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Periódicos Brasileiros em Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia

Physiological parameters in neonatal lambs of the Bergamasca breed

Ulian, Carla Maria VelaKoether, KarolineLourenço, Maria Lucia GomesGonçalves, Renato de SouzaSudano, Mateus JoséCruz, Raíssa Karolliny Salgueiro daSilva, Naiana Branchini daChiacchio, Simone Biagio

Background: The management of newborn lambs from birth until weaning has an impact on herd productivity, i.e., theeconomic return will depend on the survival of the offspring. Physiological parameters must be carefully analysed according to the age of the animal to establish a diagnosis and treatment plan. Therefore, the aim of this study was to monitorthe physiological parameters (temperature, body weight, heart rate and respiration) between birth and 15 days of age, andbetween 24 h and 35 days to validate such parameters during these critical periods and for neonatal adaption in sheepMaterials, Methods & Results: Two studies were carried out to analyse the physiological parameters of rectal temperature(°C), body weight (BW), heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) in male and female lambs of the Bergamasca breedmaintained under identical conditions of management (intensive farming system). The fi rst study used lambs (n = 29) frombirth up to 15 days of age evaluated immediately after birth and at 24, 48, 72, 7 and 15 days of age. In the second study,lambs (n = 22) were evaluated at 1 day of age and then weekly at 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days of age. Linear models for repeated measures were used to compare the averages of each variable-response between the times studied. Tukey’s methodwas used to adjust the resulting P-values of multiple comparisons between time-points. The level of statistical signifi cancefor the fi rst and second study was 1% (P < 0.01) and 5% (P < 0.05), respectively. There were no signifi cant differences inrespiratory rate with increasing age in either of the two studies (P < 0.01; P < 0.05). In both studies, there was a positivecorrelation between variations in rectal temperature (average: 39.1 ± 0.58°C; P < 0.01 and 39.5 ± 0.28°C; P < 0.05) andsignifi cant decreases in heart rate (159.4 ± 15.6 bpm, P < 0.01 and 167.5 ± 12.89 bpm, P < 0.05). In the fi rst study, the...(AU)

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