Heat Stress Responses in Small Ruminants under Arid and Semi-arid Regions of Western India: A Review

Abstract

The main purpose of this review was to demonstrate the current state of the investigations on the responses of body weight, physiological and blood biochemical variables in the small ruminants (sheep and goats) reared in hot arid and semi-arid regions of western India. In recent years, scientific research has made it possible to measure how different breeds of sheep and goat respond to climatic influences and manage to be homoeothermic and adapt to various environmental conditions. The exposure of sheep and goats to heat stress leads to alterations in the physiological and biochemical profiles of blood and also affect the body weight, rectal temperature, respiratory rate, pulse rate, blood plasma properties, production, reproduction, milk quantity and its quality. There are some studies which prove that the central nervous system is susceptible to the deviations in body temperature and also that some cells are more agile in the cold than in heat. In summary, we mention that in different breeds, the rearing environment and its environmental variability can trigger the feed intake efficiency and utilization, body growth, physiological changes and biochemical changes in the blood which lead to heat increment in the body’s thermal balance.