Amelioration of Heat Stress on Rabbits

A long hot climate (from May to October) and short cool climate (from December to March) characterize the sub-topical climate. In hot climate months, rabbits are very susceptible to heat stress, since they have un-functional sweat glands and have difficult in eliminating body heat when the environmental temperature is high. Alleviation of heat-stress can be carried out with growth promoters, minerals, amino acids or vitamins supplementation and housing design. The present study was planned to study the effects of climatic temperatures in summer season of Egypt and how to ameliorate the adverse effect of heat stress by using different housing models and a highly concentrated supplement containing critical components and essential micronutrients, added to water drinking of the rabbits doe, to improve their performance, reproduction and immune parameters.

Autorentext

Assistant Professor, Animal PhysiologySenior Researcher, Animal Production Research InstituteCairo-EgyptDr. Khaled El-Kholy is a Assistant professor at the Animal Production Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and a textbook on Rabbits, Ducks and Pigeons.