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Cold Exposure of Southdown and Welsh Mountain Sheep. 3. Changes in plasma calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium levels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

A. R. Sykes ,
A. C. Field  and
J. Slee
A. R. Sykes
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh 9 and Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh 9
A. C. Field
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh 9 and Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh 9
J. Slee
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh 9 and Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh 9
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Summary

Southdown and Welsh Mountain female sheep, equal numbers on high and low plane nutrition, were shorn and subjected to two acute cold exposures (−20°C, 4 mph wind) in climate chambers. Before the first exposure the sheep were kept in either a cool (+8°C) or a thermoneutral (+30°C) environment for two weeks. Between exposures these environmental temperatures were reversed within groups. Blood samples were withdrawn at the beginning and end of the two week exposures and on three occasions during acute cold exposure. Plasma analyses of Ca, P, Mg, Na and K were carried out. Exposure to +8°C caused a 12% reduction in plasma Mg levels of all sheep, but had no effect on Ca, Na or K levels. There were breed × temperature interactions with respect to plasma P levels. Acute cold exposure caused reductions in plasma Mg and Ca levels and an increase in plasma P levels of all groups of sheep. Changes in plasma Na and K levels could have been caused by plasma concentration.

Electrolyte levels initially displaced by exposure to +8°C showed no evidence of a return to normality two weeks later. Only for Ca was there evidence that prior exposure to +8°C modified the response to acute cold exposure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1969 , pp. 91 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1969

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References

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