УДК 636.2:591.5
AGE DYNAMICS OF CALVES FEEDING BEHAVIOUR IN CONDITIONS OF NORMAL LOCOMOTION AND HYPODYNAMIA
T.F. Vasilenko, S.A. Martynov, N.P. Mongalev, N.I. Chuv’yurova, L.Yu. Rubtsova
In calves of the Kholmogorskaya breed keeping at the normal locomotion and the hypodynamia during the period from their birth to 6 months old the authors determined the distinction in the frequency and the duration of consumption and rumination.
Key words: feeding behavior, formation, calves, locomotion, locomotion shortage.
Formation of behavioral reactions is an obligatory element of animals’ adaptation to environmental conditions. Behavior determines probability and duration of contact of an animal with the object satisfying its needs (P.V. Simon, 1). Meeting the dominant sustenance needs is a basis of active behavior as the driving force of action and regulator of evolution (2).
We previously showed that the reduction of muscular locomotion in calves during their first months of life resulted in changes of morphofunctional and biochemical composition of the blood (3-5). Conditions of growing the young replacement cattle does not always correspond to physiological needs of growing organism, which may affect animals’ health and productivity in adulthood. Most technologies of growing calves provide keeping animals in limited spaces, which inhibits the locomotor reactions and affects the development of individual functions and the body as a whole. However, the age dynamics of animals feeding behavior and its connection to the development of individual functions were not adequately investigated.
The purpose of our study was the comparative analysis of age dynamics of feeding behavior (eg, frequency and duration of food consumption and rumination during the day) in young cattle kept at the normal locomotion and at the locomotion shortage during the period from calving to the age of 6 months.
Methods. The study was carried out on clinically healthy heifers the Kholmogorskaya breed kept in the farm of "Vylgortskaya" scientific and experimental biological station (the affiliate of Presidium of Komi Scientific Center of UB RAS, Siktyvkar city), in the stall periods (October - May of the next year) for 3 years. Two groups of calves-analogs of 2 animals in each group (I and II - the control and experiment) were formed by the date of calving and weight. During the periods 1-90th days of life and 90-180th days, the calves of group I (control) were kept in cages of the size providing normal locomotion (490 x 215 cm). Animals in group II were constantly kept in the hypodynamic conditions in cages without possibility of free movement (150 x 80 cm). Calves were given with milk during the first 70 days of life (within 40 days - every day for 6,0 l, after 40th, 50th and 60th day - 4,5, 3,0 and 2 , 0 l, resp.). Total consumption of milk was 335 kg per animal. Shortfalls milk was replaced with a corresponding amount of water-hay infusion. Feeding was carried out 3 times a day (600, 1200 and 1800). Milk, additives of condensed feed and salt solution were given individually, hay and silage - to a group. The diet of the calves under 6-month-age was composed according the common scheme recommended for replacements of respective age (6). In total, there were examined 6 animals in different age periods at the normal locomotion (I group) and 4 - at locomotion shortage (II group).
The dynamics of development and formation of each behavioral response was studied by visual observation and registration of animal’s status with 5-minute intervals for 24 h. The number and duration of periods of feed consumption and rumination in each animal during the day were calculated, as well as the total time spent on every type of behavioral responses.
The results were processed statistically using Statistica for Windows (Basic) application software. The significance of differences was assessed by Student's criterion at the significance levels from 0,05 to 0,001.
Results. In the first few days of life, the calves spent most of time lying down (82 and 74% time, in groups I and II, resp.). Duration of standing increased in 2.0 times by 30-days age at the normal locomotion, and reached the maximum value by 60-days age (633.0 min / day). At the hypodynamia, duration of standing was in 1.4 times higher, and lying - in 1,1 times less than in group I. At the hypodinamia, duration of standing decreased in 1,2 times by 60-days age than at the normal locomotion. At the age of 90 days, the duration of standing and lying were almost identical in both groups.
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Fig.1 Age dynamics of the duration (1) and frequency (2) of periods of food consumption (A, B) and rumination (Б, Г) during the day in calves the Kholmogorskaya breed at the normal locomotion (А, Б) and at the hypodynamia (В, Г). Explanation: А, Б, В, Г - abscissa - Age, days, ordinate (left) - Duration of periods, min / days, ordinate (right) - Number of periods within a day |
Under the conditions of normal locomotion and hypodynamia, the total duration of periods of consumption of all types of feed increased from 16-27 min / day in first 2 days of life up to 130-170 and 298 min / day at the age of 30 and 60 days, resp. At the age of 90 days, duration of consumption at the normal locomotion reached 371,7 ± 14,2, at the hypodinamia - 490,8 ± 50,0 min / day, which was in 1.3 times higher than in group I (Fig. 1, A, B).
In 30-days old calves, time spent on rumination was 233 and 386 min / day, in groups I and II, resp.(see Fig. 1, B, D). By the 30th day of life, the total duration of rumination at the hypodinamia was 1,7 times higher than in control. By the 90th day, this value significantly increased in group I (428,8 ± 33,1 min / day) compared with group II (371,5 ± 12,7 min / day), whereas in the experiment it sharply increased by 30-days age and then persisted up to 90 days.
