Efficiency of methods applied for goat estrous synchronization in subtropical monsoonal climate zone of Southwest China

Two experiments were undertaken to select the efficient method applied for goat estrous synchronization. In experiment 1, a total of 120 does (Capra hircus) were divided into five groups with a randomized block design, and the does of treatment 1 were synchronized by intravaginal sponges impregnated with 30 mg Levonorgestrel inserted for 10 days. Does of treatments 2, 3, and 4 were treated with further injection of 25 IU follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), 0.05 mg prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF_2α), and 25 IU FSH + 0.05 mg PGF_2α at sponge withdrawal, respectively. The does in the control group (n = 40) without estrous synchronization treatment and natural estrous does were observed. In experiment 2, a total of 140 does in five goat farms in breeding and non-breeding seasons were treated with the selective efficient procedure. The results presented that all the employed treatments were capable of inducing and synchronizing estrous goats. According to estrous response and economy, the use of intravaginal sponges impregnated with 30 mg Levonorgestrel and 0.05 mg PGF_2α (treatment 3) is the first choice for estrous synchronization, and 95.0% of synchronized does demonstrated estrus, which was significantly higher than that of treatment 1 (P < 0.05) and control group (P < 0.01). The percentages of ovulating of treatments 3 and 4 were the same (95.0%), which were significantly higher than that of treatment 1 (P < 0.01). The ovulation rates among different groups were not significant (P > 0.05). When the selective procedure was applied to five goat farms, 85.7% (120/140) of does demonstrated estrus, and the kidding percentage, litter size, and prolificacy rate were 53.6%, 0.95, and 177%, respectively.     

Effects of additive iron on growth,tissue distribution,haematology and immunology of gilthead sea bream, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sparus aurata</Emphasis>

The comparative effects of iron-supplemented levels on growth, tissue distribution, haematology and immunology of gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata (2 g) were investigated, using four organic (50, 100, 200, 300 mg ORG/kg diet) and one inorganic iron source (200 INOR mg/kg diet). Fish were treated for 12 weeks with the experimental diets and maintained at a water temperature of 19–22°C. Growth (final weight and specific growth rate), tissue distribution (spleen, liver and muscle), haematological parameters (red blood cells, haematocrit, haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration) and non-specific immune indexes (respiratory burst activity and antibacterial activity of serum) were analysed. No significant differences were found in growth and iron tissue distribution among the tested groups. Red blood cell counting was statistically higher in fish given 50 ORG, 100 ORG, 200 ORG and 200 INOR feeds. However, haematocrit, haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration were not significantly affected by increasing dietary iron. Fish receiving the 100 ORG diet had the best performance with respect to the respiratory burst activity and significantly higher values for antibacterial activity of serum were obtained in fish fed with the 300 ORG diet. The present findings provided no clear evidence of the optimum iron concentration. However, there was adequate indication that iron supplementation enhanced the performance of gilthead sea bream, mainly from a haematological and immunological point of view.     

Systemic View on Heading and Overwintering: Are They Always Opposed?

The study investigated the cultivars of non‐obligatorily requiring vernalization plant Festulolium braunii and assessed the influence of non‐hardy reproductive and hardy vegetative structures on overwintering effect. The study was conducted taking into account systemic relations between these types of structures. The results show the cultivars differ according to the percentage of headed and overwintered plants, when the cultivars with the most abundant heading – ‘Felopa’ and ‘Sulino’ – are also better at overwintering. The positive correlation between heading and overwintering characteristics was also observed, what seemed to be a rather new finding. It can be explained by systemic effect: non‐hardy later reproductive structures induce the post‐generative regrowth of vegetative shoots, which during shorter days halt development and become potentially hardy. More detailed interpretation is also provided including discussion of causal mechanisms of the detected phenomenon. The authors suppose that these mechanisms constitute a survival strategy for such perennial plants. The observed late heading which represents reproductive structures could be applied in plant breeding as a marker of winter‐hardiness among perennial grass plants which non‐obligatorily demand vernalization.     

Cancer antigen 15/3: possible diagnostic use in veterinary clinical oncology. Preliminary study

The cancer antigen 15/3 is a mucin that is associated with the cell membrane, encoded by the MUC1 gene, and recognized by the monoclonal-clone DF3 antibody. The latter antigen was discovered to be specific for both the identification of human mammary neoplasia and during patient follow-up evaluations. The aim of this study is to report and compare the results of the application of direct chemiluminescence in canine blood sera and the kit utilized in human medicine for the determination of Ca 15/3 to verify the diagnostic efficiency of the kit in cases presenting mammary tumors. Specifically, CA 15/3 has proven to be measurable in all samples assayed to distinguish clinically healthy subjects from those with mammary neoplasia.

