Seasonal heat production and energy balance of grazing yaks on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

Ding, Luming; Wang, Y.P.; Brosh, A.; Chen, J.Q.; Gibb, M. J.; Shang, Zhanhuan; Guo, Xusheng; Mi, Jiandui; Zhou, Jianwei; Wang, Hucheng; Qiu, Qiang; Long, Ruijun

doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2014.09.022

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Environmental conditions such as low temperature, snow cover and strong wind as well as the herd-release strategy (small ruminants) or absence of active herding (cattle) likely reduced the length of daily grazing itineraries (Vetter 2005;Schlecht et al 2006;Squires et al 2010). This assumption is substantiated by a comparison with daily itineraries tracked under similar management conditions in Inner Mongolia, Mongolia and the Tibetan plateau, which closely matched the data of the current study and ranged between 3 and 13 km per day (Kawamura et al 2005;Joly et al 2013;Ding et al 2014).…”

Section: Mobility Patternsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…Nonetheless, the observed herbage offers were relatively low compared with studies in similar climatic contexts elsewhere (Sankey et al 2009;Behnke et al 2011;Sasaki et al 2012;Tao et al 2013), whereas the nutritive values were relatively high and constant throughout the studied years. Especially the latter observation is surprising, as in Central Asia the nutritive value of natural vegetation varies strongly with season and has been reported to be particularly low during winter and early spring (Yoshihara et al 2008;Glindemann et al 2009;Olson et al 2010;Sasaki et al 2012;Schönbach et al 2012;Bösing et al 2014;Ding et al 2014;Ma et al 2014;Müller et al 2014). It may therefore be concluded that the herd mobility patterns observed in the Altay-Dzungarian region is balanced for the seasonal variability in herbage quality (Yoshihara et al 2013).…”

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 83%

“…The relatively high nutritional quality of herbage at the winter pasture may be attributed to the occurrence of nutritious plants (especially Anabasis brevifolia), particularly in Mongolia (Vetter 2005). However, due to infrastructure limitations, herbage was sampled already in September in the present study, and a decline of herbage quality until the arrival of the herds in December cannot be ruled out (Olson et al 2010;Ding et al 2014). In addition, the observed wide Ca:P ratios in winter pasture herbage may lead to P deficiency and in the longer term can lead to infertility, noninfectious abortions, anaemia and bone abnormalities (van Soest 1994;Olson et al 2010;Yoshihara et al 2013).…”

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 94%

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Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

et al. 2016

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Due to increasing population and the recent implementation of policies to intensify the use of land and water resources, the transhumant pastoral systems in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay-Dzungarian region are rapidly changing, leading to modifications of herd size, herd composition and spatial distribution of livestock grazing. This may have major consequences for the supply and quality of rangeland biomass. Despite similar topographic settings, the socio-political framework for Chinese and Mongolian pastoralists differs significantly, leading to differences in rangeland utilization. To substantiate these claims, the long-distance transhumance routes, frequency of pasture changes, daily grazing itineraries and size of pastures were recorded by means of GPS tracking of cattle and goats on 1,535 (China) and 1,396 (Mongolia) observation days. The status quo of the main seasonal pastures was captured by measuring the herbage offer and its nutritive value in 869 sampling spots. In the Altay-Dzungarian region, small ruminant herds covered up to 412 km (Mongolia) and grazed on up to nine pastures per year (China). In Mongolia, the herds' average duration of stay at an individual pasture was longer than in China, particularly in spring and autumn. Herbage allowance at the onset of a grazing period (kg dry matter per sheep unit and day) ranged from 34/17 to 91/95 (China/Mongolia). Comparing crude protein and phosphorous concentrations of herbage, in China, the highest concentrations were measured for spring and summer pastures, whereas in Mongolia, the highest concentrations were determined for autumn and winter pastures. Based on our data, we conclude that regulation of animal numbers and access to pastures seemingly maintained pasture productivity in China, especially at high altitudes. However, this policy may prohibit flexible adaptation to sudden environmental constraints. In contrast, high stocking densities and grazing of pastures before flowering of herbaceous plants negatively affected rangeland productivity in Mongolia, especially for spring and summer pastures.

