Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:38:23.481Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effect of treadmill slope on the relationship between heart rate and energy expenditure in cattle walking on treadmills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

Jennifer C. Sneddon
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9RG, Scotland

Summary

Two steers (Bos indicus and Bos indicus x Bos taurus) were acclimatized to an ambient temperature of 30 °C before working at this temperature on two treadmills (gradients 0 and 6°) for 2 h (one on each treadmill) whilst carrying a load equivalent to 10% of body weight. The study was then repeated at an ambient temperature of 15 °C. The effect of variation between animals, ambient temperature and rate of energy expenditure were tested on the linear regression model EEw = A PHR + B (where EEw is the energy expenditure (w/kg0·75) and PHR is the percentage increase of working heart rate over resting heart rate).

Animal and ambient temperature had no significant effect on the model. The gradient of the regression line was significantly greater (P < 0·01) when the animals were expending energy at the higher rate (about 30 W/kg live weight0·75) than when they were expending energy at the lower rate (about 14 W/kg live weight0·75).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1980). The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Nilssen, K. J., Johnsen, H. K., Rogmo, A. & Blix, A. S. (1984). American Journal of Physiology 246, R 963967.Google Scholar
Richards, J. I. & Lawrence, P. R. (1984). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 102, 711717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sneddon, J. C., Mathers, J. C. & Thomson, C. J. (1985). Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 44, 32A.Google Scholar
Wainman, F. W., Smith, J. S. & Dewey, P. J. S. (1975). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84, 109111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar