Rectal temperature responses of donkeys administered with ascorbic acid and subjected to load carrying (packing) during the harmattan season in Nigeria.
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Date
2013
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Abstract
The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the
effect of 4-h load carrying (packing) on donkeys administered
with ascorbic acid (AA) during the harmattan season.
Six donkeys administered orally with ascorbic acid
(200 mg/kg) and subjected to packing served as experimental
animals, while six others given only distilled water
served as control animals. The rectal temperature (RT) of
each donkey and dry-bulb temperature (DBT) and relative
humidity (RH) of the research pen were recorded at 0600
hours pre-packing; while post-packing, the values were
obtained at 1430, 1600 and 1800 hours. The DBT values
(ranges) recorded before, during and after packing were
13.7±1.3 °C (11–15 °C), 28.4±1.0 °C (22.7–30.3 °C) and
30.6±3.0 °C (19.8–45 °C), respectively. The highest temperature–
humidity index (THI) of 83.4±6.9 was obtained at
1430 hours after packing, and the value decreased to 64.2±
5.8 at 1800 hours. The thermal environmental conditions
were outside the thermoneutral zone for the donkeys. The
RT values recorded immediately after packing did not differ
(P>0.05) in experimental and control donkeys; but at 1600and 1800 hours, values obtained in control donkeys (38.48±
0.12 and 38.12±0.12 °C, respectively) were significantly
higher (P<0.05) than those recorded in experimental
donkeys (38.16±0.14 and 37.85±0.14 °C, respectively). In
conclusion, administration of ascorbic acid reduced the rise
in RT due to packing and may be of value in the amelioration
of adverse effects of heat stress associated with work in
donkeys.
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Keywords
Rectal temperature ., Ascorbic acid ., Load carrying ., Harmattan season, Harmattan season
Citation
9