Effect of heat stress on rumen temperature of three breeds of cattle.

Thirty-six steers (12 of each Angus, Charolais, and Brahman) with an initial BW of 318.5 ± 6.7 kg were used in a 130-day study. Two treatments were imposed: un-shaded and shaded (3 m/animal; 90% solar block shade cloth). On day 1, steers were administered with rumen temperature boluses. Rumen temperatures (T ) were obtained at 10 min intervals over the duration of the study to determine differences in T between Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle. Six feedlot pens (162 m) were used with six steers (2/breed) per pen with three pens/treatment. Ambient dry bulb temperature (T ; °C), relative humidity (RH; %), wind speed (WS; m/s) and direction, and solar radiation (SR; W/m) were recorded at 10 min intervals. Rainfall (mm) was collected daily at 0900 h. From these data, black globe temperature (BGT; °C), temperature humidity index (THI), heat load index (HLI), and accumulated heat load (AHL) were calculated. Individual T were converted to an hourly average and then mean hourly T were converted to a mean within hour T across the 130 days. Rumen temperatures were analyzed using an autoregressive repeated measures model. The model analyzed the effect of breed (P < 0.0002), treatment (P = 0.3543), time of day (hour, h; P < 0.0001), breed × treatment (P < 0.3683), breed × h (P < 0.0001), treatment × h (P < 0.0001), breed × treatment × h (P = 0.0029), pen within treatment (P = 0.0195), and animal × breed × treatment within pen (P = 0.1041). Furthermore, there were breed × treatment × hour differences in T (P = 0.0036), indicating that Bos indicus and Bos taurus regulate T differently.