LaMMA Consortium-Laboratory of Monitoring and Environmental Modelling for Sustainable Development, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
Fondazione per il Clima e la Sostenibilità, Via G. Caproni, 50146, Florence, Italy.
Int J Biometeorol. 2023 Oct;67(10):1555-1567. doi: 10.1007/s00484-023-02510-7. Epub 2023 Aug 1.
Many studies have reported that the impact of high temperatures affects physiology, welfare, health, and productivity of farm animals, and among these, the dairy cattle farming is one of the livestock sectors that suffers the greatest effects. The temperature-humidity index (THI) represents the state of the art in the evaluation of heat stress conditions in dairy cattle but often its measurement is not carried out in sheds. For this reason, the aim of this study was the monitoring of the THI in three dairy cattle farms in Mugello (Tuscany) to understand its influence on dairy cows. THI values were calculated using meteorological data from direct observation in sheds and outdoor environments. Data relating to the animal's behavior were collected using radio collars. The Pearson test and Mann-Kendall test were used for statistical analysis. The results highlighted a significant (P < 0.001) upward trend in THImax during the last 30 years both in Low Mugello (+ 1.1 every 10 years) and in High Mugello (+ 0.9 every 10 years). In Low Mugello sheds, during the period 2020-2022, more than 70% of daytime hours during the summer period were characterized by heat risk conditions (THI > 72) for livestock. On average the animals showed a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in time spent to feeding and rumination, both during the day and the night, with a significant (P < 0.001) increase in inactivity. This study fits into the growing demand for knowledge of the micro-climatic conditions within farms in order to support resilience actions for protecting both animal welfare and farm productivity from the effects of climate change. This could also be carried out thanks to estimation models which, based on the meteorological conditions forecast, could implement the thermal stress indicator (THI) directly from the high-resolution meteorological model, allowing to get a prediction of the farm's potential productivity loss based on the expected THI.
许多研究报告指出，高温对农场动物的生理、福利、健康和生产力都有影响，其中，奶牛养殖业是受影响最大的畜牧业之一。温湿度指数（THI）是评估奶牛热应激的最新指标，但通常在牛舍中并不进行测量。因此，本研究的目的是监测 Mugello（托斯卡纳）的三个奶牛场的 THI，以了解其对奶牛的影响。THI 值是使用牛舍和户外环境的直接观测气象数据计算得出的。使用无线电项圈收集有关动物行为的数据。采用 Pearson 检验和 Mann-Kendall 检验进行统计分析。结果表明，过去 30 年，在 Low Mugello（+1.1 每 10 年）和 High Mugello（+0.9 每 10 年），THImax 呈显著上升趋势（P<0.001）。在 Low Mugello 牛舍，2020-2022 年期间，夏季超过 70%的白天时间存在畜热风险条件（THI>72）。平均而言，动物的采食和反刍时间显著减少（P<0.001），无论是白天还是晚上，活动量显著增加（P<0.001）。这项研究符合人们对农场微气候条件知识的需求不断增长的趋势，以便支持保护动物福利和农场生产力免受气候变化影响的弹性行动。这也可以通过估算模型来实现，这些模型可以根据气象条件的预测，直接从高分辨率气象模型中实施热应激指标（THI），根据预期的 THI 预测农场的潜在生产力损失。
