Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
6th International Conference on Frontiers in Academic Research ICFAR 2025, Konya, Türkiye, 16 - 17 Aralık 2025, ss.522-526, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
In dairy cattle farming, global climate change, particularly due to heat stress, is placing increasing pressure on animal health, welfare and productivity. Rising ambient temperatures and humidity levels can have many significant adverse effects, such as reduced milk yield and milk components, decreased fertility, and increased risk of metabolic and infectious diseases. Therefore, enhancing dairy cattle's ability to adapt to heat stress caused by climate change is crucial for sustainable production systems. Heat stress tolerance is a genetically based trait that varies significantly between breeds and genotypes. In recent years, breeding programmes have focused on traits such as heat stress tolerance, longevity, fertility and udder health, in addition to milk yield. Genetically resilient animals exhibit more stable production performance than other animals, even under stressful conditions, and experience less welfare loss. Animal welfare indicators reveal the effects of climate change-related stress on animals. These indicators are measured using parameters such as respiratory rate, body surface temperature, behavioural changes and lameness. There is a direct relationship between these indicators and production performance. Taking into account the interactions between genetic adaptation, animal welfare and production performance provides a more comprehensive approach to developing dairy cattle breeding that is compatible with climate change. Therefore, genetic resilience and welfare-based herd management strategies aim to achieve environmentally sensitive, sustainable production targets in dairy cattle breeding in the future.