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Metabolic rate responses to cold and to exogenous noradrenaline in newborn Scottish Blackface lambs genetically selected for high or low resistance to cold

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. Slee ,
S. P. Simpson  and
J. A. Woolliams
J. Slee
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Reserch, Edinburgh Research Station, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
S. P. Simpson
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Reserch, Edinburgh Research Station, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
J. A. Woolliams
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Reserch, Edinburgh Research Station, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
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Abstract

Newborn Scottish Blackface lambs from lines previously selected for high (H) or low (L) resistance to body cooling were tested for their metabolic response (O2 consumption) to cold exposure in a water bath or to subcutaneous injections of exogenous noradrenaline as a measure of non-shivering thermogenesis (NST). Six rams from the H line and six rams from the L line were used to produce lambs such that each sire had both cold-tested (no. = 48) and noradrenaline-tested (no. = 86) progeny.

The mean elevations in metabolic rate produced by cold exposure and by noradrenaline were, respectively, 3·4 times and 2·4 times resting (thermoneutral) metabolic rate. H lambs showed significantly greater cold resistance and metabolic response to cold than L lambs. H lambs showed greater NST than L lambs but the difference was not significant. There were significant sire effects on NST, indicating genetic variation. There was a significant correlation between the metabolic responses to cold and those o t noradrenaline among the sire progeny groups. NST capability appears to be a phenotypic component of neonatal cold resistance which would respond to genetic selection, but this genetic variation is not a major component of that determining cold resistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , August 1987 , pp. 69 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1987

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