The growth of the population on our planet poses new challenges to the agricultural sector both crop production and livestock. Increasing the number of farm animals and poultry to provide the population with products of animal origin but it inevitably leads to an increase in the negative impact on the environ ment through enteric fermentation, manure, forage production, etc. This is a fairly significant source of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Under such conditions, it is advisable for the production of livestock products to use livestock species that are most adapted to high air temperatures. Goat farming can be defined as such industry. The aim of the work is to summarize published data on the impact of heat stress on the body of goats, their growth, development, productivity and reproductive ability, as well as to find ways for goats to adapt to heat stress. It was found that goats are characterized by a high ability to adapt to different climatic conditions due to behavioral, genetic, physiological and morphological mechanisms that ensure the thermoregulation of their body. Heat stress in goats occurs at ambient temperatures above 38°C, which significantly exceeds the threshold for heat stress in other types of farm animals. Heat stress negatively affects the immune and endocrine systems of goats, their growth and development, reproductive ability of females and males, dairy, meat and cashmere productivity. The effects of heat stress on animals can be mitigated by optimizing feeding and keeping conditions, as well as by using goat breeds and populations that are characterized by high heat tolerance. In Ukraine, the issue of heat tolerance of farm animals has not been investigated before, since it was irrelevant in our climatic zone. Currently, research is being conducted in the world at the physiological, behavioral and genetic levels to identify breeds and populations of goats that are characterized by high acclimatization ability and are heat tolerant. Genes have been identified that can serve as genetic markers of goat tolerance to heat stress, but this issue requires additional research and confirmation in different goat populations.
Stavetska et al. (Fri,) studied this question.