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Publication Date: 2011-06-17
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Romero Peñuela, M. H., Uribe Velásquez, L. F., & Sánchez Valencia, J. A. (2011). Stress biomarkers as indicators of animal welfare in cattle beef farming. Biosalud, 10(1), 71–87. Retrieved from https://revistasojs.ucaldas.edu.co/index.php/biosalud/article/view/4753
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Abstract
The present review presents the physiological changes that occur in cattle during acute stress, as well as blood biomarkers used to measure their impact on animal welfare. During the pre-slaughter process, cattle are often exposed to different factors that cause physical exhaustion and physiological stress which can have adverse effects on health, animal welfare, and meat quality. The most common stressors are: fast and forced movements of the truck, centrifuged force, breakdown of the social structure due to mixing of the animals, strange environment, rough treatment of cattle during loading and unloading, weather conditions, deprivation of feed and water among others. Stress has been identified as an indicator of animal welfare. Stress alters the internal animal homeostasis inducing changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis and the sympatho-adreno-medullary system. The endocrine activation promotes the release of several hormones: catecholamines, mainly adrenaline and noradrenaline; corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH); adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) and corticosteroids, mainly cortisol. Different authors have used several blood constituents to determine stress. Cortisol, despite its variability and short life, is still one the most used indicators of stress. These authors have also used the packed cell volume (PCV), glucose concentration, creatine phosphokinase (CK) activity, B-hidroxybutyrate and lactate concentration as stress indicators. The determination of these biomarkers is a practical method to monitor animal welfare in cattle beef.
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References
Ferguson DM, Warner RD. Have we underestimated the impact of pre-slaughter on meat quality in ruminants? Meat Sci 2008; 80:12-19.
Grandin T. Transferring results of behavioral research to industry to improve animal welfare on the farm, ranch and the slaughter plant. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2003; 81:215-228.
Minka NS, Ayo JO. Effects of loading behaviour and road transport stress on traumatic injuries in cattle transported by road during the hot-dry season. Livest Sci 2007; 107:91-95.
Costa NL. Short-term stress: the case of transport and slaughter. Ital J Anim Sci 2009; 8(Suppl.1):241-252.
De Witte K. Development of the Australian Animal Welfare standards and guidelines for the land transport of livestock: Process and philosophical considerations. J Vet Behav 2009; 4:148-156.
Gregory NG. Animal welfare at markets and during transport and slaughter. Meat Sci 2008; 80:2-11.
Fisher AD, Colditz IG, Lee C, Ferguson DM. The influence of land transport on animal welfare in extensive farming systems. J Vet Behav 2009; 4:157-162.
Gupta S, Earley B, Crowe MA. Effect of 12-hour road transportation on physiological, immunological and hematological parameters in bulls housed at different space allowances. Vet J 2007; 173:605-616.
Minka NS, Ayo JO. Physiological responses of food animals to road transportation stress. Afr J Biotechnol 2009; 8(25):7415-7427.
Solano J, Galindo F, Orihuela A, Galina CS. The effect of social Rank on the physiological response during repeated stressful handling in Zebu cattle (Bos indicus). Physiol Behav 2004; 82:679-683.
Colditz IG, Ferguson DM, Greenwood PL, Doogan VJ, Petherick JC, Kilogour RJ. Regrouping unfamiliar animals in the weeks prior to slaughter has few effects on physiology and meat quality in Bos Taurus feedlot steers. Aust J Agri Res 2007; 47:763-769.
Miranda-de la Lama GC, Rivero L, Chacón G, Garcia-Belenguer S. Effect of the pre-slaughter logistic on some indicators of welfare in lambs. Livest Sci 2010; 128:52-59.
Buckham Sporer KR, Weber PSD, Burton JL, Earley B, Crowe A. Transportation of young beef bulls alters circulating physiological parameters that may be effective biomarkers of stress. J Anim Sci 2008; 86:1325-1334.
Broom DM. The effects of land transport on animal welfare. Rev Sci Tech Off int Epiz 2005; 24(2):683-691.
Cockram MS, Baxter EM, Smith LA, Bell S, Howard CM, Prescott RJ, et al. Effect of driver behaviour, driving events and road type on the stability and resting behaviour of sheep in transit. J Anim Sci 2004; 79:165-176.
Stockman CA, Collins T, Barnes AL, Miller D, Wickham SL, Beatty DT, et al. Qualitative behavioural assessment and quantitative physiological measurement of cattle naïve and habituated to road transport. J Anim Prod Sci 2011; 51:240-249.
