Studies on physiological responses of bullocks of tribal district of Odisha under varying drafts and seasons

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1 Indian J. Anim. Res., 50 (5) 2016 : Print ISSN: / Online ISSN: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE Studies on physiological responses of bullocks of tribal district of Odisha under varying drafts and seasons M.K. Ghosal*, D. Behera and A.K. Mohapatra Department of Farm Machinery and Power, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha , India. Received: Accepted: DOI: /ijar.9499 ABSTRACT The present study was carried out to find out the effects of draft and seasons on the physiological responses of small sized Mottu (non-descript breed of bullocks of tribal districts of Odisha) bullocks (Pair weight-450 kg) in test track with the help of CIAE animal loading car at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha during summer, rainy and winter season in the year The study showed that rise of pulse rate was sharp from the initial values during 1 st hour of work at all drafts and seasons except in case of 9 and 10 % drafts in winter season. But sharp rise of respiration rate was observed in summer season only. Thereafter, rise of pulse rate and respiration rate were gradual. Comparison of pulse rate, respiration rate and body temperature within seasons at a particular draft and duration revealed that season had significant effect on these parameters. Key words: Animal loading car, Draftability, Fatigue score, Non-descript bullock, Physiological responses of bullock. INTRODUCTION The physiological responses of animals during work are very much dependent on their breed, sex, age, body weight, duration of work, season. (Singh, 1994). The physiological parameters such as pulse rate, respiration rate and body temperature and distress symptoms like frothing, leg non-coordination, excitement, inhibition to progressive movement, tongue protrusion etc. are taken as measure of fatigue for working animals. The combination of draft, speed, duration of work and environmental conditions cause the onset of fatigue in work animals. If proper balance among these parameters is not maintained, animals are likely to get excessively fatigue and results in lowering of physiological resistance and making them more susceptible to diseases. The draft developing capacity of a particular size and breed of animal depends on the optimum draft and speed without getting fatigue. The knowledge of sustainable pulling capability of an animal helps in proper design and development of suitable matching implements for performing various farm operations. In the state of Odisha, bullocks are mostly used for performing various farm operations. Three local non-descript breeds of bullocks namely Ghumsari, Binjharpuri and Mottu are found in the state. These breeds are extensively used in certain districts like Ghumsari in Phulbani, Baudh and Ganjam, Binjharpuri in undivided Cuttack and Puri districts and Mottu in the tribal districts namely Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Nawarangpur. The earlier undivided Koraput district has been divided into four districts namely Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nawrangpur where the population *Corresponding author s mkghosal1@rediffmail.com of the tribal and the scheduled caste people is around 57% and 18% respectively as per 2011 census (Anonymous, 2011). All districts of the state have tribal population but the above four districts have the higher percentage of ST/SC population compared to the other districts and are more specifically known as tribal districts of Odisha. Mottu breed is smaller than the smallest Indian draft breed of bullocks and found in these tribal districts of the state (Behera et al., 2006). The pair weight of Mottu breed of bullock varies from kg (Anonymous, 2010). Studies on physiological responses at different drafts under varied climatic conditions had been carried out for various breeds in different parts of India. Belsare and Pande (1992) in a study of indigenous and crossbred bullocks reported that variation in pulse rate, respiration rate and body temperature were highly significant for breeds, loads and climatological parameters. Acharya et al. (1979) reported that changes in physiological responses were more in cross breeds than indigenous bullocks. Similar results were also observed between Haryana and crossbred bullocks by Upadhyay and Madan (1985) and Singh et al. (1968). Rautaray and Srivastava (1982) studied the physiological responses of Haryana and cross breed bullocks subjected to ploughing and observed that the physiological responses increased with duration and were dependent on ambient conditions. Singh (2000), Yadav et al. (2001) and Singh and Srivastava (2006) reported that the physiological responses of Malvi bullocks increased with duration and draft and seasonal changes also had significant effects on these parameters. Studies (Behera et al. 2008) on physiological

