Association between heat stress during intrauterine development and the calving-to-conception and calving-to-first-service intervals in Holstein cows

Abstract

Heat stress has been widely studied in relation to its effects on the production and reproduction of dairy cattle. However, the long-term effects of heat stress during intrauterine development on adult cows have been scarcely considered. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate possible changes in the reproductive performance of Holstein cows gestated under different values of the Temperature-Humidity Index (THI) during their intrauterine development. Data collected from a database of reproductive and productive records of 10,790 Holstein cows from the central region of Argentina and the THI data from the agrometeorological station of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) EEA Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina, were used. The gestation of the cows evaluated was divided into trimesters, in which the highest THI cycles (sum of three or more consecutive days of exposure to a THI ≥72 during each trimester) and number of days with a THI ≥ 72 were calculated. The calving-to-conception and calving-to-first-service intervals of the cows evaluated were considered as reproductive variables associated with their first lactation. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used, considering the cow's dairy farm as a random factor within the model. The exposure of the animals to environments with a THI ≥72 during the first trimester of gestation had a negative impact on the reproductive efficiency parameters analyzed. The results obtained indicate that the exposure of pregnant females to high THI values has a long-term impact on their daughters, which may contribute to a decrease in their reproductive performance, possibly through inherited epigenetic characteristics that remain in later generations through fetal programming.

Keywords: Cows; Fetal programming; Heat stress; Reproduction.