Heat stress, intestinal barrier disruption and calves: multidisciplinary perspective field study

Intestinal barrier might be deteriorated by heat stress (hs) that is important disruption factor affected animal productivity, as resulted leaky gut in cattle. Therefore, the aim of this study is to demonstrate that the intestinal barrier is disrupted by hs detected by the zonulin, as an intestinal permeability biomarker. The study was conducted in local farm in the Aydın Province of Turkey in August that had the average highest temperature [41.10C (36-440C)] with %36 humidity recorded by the meteorological data. Further, serum zonulin levels were assessed by ELISA. Serum zonulin (ng/ml) levels increased (60,07 ± 21,20) at mid night 00.00 am in contrast to mid-day values at 12.00 pm (34,60 ± 10,90) (p=0,018). Regarding increased zonulin levels indicated that distrupted intestinal barrier with increasing intestinal permeability and it might be affected to reduced productivity of lactation cattle with hs during hotter summer months in Aegon Region in Turkey. Therefore, preventive measures should be taken reflected to hs.