2 responses of medium sized non-descript bullocks of Odisha revealed that the physiological parameters increased significantly with draft and duration of work. But no information is available for Mottu breed of small size bullocks found in the tribal districts of Odisaha. Adequate knowledge on physiological responses and their recovery pattern would help to find out the draft capacity of this particular breed of bullock and suitable work-rest cycles to enhance its work efficiency. Keeping the above facts in mind, the present research work was taken up to study the physiological responses of Mottu breed of bullocks when subjected to drafts equivalent to different percentage of their body weights in summer, rainy and winter season. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted with the CIAE animal loading car (Fig. 1) to vary the draft equivalent to different percentages of body weight of a pair of Mottu breed of bullocks (Mottu) (Fig. 2) having body weight of 450 kg per pair. The detailed body dimensions of Mottu bullock are mentioned in Table 1. The animal loading car was operated on a circular test tract (tar road) of 127 m long and 2.5 m wide at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha during the year The draft on the loading car was created by restricting the flow of the oil pumped from the pump through a relief valve. The increase in pressure at the outlet of the pump increased torque on the Fig 1: Photograph of CIAE animal loading car Volume 50 Issue 5 (2016) 669 rear wheel of the loading car resulting in higher tractive effort to pull the car. The loading car was first calibrated on a standard test track by pulling it with a 9 kw tractor at a desired throttle settled to maintain uniform speed of about 2.66 kmph. The draft was measured with respect to different pressures by a spring dynamometer. A calibration chart of load versus pressure was prepared to set desired load during the experiment. An improved yoke of OUAT make (Fig. 3) was used as the harnessing system to enhance the draftability of the bullocks. Fig 3: Photograph of OUAT Yoke used as harnessing system in the study The experiment was conducted at draft load of 7, 8 and 9 % of body weight in summer (May), 8, 9 and 10 % of body weight in rainy (July) and 9, 10 and 11 % of body weight in winter season (January). The work span was four hours a day for all the loads and seasons. In the summer, the experiment was started at 7.00 A.M. and continued up to A.M. In the rainy season, the above schedule was also followed. However the experiment schedule was from 8.00 A.M. to noon during winter period. The experiment was not conducted in the afternoon session of the same day of the experiment as recovery of physiological responses of the bullocks to their normal resting values after the interim rest during afternoon was not satisfactory. The experiment continued consecutively for three days with one day rest for one replication. The each treatment was replicated three times and the average was taken as representative data for each treatment. The pulse rate was measured with the help of a stethoscope and was expressed as beats per minute (bpm). The respiration rate was determined by counting the number of blows of expired air per minute (bpm) at the nostril of bullocks on the back side of the palm. The body temperature was recorded by a clinical thermometer. The ambient temperature and the relative humidity were recorded every half an hour interval. The fatigue level of the bullocks during the working period was calculated with the help of the score mentioned in the Table 2 (Upadhyay and Madan, 1985). Fig 2: Photograph of Mottu bullock Table 1: Body dimensions of Mottu bullock Height to withers 3 11" Length (Pin bone to shoulder) 4 1 Depth- Barrel 1.6 Girth (Chest girth at heart) 4 6 Width (Chest) 1 3 Weight in kg. 218

3 670 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH Table 2: Fatigue score card for working bullocks (Upadhaya and Madan, 1985) Parameter Score scale Respiration rate Ro+15 Ro+30 Ro+45 Ro+60 Ro+75 5 (breath/min) Heart rate (beat/min) Ho+10 Ho+20 Ho+30 Ho+40 Ho+50 5 Rectal temper-ature( C) To+0.5 To+1 To+1.5 To+2 To Frothing First appearance Dribbling of saliva starting Continuous dribbling Appearance of froth on upper lip Full mouth frothing 5 Leg un coordination Strides Occasional Frequent dragging of No coordination Unable to move 5 uneven dragging of feet feet between fore and hind because of un legs coordination Excitement Composed Disturbed Nostrils dilated & Dilatation of eye ball Furious and trying 5 bad temperament with excitement to stop Inhibition to Brisk Free movement Slow walking Very slow Stop walking 5 progressive movement Tongue protrusion Mouth closed Occasional opening of mouth Frequent appearance of tongue The maximum score in the scorecard is 40. A score of