Blood gases, acid-base and physiological indicies in donkeys as pack animal

Abstract

In India, donkeys are mainly used as pack and cart animals for transport of bricks at brick-kilns, transport of clothes by washermen, and pots by pottermen and transport of goods over short distances. Five apparently healthy adult donkeys were used as pack animals to study the effect of pack load on the donkeys. Donkeys were packed after proper training with a load equal to 50% of their body weight and were used under two different work schemes i.e. continuous work (4 hour) and work-rest cycle (2 hour work followed by 1 hour rest and again 2 hour work). Rectal temperature (RT), pulse rate (PR) and respiration rate (RR) were recorded just before work (0 hour) and after the completion of each work and pause. Venous blood was collected for assessment of blood gases and acid-base status before and after work. Values of RT, PR and RR were significantly higher just after the work than the control values during both work-rest cycle and continuous work, however, percent change in these physiological responses were appreciably higher in donkeys under continuous work as compared to work-rest cycle. Further, certain fatigue symptoms viz. unwillingness to continue operation, legs uncoordinated and excitement were observed only in the animals working continuously for 4 hours. The donkeys exhibited a fatigue score of 10 and 2 out of 16 point score during continuous and work-rest cycle, respectively. This study revealed that for 50% pack load, work-rest cycle seems to be better than continuous work as the intermittent rest in between work reduced the stress on the animals.