     

The pathogenicity of rabbit coccidium Eimeria coecicola Cheissin, 1947

The pathogenicity of Eimeria coecicola for rabbits has been demonstrated in our experiments. The animals suffered from prolonged affection of appendix lasting at least 20 days. Pathological changes appeared with the development of merogony since day 4 post infection (DPI) and were characterized by an inflammatory infiltration and abundant pyogenic component in lamina propria, swelling and coalescence of upper parts of appendix mucosa above atrophied domes, where spaces filled with stagnating inflammatory exudate, endogenic stages of coccidia, and desquamated epithelia are formed. The alteration of the epithelium and exposure of the appendix lamina propria occur in relation with the gametogony in the period of about 10 DPI. Since 8 DPI, the epithelium of the infected endogenic stages of coccidia becomes hyperplastic, proliferates into lamina propria and is subjected to necrosis. Groups of immature oocysts and their fragments remain in lamina propria and are resorbed, at least for 10 days, by granulomatous inflammatory structures with abundant multinucleate cells of the type of foreign body cells.     

Chaetotaxy of cercariae of Opisthioglyphe ranae (Fr?lich, 1791) (Trematoda: Plagiorchidae)

A detailed observation of the sensory apparatus of Opisthioglyphe ranae (Fr?lich, 1791) cercariae was carried out. The species was determined on the basis of an experimental study of the life cycle and morphology of sporocysts, cercariae, metacercariae, and adults. In contrast to other species of the family Plagiorchidae, no papillae were present in the positions CId1, CId2, CII0, CII3 and CII4. Papillae with markedly ventral situation on the postacetabular zone were found very rarely. Some of the cercariae possessed ventral papillae variously distributed in the preacetabular zone. A comparative analysis of the chaetotaxy revealed that the cercaria studied by us was very similar to Cercaria 4 of Richard, 1971, with the exception of the number of acetabular papillae and some groups of ventral papillae. Compared to the cercaria of O. ranae studied by Dobrovolskiy (1965). AID papillae and a part of ventral papillae were distributed differently. The chaetotaxy was identical with that of experimentally obtained cercariae of O. ranae from L. stagnalis and of cercariae of the same species obtained from Bulgaria.     

The pathogenicity of Cryptosporidium parvum Tyzzer, 1912 and C. Baileyi Current, Upton et Haynes, 1986 for chickens

Clinical symptoms and pathological-morphological changes in the respiratory tract of chickens inoculated with Cryptosporidium parvum were described for the first time and compared with those induced by Cryptosporidium baileyi. Intratracheal inoculation with these two species caused symptoms of a respiratory tract disease in all chicken, but a disease of the digestive tract or death did not occur in any case. Pathological and morphological changes were observed only in the respiratory system and were characterized by petechiae in the mucous of larynx, trachea, primary bronchi and in the wall of air sacs in chickens infected with C. parvum, or by diffuse hyperaemia of respiratory tract mucosa in chickens infected with C. baileyi. The pathological-histological changes, which were characterized by affections of various degrees in epithelial cells, mucous glands, and lamina propria mucosae, were more pronounced in the chickens infected with C. parvum.     

Antibody-mediated response of pigeons to Argas polonicus larval feeding and characterization of larval antigen

Circulating antibodies to larval Argas polonicus antigen detected in the blood of pigeons by means of ELISA reach their highest level 3-6 days post-tick attachment. During 6-8 days post infestation when most larvae detach from their host, there is an abrupt drop of the antibody level in blood followed by second peak at day 10-15. During the secondary and subsequent infestations the dynamics of the antibody production is analogous, but the maximum absorbance values found are higher with each following infestation. This is in direct correlation with the growth of immune resistance of hosts. The transfer of immunoglobulins of resistant pigeons produces in naive hosts a partial resistance in a statistically significant (P less than 0.01) reduction of the number of engorged larvae, in the shortening of larval feeding period and in the decrease of their mean weight after feeding. However this resistance was significantly (P less than 0.01) less expressed than in naturally resistant pigeons during secondary infestation. The protracted effect on the duration of premoulting period and the percentage of moulted larvae manifested in larvae after secondary infestation was not apparent in molecular weight of approximately 19, 21, 23, 27, 45 and 165 kilodaltons, were recognized by serum of resistant pigeons.     

Isolation and characterization of a potyvirus associated with bushy dwarf symptom in chickpea, Cicer arietinum, in India

A potyvirus that induced stunting and a characteristic bushy appearance at the apical region, due to proliferation of terminal branches with narrowed, reduced and deformed leaflets, was isolated from chickpea in India. The virus was sap-transmissible to 14 species of Chenopodiaceae, Leguminosae, Solanaceae and Malvaceae; Chenopodium amaranticolor was a good local lesion host. Virus particles, trapped by immunosorbent electron microscopy and stained with uranyl acetate, were 710 ×10 nm long. Purified virus preparations contained a single polypeptide species of 32,500 Da and one nucleic acid species of 3.1 · 10⁶ Da. The virus was serologically related to soybean mosaic, azuki bean mosaic and peanut mottle viruses but not to clover yellow vein, pea seed-borne mosaic and bean yellow mosaic viruses.
On the basis of these properties, the virus was identified as a previously undescribed potyvirus in chickpea, for which the name chickpea bushy dwarf virus is proposed.