Effects of Heat Stress on Animal Reproduction and Production
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 456
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Heat stress involves undesirable effects on primary and functional traits in ruminants and, as a result, on the general productivity and profitability of these livestock systems. The increasing number of days with risky hot temperatures due to global warming suggests that it is vital to detect the heat stress status of animals based on adequate parameters, as well as to protect the animals, especially when they are raised and managed outdoors. This kind of thermal stress is associated with decreased feed intake, altered metabolism, compromised performance, impaired reproductive efficiency, and increased disease incidence. High metabolic heat production often requires robust thermoregulatory mechanisms to maintain body temperature inside the thermoneutral zone and thus the physiological homeostasis. Ruminants under intensive production systems are more sensitive to high environmental temperatures, so their easily undergo internal metabolism imbalance and inflammation, resulting in increased production and reproduction losses. The behavior of ruminants is also altered under heat stress conditions, which is a response intended to avoid the high heat loads that lead to hyperthermia.
This Special Issue looks at the main effects of heat stress on several productive and reproductive parameters in ruminants, as well as ways to mitigate them to avoid losses in terms of overall animal productivity.
Dr. Leonel Avendaño-Reyes
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- hot environment
- body temperature
- milk production and composition
- daily weight gain
- growth rate
- conception rate
- reproductive efficiency
- fertility
- semen quality
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