Romero MH, Sánchez JA. Implicaciones de la inclusión del bienestar animal en la legislación sanitaria colombiana. Rev Colomb Cien Pecu 2011; 24:93-101.
Broom DM. Transport stress in cattle and sheep with details of physiological, ethological and other indicator. Dtsch Tierârztl Wschr 2003; 110:83-89.
Mormède P, Andanson S, Aupérin B, Beerda B. Guémené D, Malmkvist J, et al. Exploration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function as a tool to evaluate animal welfare. Physiol Behav 2007; 92:317-339.
Trevisi E, Bertoni G. Some physiological and biochemical methods for acute and chronic stress evaluation in dairy cows. Ital J Anim Sci 2009; 8(Suppl.1):265-286.
Herskin MS, Munksgaard L, Ladewig J. Effects of acute stressors on nociception, adrenocortical responses and behavior of dairy cows. Physiol Behav 2004; 83:41-420.
Lay D, Wilson M. Physiological indicators of stress in domestic livestock. Symposium on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Regarding Animal Behavior, Care, and Well-Being, Indiana; 2001. p. 1-25.
Borell EH. The biology of stress and its application to livestock housing and transportation assessment. J Anim Sci 2001; 79:260-267.
Muchenje V, Dzama K, Chimonyo M, Strydom PE, Raats JG. Relationship between pre-slaughter stress responsiveness and beef quality in three cattle breeds. Meat Sci 2009; 81:653-657.
Sapolsky RM, Romero ML, Munck AU. How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? Integrating permissive, suppressive, stimulatory and preparative actions. Endocrinol Rev 2000; 21(1):55-89.
Amtmann VA, Gallo C, van Schaik G, Tadich N. Relaciones entre el manejo ante-mortem, variables sanguíneas indicadoras de estrés y pH de la canal en novillos. Arch Med Vet 2006; 38(3):259-264.
Buckham Sporer KR, Xiao L, Tempelman RJ, Burton JL, Earley B, Crowe MA. Transportation stress alters the circulating steroid environment and neutrophil gene expression in beef bulls. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2008; 121:300-320.
Knowles T, Warriss P. Stress physiology of animals during transport. In: Livestock handling and transport, eds. Temple Grandin. 3 ed.; 2006.
Grandin T. Cattle vocalizations are associated with handling and equipment problems at beef slaughter plants. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2001; 71:191-201.
Mounier L, Dubroeucq H, Andanson S, Veissier I. Variations in meat pH of beef bulls in relation to conditions of transfer to slaughter and previous history of the animals. J Anim Sci 2006; 84:1567-1576.
Tadich N, Gallo C, Bustamante H, Schwerter M, van Schaik G. Effects of transport and lairage time on some blood constituents of Friesian-cross steers in Chile. Livest Prod Sci 2005; 93:223-233.
Cooke RF, Bohnert DW. Technical note: Bovine acute-phase response after corticotrophin-release hormone challenge. J Anim Sci 2011; 89:252-257.
Blanco M, Casasús I, Palacio J. Effect of age at weaning on the physiological stress response and temperament of two beef cattle breeds. Animal 2009; 3(1):108-117.
Parker AJ, Hamlin GP, Coleman CJ, Fitzpatrick LA. Excess cortisol interferes with a principal mechanism of resistance to dehydratation in Bos indicus steers. J Anim Sci 2004; 82:1037-1045.
Möstl E, Palme R. Hormones as indicators of stress. Domest Anim Endocrinol 2002; 23:67-74.
Cafe LM, Robinson DL, Ferguson DM, Geesink GH, Greenwood PL. Temperament and hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis function are related and combine to affect growth, efficiency, carcass, and meat quality traits in Brahman steers. Domest Anim Endocrinol 2011; 40(4):230-240.
Averós X, Martín S, Riu M, Serratosa J, Gosálvez LF. Stress response of extensively young being transported to growing-finishing farms under Spanish summer commercial conditions. Lives Sci 2008; 119:174-182.
Souza MIL, Uribe-Velásquez LF, Ramos AA, Oba E. Níveis plasmáticos de colesterol total, lipoproteínas de alta densidad (HDL) e cortisol, e sua biorritmicidades, em carneiros Ideal-Polwarth. Cien Anim Bras 2006; 7(4):433-438.
Tsigos C, Chrousos P. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neuroendocrine factors and stress. J Pshychosom Res 2002; 53(4):865-871.
