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. 2023 Apr 12;13(8):1321.
doi: 10.3390/ani13081321.

Does Parity Influence the Magnitude of the Stress Response of Nellore Cows at Weaning?

Camila de Paula  1 , Luciana Navajas Rennó  1 , Matheus Fellipe de Lana Ferreira  2 , Samira Silveira Moreira  1 , Hudson Caio Martins  1 , Isabela Iria Rodrigues  1 , Edenio Detmann  1 , Sebastião de Campos Valadares Filho  1 , Mário Fonseca Paulino  1
Affiliations

Does Parity Influence the Magnitude of the Stress Response of Nellore Cows at Weaning?

Camila de Paula et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Most studies investigate the impact of stress at weaning on calves; however, little is known about the responses of cows, and whether they would differ according to parity. This study aims to investigate whether parity would influence the weaning stress response in beef cows. Thirty pregnant Nellore cows with their respective calves were randomly allocated to five paddocks and two females from each parity group were placed in the paddocks. There was an interaction (p < 0.05) between parity and evaluation days regarding cortisol, where on d + 7, the higher concentration was observed for multiparous cows. There was an interaction (p < 0.05) between parity and evaluation day for red blood cells (RBC), hematocrit (HCT), and hemoglobin (HB), whereby higher RBC counts on d + 4 were observed for multiparous cows. For HCT and HB, on all post-weaning collection days, higher values were observed for multiparous cows. The day of evaluation had an (p < 0.05) effect on all recorded behaviors, except for rumination (p > 0.05). Nellore cows, regardless of parity, underwent behavioral and physiological changes on abrupt weaning. Physiological parameters indicated that the magnitude of stress was greater in multiparous cows.

Keywords: behaviors; cattle; ceruloplasmin; cortisol; grazing; number of vocalizations; physiology; red blood cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The body weight of Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other for all parity orders (p < 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cortisol (a), ceruloplasmin (b), and haptoglobin (c) serum concentrations in Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other for all parity orders (p < 0.05). On days with asterisks (*), there is a parity × day interaction (p < 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cortisol (a), ceruloplasmin (b), and haptoglobin (c) serum concentrations in Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other for all parity orders (p < 0.05). On days with asterisks (*), there is a parity × day interaction (p < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total proteins (a) and albumin (b) serum concentrations in Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other for all parity orders (p < 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Red blood cell number (RBC; (a)), Hematocrit percentage (HCT; (b)), and hemoglobin concentration (HB; (c)) in Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. On days with asterisks (*) there is a parity x day interaction (p < 0.05).
Figure 5
Figure 5
White blood cell number (WBC; (a)), lymphocyte number (b), and neutrophil number (c) in Nellore cows with different parity under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other for all parity orders (p < 0.05).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Grazing (a), idle time (b), trough time (c), pacing (d), and walking (e) in Nellore cows under grazing according to the days relative to weaning. Days with different superscripts differ from each other (p < 0.05).
Figure 7
Figure 7
The number of vocalizations recorded in Nellore cows under grazing according to the days relative to weaning (a) and in primiparous (white), secundiparous (grey), and multiparous cows (black) on d + 1 after weaning (b). Days with different superscripts differ from each other (p < 0.05).
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