Consequences of Heat Stress in Beef and Dairy Cattle, Laying and Broiler Poultry and Small Ruminants

Dear Colleagues,

We understand that animal welfare is determined as the mental and physical state in relation to the environment in which they live and die. Therefore, a good degree of animal welfare demonstrates that an individual is healthy, safe, comfortable, well nourished and free to express natural species behaviors without suffering from harmful psychological states such as frustration, pain and stress. Thus, animals have the ability to control their body temperature when exposed to high temperature variations, with thermoregulation being the mechanism responsible for homeostasis, by dissipating excess heat accumulated in the body through perspiration and peripheral circulation, resulting in increased respiration, panting and a decrease in the rate of food intake to retain metabolic heat. Therefore, one of the most common causes capable of reducing animal welfare is thermal conditions, i.e., temperatures that are too low or too high, due to anatomical reasons or the environment in which they are raised. Animals tend to prioritize homeostasis; however, when subjected to agents that trigger stress, they respond through a combination of physiological, biochemical and behavioral reactions. Therefore, heat stress causes serious negative effects on the welfare of cattle and can lead to major economic and production losses on a large scale. In addition, sweating, increased respiratory rate, water intake, vasodilation, reduced productivity, decreased milk production and, at high degrees of stress, an increased mortality rate can occur. In this context, this Special Issue seeks to present articles that have investigated heat stress and the behavior of farm animals.

Dr. Cláudio Vieira de Araújo
Dr. Raimundo Nonato Colares Camargo-Júnior
Guest Editors

Dr. Welligton Conceição da Silva
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• animal welfare
• heat stress
• cattle
• buffalo
• small ruminants
• animal physiology
• animal behavior
• sustainability