Diurnal Fluctuations in Rectal Temperature of Sahel Goats During the Hot Dry Season of the Semi-arid Zone

Abstract

Experiments were performed on 10 adult Sahel goats with the aim of determining their diurnal temperature fluctuations during the hot dry season. The rectal temperatures (RT) were recorded with a standard clinical thermometer every hour from 06:00 to
19:00 hours. The RT of goats rose gradually from its minimum value of 38.5 ± 0.0 C at 08:00 hours and attained its peak value of 39.2 ± 0.0 C at 16:00 hours (p<0.001). The RT rose concurrently with increase in ambient temperature. The overall mean RT obtained was 39.1 ± 0.0C. The diurnal fluctuation in the rectal temperature of the Sahel goats was 1.3 ± 0.1 C. There was o neither positive correlation between the minimum and maximum RT values obtained from individual animals (r = 0.4152, p = 0.2328), nor for the hourly recordings (r = 0.186, p = 0.5429). The result indicated a slight diurnal rhythm in the rectal
temperature of the Sahel goat. The low diurnal range of 0.4 ± 0.0 C suggests that the hot dry season is not thermally stressful to the Sahel goat.

Keywords: Diurnal fluctuations, rectal temperature, Sahel goat, hot dry season, Sahel zone

Sahel Journal of Veterinary Sciences Vol. 5 (1) 2006 pp. 39-43