Differentiation of Hair Sheep Breeds Based on the Physiological and Blood Biochemical Changes in Response to Different Stressors Using Multivariate Analysis Techniques

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Multivariate analyses were performed to differentiate Dorper, Katahdin, and St. Croix hair sheep breeds based on the changes in different physiological and blood variables due to various stresses, i.e., high heat load, restricted feed intake, and limited drinking water availability. Results demonstrated that Dorper and Katahdin were clustered together, and were separated from St. Croix in all stress conditions. This suggested that the stress responses of Dorper and Katahdin are similar, and divergent from that of the resilient St Croix breed. Under heat stress conditions, skin temperature, panting score, rectal temperature, respiration rate, and blood urea nitrogen and oxygen concentrations were the significant discriminating variables in clustering the sheep into groups. In terms of restricted feed intake, blood triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations were the most significant factors for the separation of St. Croix from Dorper and Katahdin, whereas blood hemoglobin, osmolality, protein, and albumin were the most important discriminating traits under the limited water availability condition. ABSTRACT: Physiological and blood measurement changes due to high heat load, restricted feed intake, and limited drinking water availability in 135 animals of three hair sheep breeds (Dorper, Katahdin, and St. Croix) were subjected to multivariate analysis techniques. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the ability of these variables to separate individual hair sheep into groups based on adaptation characteristics in response to three physiological stressors and identify variables with greater discriminatory power. There were 16, 8, and 13 physiological and blood variables obtained from high heat load, restricted feed consumption, and water intake studies, respectively, for multivariate analysis. Physiological variables such as respiration rate, rectal and skin temperature, and panting score were measured only in the heat stress study. The results of the cluster and canonical discriminant analyses showed the presence of wide divergence (p < 0.05) between St. Croix and other breeds in their responses to high heat loads and restricted-feed- and -water-intake conditions. Dorper and Katahdin were grouped (p > 0.05) together based on the changes in physiological variables, which were separated (p < 0.05) from those of St. Croix as a resilient group. The stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that skin temperature, panting score, rectal temperature, respiration rate, and blood urea nitrogen and oxygen concentrations were the significant (p < 0.05) discriminating variables in clustering individual sheep into groups based on their responses to the high-heat-stress condition. Under the limited feed intake condition, the significant (p < 0.05) traits responsible for the separation of St. Croix from Dorper and Katahdin were blood triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations, whereas blood hemoglobin, osmolality, protein, and albumin were most important discriminating variables under the limited water intake condition. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that the stress responses of Dorper and Katahdin are similar and different from that of St. Croix. This finding can be useful information for future decisions in developing climate-resilient sheep through selective breeding.