Effects of Climate Change on Growth Characteristics of Lambs and Kids

Abstract

Climate change is currently an indisputable fact and the recent increase in ambient temperature is one of the indicators of the changing climate scenario. Various effects of climate change directly and indirectly affect ruminant livestock farming negatively, resulting in negative economic consequences for producers. Heat stress, which has effects on physiological, hormonal and behavioural responses in livestock, is one of the most important factors affecting the health, performance, welfare and physiological responses of livestock, especially with the emergence of climate change that causes temperature increase in different parts of the world. Animals experience heat stress when ambient temperature, humidity or other environmental variables exceed the upper limit of the thermo-neutral zone and animals are unable to dissipate sufficient heat to maintain homeothermy. The negative impact of heat stress not only affects the performance of animals, but also causes an increase in oxidative stress and alters immune functions. An animal's growth is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. In general, animals under temperature stress reduce their growth, production and reproductive performance to adapt to high ambient temperature conditions. In association with heat stress, reduced feed intake and decreased anabolic activity due to increased tissue catabolism are the main causes of growth retardation in livestock. It is known that the most important factor affecting productivity in sheep and goat breeding is offspring yield. In ovine breeding, lamb and kid incomes depend on the level of fertility, the proportion of lambs and kids raised and the live weight of lambs and kids. The high number of lambs and kids at birth is only meaningful with the low lamb and kid mortality until weaning or marketing period. For this reason, reproductive efficiency measures are economically valid according to the growth results. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of climate change on growth characteristics of lambs and kids.