Effects on cattle of transportation by road up to 36 hours with and without a rest on some blood variables indicator of stress

An experiment was carried out in winter (June - July) with the aim of deter mining the effects of transporting cattle for up to 36 hours with and witho ut a resting period, on the blood concentrations of cortisol. glucose, beta -HBA. PCV values and blood CK activity. Forty A. Angus and Hereford cross steers and heifers from the same farm wit h milk teeth or two teeth and a mean live weight of 400 kg were randomly di vided into two groups of 20 animals each. They were transported during 36 h ours with and without a resting period of eight hours after the first 24 h of journey. The animals were slaughtered following a lairage period of 12 h after arrival to the abattoir. Blood samples were obtained from the jugular vein at the farm on their arri val to the resting station on arrival to the abattoir and finally at slaugh ter when the animals were bled. The blood cortisol concentrations were dete rmined by radioimmunoassay (RIA), the glucose blood concentrations by the G OD - PAP test without deprotenization (GL 2623, RANDOX): the beta -HBA by u sing the enzymatic technique that uses the beta -hidroxibutirate deshidroge nase enzyme for measuring the transformation from NAD+ to NADH; the PCV val ues by the microhematocrite technique and the CK blood activity was measure d by the UV- kinetic method at 340 nm and 37 degrees C. Descriptive statist ics were used for analysing the results. To determine the differences betwe en means, ANOVA was used and Kruskal-Wallis when the variances were not hom ogenous. A high individual variation in response to stress for transport was observe d. It can be concluded that transport for 36 h with or without a resting pe riod was detrimental for the welfare of the animals. This is supported by t he increase on the blood concentrations of cortisol, glucose and CK activit y from the farm, to arrival at the abattoir and stunning. However, the rest ing period had a beneficial effect on the blood activity of CK and PCV valu es but to a lesser extent on fat mobilisation as reflected by the blood con centrations of beta -HBA at stunning.