Physiological characters of surti goats on different floor types and seasons

A study was conducted to assess the physiological characters of Surti goats on different floor types in cold, hot dry and hot humid seasons from December 2017 to October 2018. Adult Surti goats (n=27, 25.55±0.53 kg body weight) were randomly allotted to different floor types i.e. T₁: soil, T₂: brick and T₃: cement concrete floors. The mean rectal temperature on different types of floor showed non-significant differences. In the morning, mean skin temperature (28.29±0.28, 27.98±0.28 and 28.15±0.33 ºC), pulse rate (78.07±0.61, 75.53±0.68 and 76.85±0.62/min) and respiration rate (30.98±0.82, 29.54±0.80 and 31.47±0.85/min) of goats differed significantly (p<0.05) among treatment groups. However, in the afternoon physiological characters of goats were comparable among different groups. All the physiological characters in the morning and afternoon differed significantly (p<0.05) among the seasons. In hot dry season, all the physiological characters were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the morning and also in the afternoon except rectal temperature. It can be concluded that the provision of brick floor could be appropriate for goats in semi-arid region.