USDA grant supports Ļć½¶Ö±²„research into dairy cattle heat stress
Contact: Erin Buckley
STARKVILLE, Miss.āMississippi State scientists are studying new ways to mitigate heat stress in dairy cattleāa national problem costing the industry approximately $1.5 billion in lost productionāthanks to a $300,000 New Investigator Seed Grant from the USDAās National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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The Ļć½¶Ö±²„Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Stationās Joe Bearden Dairy Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine and Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology are collaborating on a two-year study unraveling the crosstalk between rumen microbiota and the enteric and central nervous systems in dairy cattle under heat stress. This improved understanding will help researchers develop innovative mitigation strategies targeting this rumen-brain-microbiome axis that can be shared with producers.
Leading the team is Peixin Fan, an assistant professor in MSUās Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, along with ADS faculty members and MAFES researchers Caleb Lemley, Derris Devost-Burnett and Rhonda Vann.
āDairy cows sweat less efficiently compared to humans but generate more heat during lactation, so keeping them comfortable during high-heat events is necessary, particularly in the southern region of the U.S. with the hot and humid climate,ā Fan said. āHeat stress reduces appetite and affects rumen fermentation, both of which are closely linked to the loss of milk yield. In addition to extracting nutrients from feed and providing energy to animal hosts, certain gastrointestinal microbes can produce neuroactive compounds and have potential to affect animal behavior.ā
Better understanding of how heat affects cows is expected to unlock innovative strategies for improving animal resilience, a vital need for Southeastern dairies, Lemley said.
āProducers can utilize cooling strategies, such as sprinklers and fans, to improve cow performance,ā he said. āOur understanding of the relationship between heat stress and gut microbial communities, however, is severely limited, which is what Dr. Fanās novel research aims to address.ā
For more on the Ļć½¶Ö±²„Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, visit . The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station is available online at .
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