Artificial Insemination with Frozen Semen in Ewes at Different Times of the Breeding Season

Totally 13575 ewes of two different breeds, Dala and Spel, were inseminated with semen, frozen in straws and thawed at 70°C for 8 sec. An insemination dose of 0.2 ml containing approx. 150 × 10⁶ spermatozoa with at least 45 to 50% progressive motility was imerted 5 to 12 mm into the cervix. The insemination was performed once between 12 and 30 h after the onset of heat. The NR rate of the Dala ewes increased significantly during the season. The NR rate of the ewes inseminated before 15. November was 44.3%, from 15. to 20. November 52.2%. from 20. to 25. November 55.3% and from 25. November and later 61.4%. The corresponding values for the ewes of the Spel breed were 57.3, 58.7, 61.5 and 71.0% respectively, and only the difference between the two last values was statistically significant. The difference between the fertility of the two breeds was significant within each of the periods .     

Pregnancy Rates in Repeat-breeder Heifers Following Multiple Artificial Inseminations during Spontaneous Oestrus

Hormonal asynchronies during oestrus, related to the presence of suprabasal plasma-progesterone (P4) concentrations and a delayed ovulation, interfere with the fertility of repeat-breeder heifers (RBH). Since tubal dysfunction can occur in connection with hormonal asynchronies and constrained availability of fertile spermatozoa at the time of ovulation, the present study tested the hypothesis that frequent sperm deposition from onset of oestrus to ovulation may improve pregnancy rates in RBH. Five RBH and five virgin heifers (VH; controls) were repeatedly artificially inseminated (AI) at 6 h intervals from onset of oestrus to spontaneous ovulation. Hormone analyses revealed suprabasal P₄ concentrations and a delay in the occurrence of the luteinising hormone (LH) surge, but a normal cortisol profile in RBH. Compared with controls, RBH presented longer interval from onset of oestrus to ovulation, and therefore, received more AIs. Pregnancy rates in RBH reached control levels (60%; NS), indicating that the hypothesis might be correct. Pregnancy rates in VH were below the expected range, presumably attributed to a deleterious influence of the frequent handling. The study suggests that pregnancy rates can be improved in RBH by frequent AI in relation to spontaneous ovulation. However, this practice of repeated manipulations, while seeming not to show adverse effects, lacks practicality for routine use.     

鸡呼吸道传染病基因芯片诊断方法的建立

随着养禽业集约化程度的不断提高,鸡呼吸系统疾病的发生呈逐年上升趋势.而且大多数的呼吸道疾病不是单一病原感染,而是多种病原混合感染,从临床上难以及时鉴别诊断,延误防治时机,从而给养禽业造成巨大的经济损失.因此,禽呼吸道疾病已经成为生产和研究中的一类重要疾病.目前,禽呼吸系统疾病的诊断方法主要有病毒分离、血凝（HA）、血凝抑制（HI）、琼脂扩散、ELISA、PCR等,但是传统的检测方法灵敏度较低,而且当病原发生变异或感染禽处在潜伏期时会造成误诊.PCR方法每次只能检测一种病毒,费时费力.采用基因芯片的方法可以快速、准确地同步检测多种病原体,且需要样品量少、灵敏、特异、快速、费用低廉,将生物芯片技术用于禽呼吸道疾病诊断意义重大.     

母牛一胎双犊技术的研究

选择9头母牛先行人工授精、7天后再移植冷冻胚胎以生产双犊。试验结果表明,母牛产双犊达44.44%(P<0.01)。提示:采用A(I人工授精)+ET(胚胎移植)是提高母牛双犊率的有效技术措施之一。     

Comparison of pregnancy per AI of heifers inseminated with sex-sorted or conventional semen after oestrus detection or timed artificial insemination

