REVIEW article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1686241
This article is part of the Research TopicThreats and Strategies of Nutritional Metabolic Disorders and Poisoning Diseases in RuminantsView all 18 articles
Heat Stress Affects Dairy Cow Performance via Oxidative Stress, Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, Gut Microbiota, and Multi-Dimensional Mitigation
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Animal Science, 内蒙古农业大学, Hohhot, China
- 2内蒙古农业大学, Hohhot, China
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Abstract Against the backdrop of global warming, heat stress has become one of the greatest challenges facing the dairy industry. This review systematically summarizes the multi-dimensional impacts of heat stress on dairy cows and corresponding mitigation strategies under global warming.It covers the evaluation indicators (temperature-humidity index, physiological and behavioral indicators) and classification of heat stress. It analyzes the negative effects on dairy cows' reproductive performance (e.g., oocyte and sperm damage, hormonal disorders, impaired fetal development) and production performance (e.g., reduced milk yield, deteriorated milk composition). These effects are mediated by physiological mechanisms such as oxidative stress imbalance, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) activation, cellular structural damage, altered gene expression, and disrupted host-gut microbiota interactions. Additionally, the review integrates interdisciplinary mitigation strategies including environmental optimization, nutritional regulation, genetic breeding, and intelligent monitoring. It provides theoretical and practical references for constructing a sustainable heat stress prevention and control system.
Keywords: Heat stress, Milk production efficiency, Nutritional regulation, Genetic breeding, dairy cows
Received: 15 Aug 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, zhang, zhu, yang, Li, Gu and si. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: wenguang zhang, atcgnmbi@aliyun.com
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