1974 Volume 45 Issue 12 Pages 638-643
Eighty-two feeder cattle and sixty-two fattening cattle were divided into two groups respectively according to their individual careers. One group consisted of the cattle reared in mountainous region (A group) and the other reared at sea level (S group). Physiological conditions of these two groups were studied comparatively by means of the examinations of ECG, blood, serum, urine and feces. Appearance of cardiac hypertrophy in ECG and the increase of packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, specific gravity, red cell count and viscosity of blood were recognized in A group at the final stage of rearing. In the fattening stage, no significant differences in the above mentioned measurements erythrocytes were observed between A and S groups. All cattle were infected with piroplasma, and 85% of cattle were infected with coccidium. However, abnormal patterns were not observed in several measurements of leucocytes, although these measurements fluctuated concerning with the above mentioned infectious processes. Physiological conditions of the fattening cattle at least were maintained within a healthy range of the beef cattle. Serum properties were fluctuated with the feeding conditions from the rearing to the fattening stages, especially from alterations of the total protein and the cholesterol concentration, it was presumed that A group had been adapted to the cold stress of the environment in mountainous region. From these results obtained here, it was presumed that the adaptation process of the beef cattle to the environment in mountainous region was the same as in mice exposed to the high altitude environment, and it was suggested that the cold environment in mountainous region played an important role on one side to the adaptation process and the torelance against the parasitic disease of the cattle was increased by the rearing in mountainous region.
