Heat stress effects on the lactation performance, reproduction, and alleviating nutritional strategies in dairy cattle, a review

Abstract

Heat stress response in dairy cattle affects milk production, quality, body temperature, and other parameters. Dairy cows will most likely experience increased heat stress with unabated global warming. Elevated temperatures and humidity reduce feed intake, harm reproductive potential， and reduce milk production. Heat stress is more common in high-yielding cows than in low-yielding ones. In addition to reducing milk production, heat stress can also reduce milk quality. During lactation, internal metabolic heat production can further reduce cattle's substances to high temperatures, resulting in altered milk composition and decreased milk yield. Several studies proposed various nutritional strategies such as dietary fats, dietary fibers, microbial diets, mineral substances, vitamins, metal ion buffers, plant extracts, and other anti-stress additives. This review addresses the challenging study on the effects of heat stress on nutritional and fed intake perturbations, milk and components yield, immune system activation, and reproduction parameters. It proves that specific nutritional strategies effectively mitigate the harmful effects of heat stress in dairy cattle.