Effect of Housing and Season on Adaptability Coefficient of Uda Rams in Semi-arid Region, Nigeria

Abstract

Physiological change to heat stress is composed of two components: heat load which rises from metabolism, heat exchange, radiation, and convection with the environment; and heat dissipation which is the release of the heat load through sweat evaporation. Environmental factors have a deep effect on small ruminant survival under extensive management. A study was conducted at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Livestock Teaching and Research Farm to evaluate the effects of housing type and season on the performance and some physiological parameters of Uda rams. A total of sixty (60) yearling Uda rams were used in the study with twenty (20) rams in each season. A factorial completely randomized design (3x5) was used in this experiment with animals (4) representing replicates while housing types (5) and season (3) representing the factors (treatments). Four animals were allotted to each housing type with each animal serving as a replicate, the housing types were half wall with zinc roofing (HZ), half wall with thatch roofing (HT), full wall with zinc roofing (FZ), full wall with thatch roofing (FT) and finally natural without wall and roofing (N). Data were collected each season. At the beginning and end of each season, the Adaptability coefficient of the Rams was determined. The data generated were analyzed. In the hot season, at the beginning of the hot season, animals placed in N have higher adaptability while those in FZ have the lowest. At the end of the rainy season, animals placed in FZ had lower adaptability compared to the other treatments based on the Rhode test. In the cold season, there was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the treatments both at the beginning and end of the season based on the Benezeras test. The highest adaptability was found for animals placed in N while the lowest was in HT based on all the tests. RY test showed that animals placed in N had a higher (P<0.05) adaptability coefficient compared to those placed in HT, FT and FZ.