above 20 is regarded as fatigue Continuous protrusion of tongue Tongue fully come out Total 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Effect of draft and duration on physiological responses: The effect of draft, season and duration on the physiological responses of bullock during work is presented in Table 1. The ambient temperature and relative humidity were C C and 42 % - 76 % in summer, 26 0 C C and 67 % - 83 % in rainy and 17 0 C C and 50 % - 80 % in winter season respectively. Comparisons of physiological responses i.e. pulse rate, respiration rate and body temperature were studied (i) at a particular draft with the durations of work (ii) at a particular duration with the drafts (iii) at a particular draft with the seasons and the results have been presented below. Pulse rate (PR): Pulse rate was found to increase with duration of work at all drafts in all seasons i.e. summer, rainy and winter seasons. However, the rise of PR was sharp from the initial values during 1 st hour of work at all drafts and seasons except in case of 9 and 10 % drafts in winter season where the PR increased from 54 to 62 and 54 to 64 beats/ min, respectively (Table 3). The increase of PR was gradual thereafter at all drafts and seasons except during 4 th hour of work. The rise of PR during 4 th hour of work was found to be highest ( beats/min) at 10 % draft during rainy season followed by 9 % draft (96-112) during summer season. These exceptions might be due to the variation in speed as the speed of bullocks decreased with duration. Comparing the PR at a particular duration within drafts, it was observed that draft had significant effects in pulse rate in summer and rainy seasons except in winter season where the draft had not significant effect on the rise of the PR at a particular duration. A comparison of PR within the seasons at a particular draft revealed that season had significant effect on PR (Fig. 4). The rise of the PR was more in the summer season followed by the rainy season and then the winter season at a particular draft. During 4 th hour of work, the rise of PR at 9 % draft was beats/min in the summer compares to beats/min in rainy and beats/min in the winter season. Respiration rate (RR): Like PR, the RR was also found to increase with duration of work at all drafts in all seasons i.e. Table 3: Physiological responses at different drafts equivalent to percentage of body weight and with seasons at different durations Season Draft Pulse rate, beat/min at different working hours Respiration rate, blow/min at different Working hours Body temperature, 0 C at different Working hours Summer for Initial hour, 1 for 1 st hour, 2 for 2 nd hour, 3 for 3 rd hour and 4 for 4 th hour of working Rainy Winter

4 Volume 50 Issue 5 (2016) 671 summer rainy winter % load 9 % load 10 % load Pulse rate, bpm Duration, h Fig 4: Effect of seasons on pulse rate at 8, 9 and 10 % draft. summer, rainy and winter seasons. However, the rise of RR was sharp from the initial values during 1 st hour of work at all drafts and seasons except in case of 9 and 10 % drafts in winter season where the RR increased from 12 to 22 and 14 to 24 blows/min, respectively (Table 3). The increase of RR was gradual thereafter at all drafts and seasons except during 4 th hour of work. The rise of RR during 4 th hour of work was found to be highest ( blows/min) at 9 % draft during summer season and same at 10 % draft ( blows/min) during rainy season. The increase of RR was not significant with durations in the winter season. Comparing the RR at a particular duration within drafts, it was observed that draft had significant effects on respiration rate in summer and rainy seasons except in winter season where the draft had not significant effect on the rise of the RR at a particular duration. A comparison of RR within the seasons at a particular draft revealed that season had significant effect on RR (Fig. 5) which was evident from the fact that the RR during 4 th hour of work at 9 % draft in summer was 100 blows/min compared to 80 blows/min in rainy and 40 blows/min in the winter season. Similar trend was also observed at 8 and 10 % draft. As the draft level increased, the variation in RR with respect to season became more pronounced. The rise of the RR was more in the summer season followed by the rainy season and then the winter season at a particular draft. The study showed a rise of PR and RR as the draft and duration increased. The increase in RR with respect to draft and duration was due to increased rate of metabolism to provide adequate energy to the working muscles. The increase in PR represents a rise in cardiac activities to fulfill the increased demand of oxygen during work the findings substantiate the observation made by Upadhaya and Madan summer rainy winter Respiration rate blows/min % load 9 % load 10 % load Duration, h Fig 5: Effect of seasons on respiration rate at 8, 9 and 10 % draft.