Kannan G, Kouakou B, Terril TH, Gelaye S. Endocrine, blood metabolite, and meat quality changes in goats as influenced by short-term, preslaughter stress. J Anim Sci 2003; 81:1499-1507.
Tadich N, Gallo C, Echeverría R, van Schaik G. Efecto del ayuno durante dos tiempos de confinamiento y de transporte terrestre sobre algunas variables sanguíneas indicadoras de estrés en novillos. Arch Med Vet 2003; 2:171-185.
Bórnez R, Linares MB, Vergara H. Haematological, hormonal and biochemical blood parameters in lamb: effect of age and blood sampling time. Lives Sci 2009; 121:200-206.
Broom DM. Behaviour and welfare in relation to pathology. Appl Anim Behav 2006; 97:73-83.
Vogel KD, Claus JR, Grandin T, Oetzel GR, Schaefer DM. Effect of water and feed withdrawal and health status on blood and serum components, body weight loss, and meat and carcass characteristics of Holstein slaughter cows. J Anim Sci 2010; 89(2):538-548.
Munhoz CD, García-Bueno B, Madrigal JLM, Lepsch LB, Scavone C, Leza JC. Stress-induced neuroinflammation: mechanism and new pharmacological targets. Braz J Med Biol Res 2008; 41(12):1037-1046.
Radostits OM, Houston DM, Mayhew IG. Examen y diagnóstico clínico en veterinaria. 1a ed. Philadelphia: Ed. Elsevier; 2002.
Hambrecht E, Eissen JJ, Newman DJ, Smits CHM, den Hartog LA, Verstegen MWA. Negative effects of stress immediately before slaughter on pork quality are aggravated by suboptimal transport and lairage conditions. J Anim Sci 2005; 83:440-448.
Kaneko J, Harvey J, Bruss M. Clinical Biochemistry of domestic animals. 6th ed. San Diego, USA: Academic Press; 1997.
Warner RD, Ferguson DM, Cottrel JJ, Knee BW. Acute stress induced by the preslaughter use of electric prodders causes tougher beef meat. Aust J Agri Res 2007; 47:782-788.
Grandin T. Progress and challenges in animal handling and slaughter in U.S. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2006; 100:129-139.
Davis AK, Maney DL, Maerz JC. The use of leukocyte profiles to measure stress in vertebrates: a review for ecologists. Functional Ecol 2008; 22:760-772.
Van de Water G, Verjans F, Geers R. The effect of short distance transport under commercial conditions on the physiology of slaughter calves; pH and colour profiles of veal. Livest Prod Sci 2003; 82:171-179.
Gallo C, Lizondo G, Knowles G. Effects of journey and lairage time on steers transported to slaughter in Chile. Vet Rec 2003; 152:361-364.
Nanni Costa L, Lo Fiego DP, Tassone F, Russo V. The relationship between carcass bruising in bulls and behavior observed during pre-slaughter phases. Veterinary Research Communications 2006; 30:379-381.
Strappini AC, Frankena K, Metz JHM, Gallo B, Kemp B. Prevalence and risk factors for bruises in Chilean bovine carcasses. Meat Sci 2010; 86:859-864.
Grandin T. Transferring results of behavioral research to industry to improve animal welfare on the farm, ranch and the slaughter plant. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2003; 81:215-228.
Minka NS, Ayo JO. Effects of loading behaviour and road transport stress on traumatic injuries in cattle transported by road during the hot-dry season. Livest Sci 2007; 107:91-95.
Costa NL. Short-term stress: the case of transport and slaughter. Ital J Anim Sci 2009; 8(Suppl.1):241-252.
De Witte K. Development of the Australian Animal Welfare standards and guidelines for the land transport of livestock: Process and philosophical considerations. J Vet Behav 2009; 4:148-156.
Gregory NG. Animal welfare at markets and during transport and slaughter. Meat Sci 2008; 80:2-11.
Fisher AD, Colditz IG, Lee C, Ferguson DM. The influence of land transport on animal welfare in extensive farming systems. J Vet Behav 2009; 4:157-162.
Gupta S, Earley B, Crowe MA. Effect of 12-hour road transportation on physiological, immunological and hematological parameters in bulls housed at different space allowances. Vet J 2007; 173:605-616.
Minka NS, Ayo JO. Physiological responses of food animals to road transportation stress. Afr J Biotechnol 2009; 8(25):7415-7427.
Solano J, Galindo F, Orihuela A, Galina CS. The effect of social Rank on the physiological response during repeated stressful handling in Zebu cattle (Bos indicus). Physiol Behav 2004; 82:679-683.