The objective of the study was to compare the fertility after using sex-sorted or conventional semen either with oestrus detection (EST) or timed artificial insemination (TAI) in Holstein heifers. Holstein heifers were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Heifers in the EST group were inseminated with sex-sorted (n = 114) or conventional semen (n = 100) after spontaneous or induced oestrus. Heifers in the TAI, subjected to the 5-day Cosynch+Progesterone protocol (GnRH+P4 insertion-5d-PGF_2α+P4 removal-1d-PGF_2α-2d-GnRH+TAI), were inseminated with sex-sorted (n = 113) or conventional semen (n = 88). Statistical analyses were performed using PROC GLIMMIX procedure of SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Overall P/AI was 60.7% for EST and 54.2% for TAI regardless of types of semen and 68.1% for conventional and 48.9% for sex-sorted semen regardless of insemination strategies. Fertility of heifers inseminated with either sex-sorted (53.5%; 44.2%) or conventional (69.0%; 67.0%) semen did not differ between EST and TAI respectively. Besides, the interaction between the semen type and the insemination strategy was not significant for P/AI. The embryonic loss was significantly greater with sex-sorted semen (17.1%) compared to conventional semen (1.6%). There was no sire effect with sex-sorted semen on P/AI (52.6% vs. 46.2%) and embryonic loss (16.4% vs. 18.0%). As expected, sex-sorted semen resulted in more female calves (89.8% vs. 51.6%) than conventional semen. Thus, sex-sorted semen can be used with 5-day Cosynch+Progesterone protocol to eliminate the inadequate oestrus detection and to increase female calves born in dairy heifers.     

禽流感血清抗体与卵黄抗体消长规律比较研究

应用禽流感病毒二价（H5、H9）油乳剂灭活疫苗免疫160日龄非免疫蛋鸡，免疫接种后分别于第0、7、14、21、28、35 d采集相应的鸡蛋和血清，采用血凝抑制(HI)试验监测血清及卵黄中H5、H9抗体的消长规律，结果表明：H5、H9血清抗体于免疫后7 d时开始产生，14 d时到中等水平，21 d时达到最高值，一直维持到35 d之后；而H5、H9卵黄抗体与血清抗体水平相比相对滞后7 d左右；卵黄抗体与血清抗体在28 d时均达到高峰值并一直维持到35 d之后，28 d后血清和卵黄抗体达到相同水平。本研究为临床上以禽流感卵黄抗体检测替代血清抗体检测及以后禽流感高免卵黄抗体的研究提供了依据和数据。     

禽流感(H9亚型)油乳剂灭活疫苗的血凝抑制(HI)抗体动态变化的研究

从市场上随机购得不同厂家各两批次的商品化禽流感(H9)油乳剂灭活疫苗，按瓶签说明免疫禽流感母源抗体为阴性的蛋鸡。当疫苗抗体下降至5log2左右时部分鸡再二免，并做田间试验。结果表明，免疫1周出现血清抗体，并逐日上升，3周达高峰。首次免疫8周后抗体下降至5log2左右，二次免疫15周后抗体下降至5log2左右。这四批疫苗的免疫原性较高，安全可靠，两次免疫保护期可保护至开产后。     

An aggregation index (AI) to quantify spatial patterns of landscapes

There is often need to measure aggregation levels of spatial patterns within a single map class in landscape ecological studies. The contagion index (CI), shape index (SI), and probability of adjacency of the same class (Qi), all have certain limits when measuring aggregation of spatial patterns. We have developed an aggregation index (AI) that is class specific and independent of landscape composition. AI assumes that a class with the highest level of aggregation (AI =1) is comprised of pixels sharing the most possible edges. A class whose pixels share no edges (completely disaggregated) has the lowest level of aggregation (AI =0). AI is similar to SI and Qi, but it calculates aggregation more precisely than the latter two. We have evaluated the performance of AI under varied levels of (1) aggregation, (2) number of patches, (3) spatial resolutions, and (4) real species distribution maps at various spatial scales. AI was able to produce reasonable results under all these circumstances. Since it is class specific, it is more precise than CI, which measures overall landscape aggregation. Thus, AI provides a quantitative basis to correlate the spatial pattern of a class with a specific process. Since AI is a ratio variable, map units do not affect the calculation. It can be compared between classes from the same or different landscapes, or even the same classes from the same landscape under different resolutions.     

牛胚胎移植研究进展

人工授精技术可极大地提高公畜的利用效率，而胚胎移植技术则是充分挖掘优良母畜的繁殖潜力的有效途径。该技术的应用可从很大程度上提高母畜的繁殖率，从而在短时间内迅速扩大优良种群，加速畜群改良和纯种繁育进程，也是迅速提高我国牛群整体水平的重要而有效的手段，本文就牛胚胎移植的研究现状、关键技术以及影响胚胎移植的因素作以探讨。