5 672 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH (1985) who had reported an increase of PR and RR from 55.4 beats/min and 24.9 blows/min to 95 beats/min and 85.5 blows/min in 3 hours of carting operation with one ton payload. Singh and Upadhaya (1996) and Kumar et al. (1996) reported that PR and RR increased with duration in carting operation. Belsare and Pande (1992) had also observed increase of PR and RR in carting with load and duration, Singh and Srivastava (2006) in a single animal treadmill experiment reported an increase of PR and RR by 75 and 167 % when draft increased from 5 to 7.5 %. The sudden rise in PR after 1 st hour of work in summer, rainy and winter and RR in summer and rainy season might be to meet the immediate energy demand to carry out work. Singh et al. (1968) in field operations of ploughing, harrowing and cultivating found highest average increase in PR and RR during 1 st hour of operation. Similar observations were also made by Devadattam and Maurya (1978) in a loading car experiment with draft ranging from kg. At a particular draft, there was significant variation of PR and RR between seasons. In this study, it was observed that in winter, there was no significant effect of draft on PR. But when compared within seasons, there were significant differences in PR and RR at a particular draft. Higher ambient temperature in summer and rainy season might have caused the PR and RR to increase. In hot and humid condition, the animals have to dispose greater heat load. To eliminate the heat load, the energy requirement is enhanced involving greater oxygen exchange which increases the PR and RR, but in winter a reverse situation takes place when the heat produced helps the other physiological processes to keep the body temperature constant (Upadhaya and Madan, 1985). Devadattam and Maurya (1978) reported that ambient temperature played a prominent role in increase of PR than the draft. But in this study, both draft and ambient temperature were found to have significant impact on the changes of PR and RR. Upadhaya and Madan (1986) also observed higher increase of PR after 3hours of work in summer and rainy season than in winter. Maurya and Devadattam (1982) and Yadav et al. (2001) observed higher rate of increase of PR and RR in summer and reported significant interaction between working period and season. Belsare and Pande (1992) had also found that RR was significantly correlated with environmental temperature. Kasa et al. (1997) also reported significantly higher RR in hot/dry season than cool/humid season. Body temperature (BT): It was observed that the BT increased with duration at all drafts and seasons. The increase was gradual at all drafts after one hour of work in summer and rainy seasons. However, there was sharp rise of BT in winter after 1 st hour at all drafts. The effect of season on BT has been presented in Fig. 6. The figure showed that the BTs were higher in summer at a particular draft and duration than in rainy and winter season. At a particular draft, the variation of BT was significant with respect to season. The increase in BT with draft and duration might be due to increased heat stress on account of increased lactic acid production by the muscles and its removal by oxidative process (Singh et al. 1968). Besides that, the rise in BT is a physiological necessity to increase the rate of chemical process to decrease internal frictional resistance in muscles and to enhance supply of oxygen to the working muscles (Astrand and Rodhal, 1970). The sharp rise of BT after one hour in winter might be due to low initial BT compared to that in summer and rainy season. Higher BT in summer at a particular draft might be due to greater ambient temperature. This is in agreement with the findings of Upadhaya and Madan (1986) and Maurya and Devadattam (1982). Upadhaya and Madan (1985) also reported that under cold condition, the heat produced due to work was utilized to keep the body warm thus helping the other physiological processes to keep the body temperature constant. Belsare summer rainy winter Body Temperature 0C % load 9 % load 10 % load Duration, h Fig 6: Effect of seasons on body temperature at 8, 9 and 10 % draft.