Colditz IG, Ferguson DM, Greenwood PL, Doogan VJ, Petherick JC, Kilogour RJ. Regrouping unfamiliar animals in the weeks prior to slaughter has few effects on physiology and meat quality in Bos Taurus feedlot steers. Aust J Agri Res 2007; 47:763-769.
Miranda-de la Lama GC, Rivero L, Chacón G, Garcia-Belenguer S. Effect of the pre-slaughter logistic on some indicators of welfare in lambs. Livest Sci 2010; 128:52-59.
Buckham Sporer KR, Weber PSD, Burton JL, Earley B, Crowe A. Transportation of young beef bulls alters circulating physiological parameters that may be effective biomarkers of stress. J Anim Sci 2008; 86:1325-1334.
Broom DM. The effects of land transport on animal welfare. Rev Sci Tech Off int Epiz 2005; 24(2):683-691.
Cockram MS, Baxter EM, Smith LA, Bell S, Howard CM, Prescott RJ, et al. Effect of driver behaviour, driving events and road type on the stability and resting behaviour of sheep in transit. J Anim Sci 2004; 79:165-176.
Stockman CA, Collins T, Barnes AL, Miller D, Wickham SL, Beatty DT, et al. Qualitative behavioural assessment and quantitative physiological measurement of cattle naïve and habituated to road transport. J Anim Prod Sci 2011; 51:240-249.
Romero MH, Sánchez JA. Implicaciones de la inclusión del bienestar animal en la legislación sanitaria colombiana. Rev Colomb Cien Pecu 2011; 24:93-101.
Broom DM. Transport stress in cattle and sheep with details of physiological, ethological and other indicator. Dtsch Tierârztl Wschr 2003; 110:83-89.
Mormède P, Andanson S, Aupérin B, Beerda B. Guémené D, Malmkvist J, et al. Exploration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function as a tool to evaluate animal welfare. Physiol Behav 2007; 92:317-339.
Trevisi E, Bertoni G. Some physiological and biochemical methods for acute and chronic stress evaluation in dairy cows. Ital J Anim Sci 2009; 8(Suppl.1):265-286.
Herskin MS, Munksgaard L, Ladewig J. Effects of acute stressors on nociception, adrenocortical responses and behavior of dairy cows. Physiol Behav 2004; 83:41-420.
Lay D, Wilson M. Physiological indicators of stress in domestic livestock. Symposium on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Regarding Animal Behavior, Care, and Well-Being, Indiana; 2001. p. 1-25.
Borell EH. The biology of stress and its application to livestock housing and transportation assessment. J Anim Sci 2001; 79:260-267.
Muchenje V, Dzama K, Chimonyo M, Strydom PE, Raats JG. Relationship between pre-slaughter stress responsiveness and beef quality in three cattle breeds. Meat Sci 2009; 81:653-657.
Sapolsky RM, Romero ML, Munck AU. How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? Integrating permissive, suppressive, stimulatory and preparative actions. Endocrinol Rev 2000; 21(1):55-89.
Amtmann VA, Gallo C, van Schaik G, Tadich N. Relaciones entre el manejo ante-mortem, variables sanguíneas indicadoras de estrés y pH de la canal en novillos. Arch Med Vet 2006; 38(3):259-264.
Buckham Sporer KR, Xiao L, Tempelman RJ, Burton JL, Earley B, Crowe MA. Transportation stress alters the circulating steroid environment and neutrophil gene expression in beef bulls. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2008; 121:300-320.
Knowles T, Warriss P. Stress physiology of animals during transport. In: Livestock handling and transport, eds. Temple Grandin. 3 ed.; 2006.
Grandin T. Cattle vocalizations are associated with handling and equipment problems at beef slaughter plants. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2001; 71:191-201.
Mounier L, Dubroeucq H, Andanson S, Veissier I. Variations in meat pH of beef bulls in relation to conditions of transfer to slaughter and previous history of the animals. J Anim Sci 2006; 84:1567-1576.
Tadich N, Gallo C, Bustamante H, Schwerter M, van Schaik G. Effects of transport and lairage time on some blood constituents of Friesian-cross steers in Chile. Livest Prod Sci 2005; 93:223-233.
Cooke RF, Bohnert DW. Technical note: Bovine acute-phase response after corticotrophin-release hormone challenge. J Anim Sci 2011; 89:252-257.
Blanco M, Casasús I, Palacio J. Effect of age at weaning on the physiological stress response and temperament of two beef cattle breeds. Animal 2009; 3(1):108-117.
