Adaptive metabolic responses in females of the fighting breed submitted to different sequences of stress stimuli.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the stress reaction and the metabolic adaptive effort in females of the fighting breed when submitted to different manipulation sequences. Nine 4- to 8-year-old bovine fighting breed females slaughtered to establish the basal levels of different blood parameters. A study was, then, conducted to examine the metabolic response in 30 2-year-old females, divided into 3 groups of 10 animals and submitted to different manipulations in each group: restraint- "open-field" -restraint, "open-field" -restraint, and transportation-restraint- "open-field" -restraint. The basal levels of the different blood parameters found were, in general, similar to the levels for cattle given in the literature. All the manipulations resulted in increases that were statistically different (p < 0.001) from basal levels, in terms of both cortisol plasma levels and the Specie Specific Experimental Response to Stress index (SSERTS). The stress of restraint (and the prior manipulations) seemed to mask the stress associated with the open-field and transport situations. In general, animals responded to 13 of the 15 parameters examined in the various experimental manipulations.