ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2016, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5): 955-961.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2016.05.012

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Analysis of Influence Factors on Cow’s Rumination and Activity in Beijing

YAN Xin-yi1,DONG Gang-hui2,XU Wei1,LIU Ao-xing1,Jose Galindez3,WANG Yan2,GUO Gang2,LI Xi-zhi2,WANG Ya-chun1*   

  1. (1.College of Animal Science & Technology,China Agricultural University,Beijing 100193,China;2.Beijing Sunlon Animal Husbandry Development Co.LTD,Beijing 100029;China;3.SCR Engineering China,Beijing 102627,China)
  • Received:2015-05-20 Online:2016-05-23 Published:2016-05-23

Abstract:

The research was conducted to monitor the daily changes of rumination patterns and physical activity of Chinese Holsteins,with the objective to reveal rules of their variation as well as their influencing factors.During the trial we monitored more than 200 cows for a period of 7 months in Sunlon’s Jinyindao dairy farm.The total duration of the project was divided into 3 periods,summer,autumn and winter,corresponding to heat stress,thermo-neutral and cold stress period for dairy cows.The General Linear Model (GLM) of SAS software (v 9.2) was used to analyze the influences of season,parity,days in milk (DIM) and sire effects on rumination time and daily activity.The results of covariance analysis indicated that season,sire,DIM had significant effects on daily rumination time (P<0.000 1) and all of the 4 factors had significant effects on daily activity (P<0.000 1).Holstein cows were easily to be influenced by heat stress in summer (THI>72) and resulting in a higher daily activity and lower rumination time compared to those in winter.Average of daily activity increased 19.26% in summer compared to that in winter,on the contrary,rumination time increased 10.36% in winter compared to that in summer.Parity had no significant effect on rumination time,however parity had significant effect on daily activity(P<0.000 1),e.g.daily activity of primiparous cows were 9.12% higher than cows in second parity.The average of daily rumination time and dairy activity were 532.5 min•d-1 and 525.1 au•d-1 in whole herd during the whole trial.Raw data of rumination time and activity was recorded every 2 hours from 00:00 to 24:00 every day.Cow’s daily activity became higher and rumination time was lower in summer in Beijing,and showed the opposite changing pattern in winter.Parity and DIM are important factors affecting daily rumination time and dairy activity.Genetic factor was represented by sire,the highly significant effect of sire on daily rumination time and dairy activity showed the possibility that we can improve individual’s heat and cold resistance by genetic selection.This results were derived from healthy individuals,which can provide the theoretical foundation for further exploring daily rumination time and activity of Chinese Holstein in the future.

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