Parker AJ, Hamlin GP, Coleman CJ, Fitzpatrick LA. Excess cortisol interferes with a principal mechanism of resistance to dehydratation in Bos indicus steers. J Anim Sci 2004; 82:1037-1045.
Möstl E, Palme R. Hormones as indicators of stress. Domest Anim Endocrinol 2002; 23:67-74.
Cafe LM, Robinson DL, Ferguson DM, Geesink GH, Greenwood PL. Temperament and hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis function are related and combine to affect growth, efficiency, carcass, and meat quality traits in Brahman steers. Domest Anim Endocrinol 2011; 40(4):230-240.
Averós X, Martín S, Riu M, Serratosa J, Gosálvez LF. Stress response of extensively young being transported to growing-finishing farms under Spanish summer commercial conditions. Lives Sci 2008; 119:174-182.
Souza MIL, Uribe-Velásquez LF, Ramos AA, Oba E. Níveis plasmáticos de colesterol total, lipoproteínas de alta densidad (HDL) e cortisol, e sua biorritmicidades, em carneiros Ideal-Polwarth. Cien Anim Bras 2006; 7(4):433-438.
Tsigos C, Chrousos P. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neuroendocrine factors and stress. J Pshychosom Res 2002; 53(4):865-871.
Kannan G, Kouakou B, Terril TH, Gelaye S. Endocrine, blood metabolite, and meat quality changes in goats as influenced by short-term, preslaughter stress. J Anim Sci 2003; 81:1499-1507.
Tadich N, Gallo C, Echeverría R, van Schaik G. Efecto del ayuno durante dos tiempos de confinamiento y de transporte terrestre sobre algunas variables sanguíneas indicadoras de estrés en novillos. Arch Med Vet 2003; 2:171-185.
Bórnez R, Linares MB, Vergara H. Haematological, hormonal and biochemical blood parameters in lamb: effect of age and blood sampling time. Lives Sci 2009; 121:200-206.
Broom DM. Behaviour and welfare in relation to pathology. Appl Anim Behav 2006; 97:73-83.
Vogel KD, Claus JR, Grandin T, Oetzel GR, Schaefer DM. Effect of water and feed withdrawal and health status on blood and serum components, body weight loss, and meat and carcass characteristics of Holstein slaughter cows. J Anim Sci 2010; 89(2):538-548.
Munhoz CD, García-Bueno B, Madrigal JLM, Lepsch LB, Scavone C, Leza JC. Stress-induced neuroinflammation: mechanism and new pharmacological targets. Braz J Med Biol Res 2008; 41(12):1037-1046.
Radostits OM, Houston DM, Mayhew IG. Examen y diagnóstico clínico en veterinaria. 1a ed. Philadelphia: Ed. Elsevier; 2002.
Hambrecht E, Eissen JJ, Newman DJ, Smits CHM, den Hartog LA, Verstegen MWA. Negative effects of stress immediately before slaughter on pork quality are aggravated by suboptimal transport and lairage conditions. J Anim Sci 2005; 83:440-448.
Kaneko J, Harvey J, Bruss M. Clinical Biochemistry of domestic animals. 6th ed. San Diego, USA: Academic Press; 1997.
Warner RD, Ferguson DM, Cottrel JJ, Knee BW. Acute stress induced by the preslaughter use of electric prodders causes tougher beef meat. Aust J Agri Res 2007; 47:782-788.
Grandin T. Progress and challenges in animal handling and slaughter in U.S. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2006; 100:129-139.
Davis AK, Maney DL, Maerz JC. The use of leukocyte profiles to measure stress in vertebrates: a review for ecologists. Functional Ecol 2008; 22:760-772.
Van de Water G, Verjans F, Geers R. The effect of short distance transport under commercial conditions on the physiology of slaughter calves; pH and colour profiles of veal. Livest Prod Sci 2003; 82:171-179.
Gallo C, Lizondo G, Knowles G. Effects of journey and lairage time on steers transported to slaughter in Chile. Vet Rec 2003; 152:361-364.
Nanni Costa L, Lo Fiego DP, Tassone F, Russo V. The relationship between carcass bruising in bulls and behavior observed during pre-slaughter phases. Veterinary Research Communications 2006; 30:379-381.
Strappini AC, Frankena K, Metz JHM, Gallo B, Kemp B. Prevalence and risk factors for bruises in Chilean bovine carcasses. Meat Sci 2010; 86:859-864.
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