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Section: Mobility Patternsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 94%

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Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

et al. 2016

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“…The ability of yak to survive in such rugged natural environment is due to its varied behavioral, physiological, and genetic adaptations ( Barsila et al, 2014 ; Hu et al, 2012 ; Qiu et al, 2012 ). For instance, remarkable reduction of heat production at night when not grazing and increased energy consumption when grazing under free-range conditions enables yaks to save more energy and resist the extremely harsh conditions than other cattle under similar environmental conditions ( Ding et al, 2014 ). Yak can thrive under extreme environmental conditions, such as the Tibetan Plateau where few other animals can survive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of 17 microsatellite markers for parentage testing and individual identification of domestic yak (Bos grunniens)

Pei

Bao

Chen

et al. 2018

PeerJ

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BackgroundYak (Bos grunniens) is the most important domestic animal for people living at high altitudes. Yak ordinarily feed by grazing, and this behavior impacts the accuracy of the pedigree record because it is difficult to control mating in grazing yak. This study aimed to evaluate the pedigree system and individual identification in polled yak.MethodsA total of 71 microsatellite loci were selected from the literature, mostly from the studies on cattle. A total of 35 microsatellite loci generated excellent PCR results and were evaluated for the parentage testing and individual identification of 236 unrelated polled yaks. A total of 17 of these 35 microsatellite loci had polymorphic information content (PIC) values greater than 0.5, and these loci were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium without linkage disequilibrium.ResultsUsing multiplex PCR, capillary electrophoresis, and genotyping, very high exclusion probabilities were obtained for the combined core set of 17 loci. The exclusion probability (PE) for one candidate parent when the genotype of the other parent is not known was 0.99718116. PE for one candidate parent when the genotype of the other parent is known was 0.99997381. PE for a known candidate parent pair was 0.99999998. The combined PEI (PE for identity of two unrelated individuals) and PESI (PE for identity of two siblings) were >0.99999999 and 0.99999899, respectively. These findings indicated that the combination of 17 microsatellite markers could be useful for efficient and reliable parentage testing and individual identification in polled yak.DiscussionMany microsatellite loci have been investigated for cattle paternity testing. Nevertheless, these loci cannot be directly applied to yak identification because the two bovid species have different genomic sequences and organization. A total of 17 loci were selected from 71 microsatellite loci based on efficient amplification, unambiguous genotyping, and high PIC values for polled yaks, and were suitable for parentage analysis in polled yak populations.

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“…The yak ( Poephagus grunniens ) is a multipurpose ruminant which fills an important ecological and social niche on the Qinghai‐Tibetan plateau (Ding et al., ; Sarkar, Meyer, & Prakash, ). However, productivity and growth rate of yaks are low compared with cattle (Ding et al., ) and their low reproductive rate restricts yak production (Zi, ). Most yak cows come into oestrus at 3–4 years of age, with unobvious and short‐term oestrous behaviour (Ding et al., ; Sarkar et al., ; Zi, ) and give birth every 2 years or twice every 3 years under traditional management systems (Zi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postpartum oestrous cycling resumption of yak cows following different calf weaning strategies under range conditions

Qian

Liu

et al. 2018

Animal Science Journal

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Early weaning can improve body condition and reproductive performance of cows. The objectives of this study were to examine and compare oestrous cycling resumption, behaviour and blood parameters of yak cows following four different strategies of calf weaning. Twenty-six yak cows (4-8 years) and their calves (94.3 ± 2.4 days) were studied in which calves were: weaned naturally with free access to their mothers (NW; n = 13); weaned abruptly and separated permanently from their mothers (PW; n = 5); separated temporarily from their mothers for 15 days (TW; n = 5); and fitted with nose plates for 15 days, but allowed free access to their mothers (NP; n = 3). Yak cows with sucking calves (NW) spent more time grazing in the cold season (from d 39 to 84). Based on serum progesterone concentrations, none of nine NW yak cows resumed oestrous cycling during the study, while seven of nine yak cows with weaned calves resumed cycling (3/3 for PW; 2/3 for TW; and 2/3 for NP yaks). We concluded that early weaning improved postpartum reproductive performance of yak cows on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and that abrupt and permanent weaning was an appropriate strategy.

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Seasonal heat production and energy balance of grazing yaks on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

Cited by 27 publications

References 21 publications

Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

Evaluation of 17 microsatellite markers for parentage testing and individual identification of domestic yak (Bos grunniens)

Postpartum oestrous cycling resumption of yak cows following different calf weaning strategies under range conditions

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