Restriction of locomotion of growing animals affected both the duration of individual behavioral acts and their frequency during the day. 30-days old calves kept at the normal locomotion exhibited the number of consumption periods equal to 4,0 (see Fig. 1, A), at the hypodinamia - 7,5 , which is in 2,5 times higher than in group I (see Fig. 1, B). In group I (see Fig. 1, A), the frequency of consumption periods increased twice to 90-days age, in the experiment - retained the value of 30-days age (7.0 periods per day) (see Fig. 1, B).
In group I, the number of rumination periods increased to 8,0 during the 1st month of life, and reached 10,0 by the 90th day (see Fig. 1, D); in calves kept at the hypodinamia - 11,0 (i.e. 1,4 times higher than in control), remaining up to 90-days age (see Fig. 1, D), when calves finally complete the changeover to herbal feed.
Changing the intensity of locomotion from 90 to 180 th day of life had an ambiguous impact on individual behavioral acts. In both groups of calves aged 90 - 120 days, the duration of standing periods was similar - 42,2 and 39,0% of total time spent standing during a day, in groups I and II, resp. At the free locomotion, the total duration of standing periods increased by the 180 th day (up to 654,3 ± 36,9 min / day), which was 17,2% (p <0,05) higher than the value in experiment. At the hypodinamia, from 90 to 180 th days of life we observed shortening the periods of standing and, accordingly, increase in time spent in supine position.
Duration of period of feed consumption from 90th to 150th day in group I increased in 1,2 times (483.3 minutes / day) and persisted up to 180-days age (see Fig. 1, A). At the same time, in the experimental group, the more pronounced increase in 1,4 times was observed, but it reduced to the control value by 180-days age (Fig. 2). In group I during 90 - 120 days of life, the number of consumption periods during the day reached 9,0, and reduced to 7.0 by 180 th day (see Fig. 1, A). In group II by 150 th day, the number of consumption periods was equal to 8,0, and by 180 the day - 9,5, which was significantly higher in 1,4 times than in control (see Fig. 2 and 1, A).
The number of rumination periods per day from 90th to 120th days in group I increased from 10,0 to 13,0, and persisted until 180th day, (see Fig. 1, B), from 90th to 180th in group II - was equal to 11,0-13,0.
The found distinction in duration and frequency of behavioral acts in the control and experimental groups of calves didn’t affect their growth and gain in body weight with age. The weight at calving was 31.9 kg, at 2-months age - 59.2 kg, slightly varied at 4-month age (at the free locomotion - 84,2 kg, at the hypodinamia - 82,0 kg) and in 6-month-old calves (110.2 and 113.7 kg, respectively).
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Fig. 2. Total duration (1) and the frequency of periods of feed consumption (2) per day in calves the Kholmogorskaya breed kept at the hypodinamia from 90th to 180 th day of life. Explanation: |
Age dynamics of postnatal formation of behavioral acts, connected to the functional states like standing, lying, feed consumption, rumination, can be used as a criterion of the normality of animal’s development. In wild ruminants, interaction with environment (getting food and water, protection from enemies, etc.) occurs via enhancing locomotion. The skeletal muscles affect the evolution of nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory and other body systems, modify the intensity of energy and metabolic processes, adjust the development of internal organs. Reduced locomotion is one of the reasons of low intensity of metabolism (3), and this is an additional stressor, the effect of which is comparable to food deficit and other factors (7).
In our experiments, the total duration of periods of lying in the both groups of calves was high in the first 2 days of life (more than 76% of all time of a day), which corresponded to the results of other authors (8). The prolongation of standing periods observed at the hypodinamia in the first days of life, was apparently connected to the increase in space-research activities distinctive to young animals have got in the limited space (9). In general, the time spent on standing at the normal locomotion increased in 2.0 times in a first month of life, by the 60th day - in 2,4 times, and at the hypodinamia - in 1,3 and 1, 4 times, resp., reaching the value of 1-month-old control animals. However, by the 90 th day of life, the both groups exhibited the value observed in adult animals (10, 11).
The found daily time spent on rumination are typical to adult lactating cows (10, 12). The established dynamics and duration of periods of feed consumption and rumination may indicate the complete formation of digestive function in calves by 3-months age. The change in frequency and duration of feed consumption and rumination in 30-60-days-old calves is owing to the development of proventriculum functions and the changeover to digestion of herbal feed. In 60-days-old calves of group II, the duration of standing period shortened, while the duration and frequency of rumination periods corresponded the values typical for adult dairy cows (10).
Thus, animal’s behavioral stereotype is determined by the intensity of their locomotion in the first months of postnatal ontogenesis. Restriction of locomotion in this period didn’t affect the daily duration of feed consumption, but increased the frequency of consumption periods and time spent on rumination in comparison with the animals kept at the normal locomotion. However, the essential changes in the rhythm of food consumption and duration of rumination did not affect the gain in live weight of calves, which suggests that hypodynamia has an ambiguous effect on these features.
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Physiology Institute of Comi Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, |
Received June 17, 2008
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