6 and Pande (1992) found significant correlation between BT and ambient condition. CONCLUSIONS The physiological responses (pulse rate, respiration rate and body temperature) increased significantly with drafts and durations. The rise of pulse rate and respiration rate was sharp during 1 st hour of work and increased gradually thereafter. Seasons had also significant influences on physiological responses, which was much higher in summer than in rainy and winter seasons. However, in winter draft had no significant effect on the rise of the pulse rate and respiration rate at a particular duration. The increase of body temperature of bullocks was gradual at all drafts after one Volume 50 Issue 5 (2016) 673 hour of work in summer and rainy seasons. However, there was sharp rise of body temperature in winter after 1 st hour at all drafts. Since the rise of physiological responses determines the onset of the fatigue, the sharp rise of pulse rate and respiration rate after 1 st hour of work makes it necessary to give short duration rest to bullocks in summer to increase their efficiency. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors express their sincere gratitude to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for providing financial facilities through the AICRP on Utilization of Animal Energy with Enhanced System Efficiency to carry out the research work. REFERENCES Acharya S., Mishra M and Nayak J.B. (1979). Working capacity and behaviour of cross breed versus non-descript indigenous bullocks under Orissa. Indian Journal of Dairy Sciences, 32: Anonymous (2011). Census of India, (2011). Census Commissioner, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Anonymous (2010). Biennial Report ( ) of AICRP on Utilization of Animal Energy with Enhanced System Efficiency. Bhubaneswar Centre, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Astrand P.O. and Rodhal K. (1970). Textbook of Work Physiology. First Edition, McGraw Hill, New York. Behera B.K., Mohapatra A.K., Behera D and Swain S. (2008). Effect of draft and season on physiological responses of bullocks. Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 45: Behera D, Behera B.K., Mohapatra A.K. and Swain S. (2006). Draft animal status in Orissa and its utilization pattern in few selected villages. Agricultural Engineering Today, 30. Belsare V.P. and Pande A.M. (1992). Physiological responses in crossbred and indigenous bullocks to graded workload. Ind. Vet. J., 69: Devadattam D.S.K. and Maurya N.L. (1978). Draughtability of Hariana bullocks. Indian Journal of Dairy Sciences, 31: Kasa I.W., Hill M.K., Thwaites C.J. and Baillie N.D. (1997). The effects of seasons (hot/dry and cool/humid) on thermoregulatory responses of male and female Bali-cattle working in the field. Asian-Australasian J. Anim. Sci., 10: Kumar B., Arora D.N. and Nargia O.P. (1996). Physiological changes in crossbred and Haryana bullocks during work. Indian J. Anim. Prod. Mgmt., 12: Maurya N.L. and Devadattam D.S.K. (1982). Work performance of crossbred bullocks. Indian Journal of Dairy Sciences 35: Rautarary S.K. and Srivastava N.S.L. (1982). Field performance of cross-bred bullocks in black soils during tillage operations in summer. Proceeding of National Seminar on Draft Animal Power System in India, IIM, Bangalore, July Singh G. (1994). Weight matrix of Indian cattle and their draft power. Indian Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 4: Singh R.C. (2000). Assessment of draft capacity of Malvi and local breeds of bullocks. Research Digest on Draft Animal Power Technology of AICRP on Utilization of Animal Energy with Enhanced System Efficiency, Bhopal Centre, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering Bhopal. Singh S.P., Soni B.K. and Bhattacharya A. (1968). Physiological responses in Haryana bullocks while performing different types of agricultural operations. Indian Vet. J., 45: Singh R.C. and Srivastava N.S.L. (2006). Development and performance evaluation of a conveyor belt type animal treadmill. Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 43: Singh S.V. and Upadhyay R.C. (1996). Effect of different cartloads on some physiological and bio-chemical responses in cows. Indian Journal of Animal Production Management, 12: Upadhyay R.C. and Madan M.L. (1985). Studies on blood acid-base status and muscle metabolism in working bullocks. Animal Production, 40: Upadhyay R.C. and Madan M.L. (1986). Cardiac responses to work production under tropical conditions in bovines. Indian J. dairy Sci., 39: Yadav A.S., Dhaka S.S. and Kumar B. (2001). Effect of working on physiological, biochemical and haematological parameters in Haryana bullocks. Asian Australasian J. Anim. Sci., 14: