Impact of restricting feed and probiotic supplementation on growth performance,mortality and carcass traits of meat‐type quails

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of quantitative feed restriction, along with dietary supplementation with a probiotic blend (Protexin) as a natural growth promoter, on the performance, water consumption, mortality rate and carcass traits of meat‐type quails. A total of 250 1‐day unsexed quails were randomly allocated to five equal groups in a completely randomized design. The first group (A) fed a basal diet without any restriction (24 hr/day); the second group (B1) fed the basal diet for 20 hr/day; the third group (B2) fed the basal diet enriched with probiotic (0.1 g/kg diet) for 20 hr/day; the fourth group (C1) fed the basal diet for 16 hr/day; and the fifth group (C2) fed the basal diet enriched with probiotic (0.1 g/kg diet) for 16 hr/day. Birds were fed ad‐libitum from 0–14 days of age, and then the feed restriction regimes started from 14 till 28 days of age. Results showed that quails in the control‐group consumed more feed and water than the other treatment groups (p < .01), however their body weights did not differ (p > .05) compared with the other treated groups. The best feed conversion values were achieved in quails supplemented with probiotic blend (B2 and C2) in comparison with the other groups (p < .01). Feeding probiotic had a positive effect on bird health which reduced the mortality rate. Further, mortality rate was significantly reduced (p < .05) by feed restriction, with or without probiotic supplementation. No carcass parameters were significantly affected (p > .05) by treatments. Our results show that quail could be reared under a feed restriction system, for 4–8 hr daily, along with dietary supplementation of probiotic as growth promoter for better growth performance.     

葛根芩连汤对感染大肠杆菌小鼠血常规、血液内毒素及炎性细胞因子含量的影响

旨在研究葛根芩连汤预防及治疗感染大肠杆菌K_(88)小鼠的血常规、血液内毒素及炎性细胞因子含量的影响。统计小鼠的死亡率,血常规检测小鼠血液中白细胞、红细胞及血小板的变化,以及采用显色基质鲎试剂法和ELISA方法检测感染小鼠血液里内毒素及炎性因子TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6的含量变化。结果显示,预防试验中葛根芩连汤组小鼠死亡率为20%,治疗试验中葛根芩连汤组死亡率为30%,均极显著地低于模型组(P0.01),且与氟苯尼考组相比没有差异;葛根芩连汤组小鼠血液中白细胞指标均极显著地低于模型组(P0.01),红细胞及血小板指标均极显著地高于模型组(P0.01);葛根芩连汤组小鼠白细胞、中性粒细胞及血小板数目极显著的高于氟苯尼考组(P0.01),葛根芩连汤组小鼠内毒素及TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6的含量均极显著地低于模型组(P0.01)。结果表明:葛根芩连汤对感染大肠杆菌K_(88)小鼠具有预防与治疗作用,而且在抑制早期炎性因子的释放,降低机体炎症反应水平方面优于氟苯尼考。     

滴灌条件下3种紫花苜蓿细根 周转及不同土层分布特征

以新疆北疆绿洲区常见的3种紫花苜蓿品种作为研究对象,用微根管技术监测3个品种细根的生长与死亡动态,明确不同品种间的细根周转及不同土层分布动态特征,分析苜蓿细根周转与干草产量的关系。结果表明:3种紫花苜蓿细根总现存量均在7月21日达到最大值,WL343HQ、WL363HQ和WL366HQ数值分别为0.294、0.861和0.568 cm·cm^-3;其中细根生产量分别出现了2、3和2次峰值,细根死亡量分别出现了2、2和3次峰值;细根生产量最大值均出现在7月6日至7月21日,且大小顺序为WL363HQ(0.455 cm·cm^-3)>WL366HQ(0.260 cm·cm^-3)>WL343HQ(0.116 cm·cm^-3)。在刈割时期与未刈割时期观测细根生长与死亡,刈割时期细根现存量较未刈割时期减少,说明刈割能影响苜蓿细根的生长,降低其现存量。3个苜蓿品种在不同土层的细根现存量大小均为0~20 cm>20~40 cm>40~60 cm。WL343HQ、WL363HQ和WL366HQ苜蓿细根周转率分别为1.566、1.973和1.859 yr^-1,且3者周转率之间差异不显著(P>0.05)。相关性分析表明,苜蓿总干草产量与死亡量呈极显著正相关关系(P<0.01),年细根生产量与年细根最大现存量呈极显著正相关关系(P<0.01),说明苜蓿地下细根的生长与死亡动态影响其地上部分植株的生长发育及干草产量。紫花苜蓿品种WL363HQ的细根现存量、生产量及干草产量均优于WL343HQ和WL366HQ,故紫花苜蓿品种WL363HQ在当地的生产性能表现较好,适宜在本地进行推广种植。     

Piglet mortality – A parallel comparison between loose-housed and temporarily confined farrowing sows in the same herd

In literature, piglet mortality is described as a multifactorial complex influenced by factors as litter size, age and health of the sow, farrowing system, management etc. In this study, a parallel comparison was made between two farrowing systems; a temporarily confined (TC) (farrowing – 3 days after) versus a loose sow (L). On average, 0.4 more pigs per litter survived until weaning if the sow was temporarily confined (TC) compared with being loose (L). Cause of death was recorded according to a strict template. Underweight and crushing was the most common causes. For crushing, during 1–3 days after birth, an interaction between sow age and farrowing system was observed, with differences between farrowing systems only for intermediate-aged and older sows (>parity 2). There were no significant differences between systems regarding farrowing duration or number of stillborn pigs, but a significant increase in farrowing problems was recorded for TC-sows.     

