Adaptation Strategies of Farm Animals to Water Shortage in Desert Areas| Biomed Grid

This review is an attempt to collate and retrieve information pertaining to farm animal adaptation to water shortage in desert areas. Livestock play an important role in the global economy. Climate change, especially heat stress in water shortage areas, appears to be the major factor that negatively influences the production, reproduction and growth of livestock. The adverse impacts of heat stress on these productive functions depend on species and breed differences and the magnitude of this impact determines the adaptive potential of the animals. Livestock responds to the changing environments by altering their phenotypic and physiological characters. Among these characters; physiological response, morphological response, blood biochemical response, neuroendocrine response, molecular and cellular response, metabolic response, and behavioral responses are the major ones. Physiological responses include alterations in body temperature, respiration rate, heart rate and skin temperature. Blood biochemical and endocrine responses are by which the animals try to cope up to adverse environmental conditions by altering the concentration of blood metabolites, stress, and metabolic hormones under the control of the nervous system. Cellular and molecular responses are the cardinal mechanisms by which the animal survives heat stress