Ciencia y tecnología veterinaria

Weather Conditions and Rumen Temperature and pH in Lidia Cattle

Abstract

García JJ, Bartolomé DJ, Posado R, Zúñiga JA, Montañés M and Bodas R

The aim of this work was to study the relationship between meteorological parameters (relative humidity, rainfall, temperature and wind speed) and rumen environment (pH and temperature) in extensively reared Lidia cattle. Five four year old Lidia breed bulls have been used. All the animals received 10 kg of a TMR (total mixed rations, ratio forage:concentrate 33:67) per animal and day, supplied by means of unifeed wagon once a day. The bulls had free access to a pasture (dehesa) area of 17 hectares. Rumen pH and temperature ruminal were continuously measured using a wireless internal pH and temperature probe. Meteorological parameters (temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind speed) were registered and provided by the AEMET (State Agency of Meteorology). The correlations were performed using the software SPSS 16.0 for Windows. It has been observed that rainfall, relative humidity and temperature have a relationship with rumen environment. Conversely, wind speed does not seem to influence the rumen conditions (pH and temperature).