A comparison of accuracy validation methods for genomic and pedigree‐based predictions of swine litter size traits using Large White and simulated data

The objective of this study was to compare and determine the optimal validation method when comparing accuracy from single‐step GBLUP (ssGBLUP) to traditional pedigree‐based BLUP. Field data included six litter size traits. Simulated data included ten replicates designed to mimic the field data in order to determine the method that was closest to the true accuracy. Data were split into training and validation sets. The methods used were as follows: (i) theoretical accuracy derived from the prediction error variance (PEV) of the direct inverse (iLHS), (ii) approximated accuracies from the accf90(GS) program in the BLUPF90 family of programs (Approx), (iii) correlation between predictions and the single‐step GEBVs from the full data set (GEBV_Full), (iv) correlation between predictions and the corrected phenotypes of females from the full data set (Y_c), (v) correlation from method iv divided by the square root of the heritability (Y_ch) and (vi) correlation between sire predictions and the average of their daughters' corrected phenotypes (Y_cs). Accuracies from iLHS increased from 0.27 to 0.37 (37%) in the Large White. Approximation accuracies were very consistent and close in absolute value (0.41 to 0.43). Both iLHS and Approx were much less variable than the corrected phenotype methods (ranging from 0.04 to 0.27). On average, simulated data showed an increase in accuracy from 0.34 to 0.44 (29%) using ssGBLUP. Both iLHS and Y_ch approximated the increase well, 0.30 to 0.46 and 0.36 to 0.45, respectively. GEBV_Full performed poorly in both data sets and is not recommended. Results suggest that for within‐breed selection, theoretical accuracy using PEV was consistent and accurate. When direct inversion is infeasible to get the PEV, correlating predictions to the corrected phenotypes divided by the square root of heritability is adequate given a large enough validation data set.     

Tiller population dynamics in eight cultivars of elephant grass during undisturbed growth

The aim of the study was to assess tiller population dynamics of aerial and basal tillers in eight cultivars of Pennisetum purpureum (Schumach.), syn. Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone, in a warm humid climate in Veracruz, Mexico. This is a pioneer study on tiller population dynamics in elephant grass under conditions of undisturbed growth. The tiller population assays included data from 14 days after cutting until 154 and 182 days after cutting for the dry and wet seasons, respectively. On each sampling date, a distinctive ring was placed on every new tiller, and rings were removed from dead tillers. Tiller density, mortality and appearance were determined. In wet seasons, copious tillering occurred on initial regrowth (by day 42, mostly aerial tillers, with a ratio of 2:1 to 4:1 for aerial to basal tiller appearance), and on day 98 (a higher proportion of basal tillers, with an aerial to basal tiller ratio of 1.5:1). Aerial tillers showed a higher overall mortality rate than basal tillers (29.0 vs 14.4). Younger basal tillers showed higher mortality than older tillers. Higher tiller density occurred during the dry season, where it increased gradually until day 70 and then declined. The cultivars ‘Cameroon‘, ‘CT115‘ and ‘OM22‘ showed remarkably high tillering ability. The findings indicate that harvesting a forage bank is possible from day 70 during a dry season.     

Genetic study of individual preweaning mortality and birth weight in Large White piglets using threshold-linear models

Individual records from 49,788 Large White piglets were used to evaluate preweaning mortality and its relationship with birth weight (BW). Preweaning mortality included farrowing mortality (TM) was also divided into stillbirth (SB), early (EM), late (LM) and total (ELM) preweaning mortality. Farrowing mortality was also studied as a sow's trait as number of piglets born dead (NBD). Threshold-linear models were used via MCMC. Traits included (1) TM-BW, (2) SB-ELM-BW, (3) SB-EM-LM and (4) NBD-ELM-BW. Model for BW included parity number, litter size, sex, contemporary group (farm-farrowing year-month), litter, and direct and maternal additive genetic effects. For mortality traits, litter effect was of the nursing litter for cross-fostered piglets (4.9%). Models for SB (2, 3) and NBD (4) excluded the effect of sex. In Model 3, BW was fitted as covariable for EM and LM. Estimates of direct and maternal heritability for BW were 0.03–0.06 and 0.14–0.19; and for mortality traits 0.03–0.12 and 0.08–0.12. Direct-maternal correlations were negative for all traits. Genetic correlations between all mortality traits were positive. Results confirmed the importance of BW for the genetic evaluation of piglet mortality. Early mortality is a good candidate for improvement of TM because of larger heritability and high genetic correlations with other mortality traits. It is most efficient to treat SB at sow level and preweaning mortality at the piglet level.