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. 2019 Feb 17;97(4):1456–1467. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz024

Table 1.

Physiological parameters for beef heifers consuming either novel endophyte (EN) or endophyte-infected (EI) fescue with slick hair mutation (S) or wildtype (W) from late May to late August 2015

Treatment1,2 P-value
Item EN-S EN-W EI-S EI-W SEM Fescue Genotype Interaction
Initial BW, kg 393.2 388.3 396.9 395.1 17.3 0.762 0.848 0.929
Final BW, kg 422.0 411.2 426.7 417.9 19.0 0.767 0.611 0.960
DMI, kg/d 7.64 7.36 7.49 7.02 0.32 0.447 0.249 0.765
ADG, kg/d 0.46 0.37 0.47 0.36 0.07 0.933 0.156 0.892
BCS3 5.70a 5.50b 5.62a 5.47b 0.04 0.146 <0.0001* 0.432
HCS4 1.64a 3.09b 2.23c 3.35b 0.09 <0.0001* <0.0001* 0.073†
HSS5 1.59a 2.69b 2.20c 2.99b 0.11 <0.0001* <0.0001* 0.149
Rectal temperature, °C 39.72 39.72 39.65 39.69 0.04 0.148 0.592 0.534
Surface temperature, °C 36.44a 36.64a 36.65a 37.19b 0.10 0.002* 0.004* 0.090†
Heart rate 82.9a 81.4a 75.5b 81.0a 1.5 0.010* 0.192 0.022*
Respiration rate 52.6 52.7 51.3 52.8 1.0 0.541 0.433 0.441
Artery diameter, mm 3.22 3.18 3.06 3.17 0.5 0.115 0.526 0.127
Vein diameter, mm 4.51ab 4.47ab 4.37a 4.65b 0.8 0.769 0.115 0.041*
Systolic BP6, mmHg 147.2a 143.5a 136.9b 138.1b 1.5 <0.0001* 0.399 0.105
Diastolic BP, mmHg 85.8a 84.7a 75.9c 80.7b 1.4 <0.0001* 0.187 0.031*
Hematocrit7 36.3a 35.2b 35.6b 33.7c 0.3 <0.0001* <0.0001* 0.133
Pregnancy rate, % 37.5ab 57.1a 62.5a 0.0b 16.8 0.347 0.213 0.021*
a

Within row, means without a common superscript significantly differ (P ≤ 0.05).

b

Within row, means without a common superscript significantly differ (P ≤ 0.05).

c

Within row, means without a common superscript significantly differ (P ≤ 0.05).

1

Values are reported as least square means for the experiment.

2

EN-S = novel endophyte fescue with slick hair coat; EN-W = novel endophyte fescue with wildtype hair coat; EI-S = endophyte-infected fescue and slick hair coat; EI-W = endophyte-infected fescue with wildtype hair coat.

3

BCS (1 to 9 scale).

4

HCS = hair coat score (1 to 5 scale).

5

HSS = hair shedding score (1 to 5 scale).

6

BP = blood pressure.

7

Hematocrit is represented by the percentage of packed red cells in blood.

*

P-values < 0.05 determined significant.

†

P-values 0.05 > P ≤ 0.10 determined a statistical tendency.