temperature-Humidity Index
by Mohammad Ataallahi, Si Nae Cheon, Geun-Woo Park, Eska Nugrahaeningtyas, Jung Hwan Jeon and Kyu-Hyun Park
Animals 2023, 13(15), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13152407 - 25 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1611
Abstract
Chronic stress in the dairy cattle industry has negative impacts on animal health, productivity, and welfare. It has been confirmed that cortisol transfers to milk and resists the high temperature during milk processing. This study evaluated the relationship between the milk cortisol concentration [...] Read more.
Chronic stress in the dairy cattle industry has negative impacts on animal health, productivity, and welfare. It has been confirmed that cortisol transfers to milk and resists the high temperature during milk processing. This study evaluated the relationship between the milk cortisol concentration (MCC) in commercial milk products and the temperature-humidity index (THI) at the time of milk production. Eleven commercially produced pasteurized and sterilized milk products, purchased in Chuncheon, Korea, with production dates ranging from July to October 2021 were analyzed. The MCC was extracted using diethyl ether and analyzed using an enzyme immunoassay. The average THI values based on microclimate data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration were 77 ± 0.8, 75 ± 1.4, 69 ± 1.4, and 58 ± 1.8, in July, August, September, and October, respectively. The average MCC levels were 211.9 ± 95.1, 173.5 ± 63.8, 109.6 ± 53.2, and 106.7 ± 33.7 pg/mL in July, August, September, and October, respectively. The MCC in July was higher than in August, September, and October (p < 0.05), while it was lower in September and October than in August (p < 0.05). Significant variations in the MCC were observed in commercial milk products across the four production months (p < 0.05), except for two milk products. Overall, monitoring the cortisol residue in commercial dairy milk products can be an alternative indicator of stress in dairy cattle of farms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity)
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14 pages, 1380 KiB  
Article
Effects of Environmental Temperature and Humidity on Milk Composition, Microbial Load, and Somatic Cells in Milk of Holstein Dairy Cows in the Northeast Regions of Iran
by Abdolhakim Toghdory, Taghi Ghoorchi, Mohammad Asadi, Mostafa Bokharaeian, Mojtaba Najafi and Jalil Ghassemi Nejad
Animals 2022, 12(18), 2484; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12182484 - 19 Sep 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3163
Abstract
The present study aims to examine the relationships between temperature and humidity and milk composition, microbial load, and somatic cells in the milk of Holstein dairy cows. For this purpose, the temperature–humidity index, ambient temperature, and relative humidity data were obtained from the [...] Read more.
The present study aims to examine the relationships between temperature and humidity and milk composition, microbial load, and somatic cells in the milk of Holstein dairy cows. For this purpose, the temperature–humidity index, ambient temperature, and relative humidity data were obtained from the nearest weather stations. Production data were obtained from four dairy farms in Golestan province, Iran, collected from 2016 to 2021. The traits investigated were protein, fat, solids-not-fat (SNF), microbial load, and somatic cell count (SCC) in milk. The effects of the environmental temperature, humidity, month, and season on the milk composition, microbial load, and somatic cells were analyzed through analysis of variance. The effects of environmental temperature, humidity, month, and season on the milk composition, microbial load, and somatic cell composition were analyzed using a mixed procedure with a restricted maximum likelihood model. Although our findings revealed that there were significant differences in fat, protein, SNF, and SCC among the different months of the year (p < 0.01), no significant difference was observed in the total microbial count in milk. Environmental temperature presented significant impacts on fat, protein, SNF, SCC, and total microbial count within various temperature ranges (p < 0.01). When the temperature increased from 6.2 °C to 31.3 °C, the milk protein, fat, SNF, and somatic cell count significantly decreased, by approximately 4.09%, 5.75%, 1.31%, and 16.8%, respectively; meanwhile, the microbial count in milk significantly increased, by approximately 13.7%. Humidity showed an influence on fat, protein, non-fat solids, somatic cells, and total microbial count within different temperature ranges (p < 0.01). When the humidity increased from 54% to 82%, the milk protein, fat, SNF, and SCC significantly increased, by approximately 3.61%, 4.84%, 1.06%, and 10.2%, respectively; meanwhile, the microbial count in milk significantly decreased, by approximately 16.3%. The results demonstrate that there is a negative correlation between different months of the year, temperature, and the humidity of the environment, in terms of milk components and SCC. Our findings demonstrate that the optimum performance, in terms of milk composition, occurred in the first quarter of the year. As temperature increases and humidity decreases, milk quality decreases. Therefore, the adverse effects of environmental conditions on agricultural profits are not negligible, and strategies to better deal with the negative environmental effects are needed in order to improve milk quality in dairy cows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity)
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15 pages, 1456 KiB  
Article
Farmers’ Risk Perception on Climate Change: Transhumance vs. Semi-Intensive Sheep Production Systems in Türkiye
by Sezen Ocak Yetisgin, Hasan Önder, Uğur Şen, Dariusz Piwczyński, Magdalena Kolenda, Beata Sitkowska and Ceyhun Yucel
Animals 2022, 12(15), 1992; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12151992 - 06 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2092
Abstract
Sheep farmers’ perceptions of climate change and its impacts and the adaptation strategies they consider to address these risks are of great importance in ensuring the resilience of farming practice. This study focused on sheep farmers’ perception of climate change and the risks [...] Read more.
Sheep farmers’ perceptions of climate change and its impacts and the adaptation strategies they consider to address these risks are of great importance in ensuring the resilience of farming practice. This study focused on sheep farmers’ perception of climate change and the risks and actions taken to mitigate these impacts. A total of 68 surveys were carried out among sheep farmers (39 transhumance and 29 semi-intensive farmers) by two different representative production systems in Türkiye. Variables regarding the socio-economic profile, climate change impacts, and adaptation strategies were identified and analyzed. Principal component analysis and a Pearson Chi-square test were used to evaluate the data. Both farmers’ groups accepted and perceived climate change, showing good awareness and perception. The farmers’ attitudes towards adaptation to climate change were associated with production systems. Transhumance farmers had limited adaptation and coping strategies compared to semi-intensive farmers. Transhumance farmers focused mainly on selling livestock (mostly to cope with degraded natural grassland/feed deficiency) as an adaptive strategy. In contrast, semi-intensive farmers focused on modifying their farm management and feed operations, such as changing the feed ratio and supplement use, improving water and feed storage, and considering crop feed production. The knowledge obtained from this study could be helpful for farmers and policymakers who develop long-term small ruminant production strategies that consider the effects of climate change and adapt them to different farming systems in the Türkiye. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather Event Impacts on Animal Health and Productivity)
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