The use of air‐coolers in broiler houses under subtropical conditions in Iraq

1. Under summer conditions in north Iraq, 2 000 chicks were reared for 56 d in two broiler houses. One house was provided with two air‐coolers. The birds were housed at densities of eight to 16 birds/m².

2. Differences in weight gain between birds in cooled and uncooled houses ranged from 101.5 g at eight birds/m² to 385 g at 16 birds/m². Food consumption increased gradually with increasing bird density. Food conversion efficiency, meat yield and carcass conformation were much better in the cooled house than under conventional conditions.

3. The financial return/m² ranged from 2.30 to 4.51 ID¹ in the cooled house, compared with 2.01 to 2.77 ID in the uncooled house at different floor densities.     

Storage time‐temperature effects on the odour preferences for uncooked chicken parts

1. Whole broilers and separated legs were stored at ‐12 ± 1 °C, —18 ± 1 °C and — 75 ±2 °C (reference group, whole carcasses only), for up to nine months.

2. Legs cut from the whole birds after removal from store, unpacking and thawing, and legs from the portions were compared in odour preference at four times of examination.

3. After only 1 d the odour of the legs stored as parts at —12 °C was less preferred than that of the reference group; this was also true for legs cut from whole birds after 3 months at the same temperature.

4. After 3 months at — 12 °C the odour of the legs stored as parts was less preferred than the odour of legs obtained from whole birds.

5. Storage of legs as parts at —18 °C resulted in a comparatively less preferred odour after 3 months, while the same was true after 9 months for legs cut from the carcasses.     

Rapeseed Meal and egg taint

1. Certain rapeseed meals in the diet of hens laying brown eggs result in the production, from some birds, of eggs which have a “ fishy ” or “ crabby ” odour because of the presence of trimethylamine.

2. Such susceptible birds have been used to demonstrate that the activity can be extracted from rapeseed meal with appropriate solvents.     

The role of histamine and fish meal in the incidence of gizzard erosion and pro‐ventricular abnormalities in the fowl

1. The role of certain fish meals in the production of localised gizzard erosion is confirmed.

2. Lesions typical of gizzard erosion could be produced by the addition of histamine to the diet.

3. The amount of histamine occurring naturally in fish meal depends on the species of fish and the extent and nature of bacterial spoilage.

4. These variables may explain why histamine has not been implicated previously and also why there have not been consistent associations between the condition and geographical source or common factors in bulk consignments of the meal.     

Effect of the Pietrain breed used as terminal boar on Post-weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS) in the offspring in four PMWS-affected farms

The aim of this study was to determine the potential risk factors for PMWS at the individual pig level and assess the effect of the Pietrain paternal genetic background of the animals in a cohort study. The survey was set up in four PMWS-affected farms with 2 repetitions (batches) per farm. A representative sample of 60 pigs per batch, stratified according to the paternal genetic background (Pietrain: yes vs. no), was randomly selected after farrowing. The representative cohort was divided into 8 batches and the pigs were individually monitored from birth to slaughter. Survival analysis was used to determine the factors related to the time to PMWS. The litter-cluster effect was taken into account using the marginal Cox model (robust estimation of the covariance matrix) and the gamma shared frailty model which were compared.No protective effect of the Pietrain breed on the time to PMWS and the proportion of affected pigs in the offspring was found in this study. Piglets showing low circovirus type 2 (PCV2) titres at 7 weeks-old with no subsequent seroconversion and piglets from PCV2 negative sows were most likely to be affected by PMWS (HR=7.0 and 2.8, respectively). Active infection of the pregnant dams with parvovirus was related to an increased risk of PMWS in the offspring (HR=2.3). Neck injuries due to poorly performed injections in the dams were associated with an increased risk of PMWS with the marginal model (HR=2.1). Oxytocin injection (dams) during farrowing was protective against PMWS in the offspring (HR=0.6).     

高能日粮条件下半胱胺对大鼠抗氧化功能的影响

通过在正常日粮中添加高油脂来制备高能日粮,探讨高能日粮条件下,添加0、15、30、60mg/kg半胱胺(CS)对大鼠抗氧化功能的影响。试验结果表明:添加15、30mg/kg半胱胺均能显著提高大鼠抗氧化能力(P<0.05),30mg/kg半胱胺能使大鼠抗氧化能力恢复到接近正常日粮组水平,60mg/kg半胱胺对大鼠抗氧化能力的恢复无显著影响(P>0.05)。半胱胺添加的最适剂量为30mg/kg。     

半胱胺的生物学作用及应用

半胱胺具有多种生物学功能,如耗竭生长抑素,影响糖、蛋白质和脂肪的代谢,抗氧化和氧化作用,提高免疫功能。本文综述了半胱胺的生物学功能和应用情况。     

Culture of Differentiated Adult Rabbit Auricular Chondrocytes

Chondrocytes dedifferentiate to a fibroblast‐like phenotype on plastic surfaces. Dedifferentiation is reversible if these cells are then cultured embedded in gels as alginate, agarose or collagen. Chondrocytes cultured in suspension on a non‐adherent surface are also known to form aggregates of differentiated cells. The knowledge of chondrocyte behavior in culture is relevant for tissue engineering purposes. In this report we describe a simple method to culture differentiated or redifferentiated rabbit auricular chondrocytes on plastic surfaces with a stable phenotype. When chondrocyte aggregates formed in suspension are next seeded on plastic surfaces, most of them attach to the plastic as round or polygonal cells, and this morphological differentiation, confirmed by the presence of type II collagen, is stable for long culture periods. We also report that the addition of aggregates to monolayer cultures of dedifferentiated chondrocytes results in their redifferentiation, as is shown by their morphological changes and the synthesis of type II collagen. Therefore, this simple method can be useful for the study of chondrocyte behavior on plastic surfaces and for redifferentiating previously proliferated chondrocytes in tissue engineering techniques. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that, in addition to culture conditions such as cell isolation method or cell‐density, chondrocyte behavior on plastic depends on the presence or absence of aggregates resulting from the dissociation process.     

菜豆萎蔫病菌的血清检测鉴定技术研究

本研究对我国一类检疫性有害生物菜豆萎蔫病菌（Ｃｕｒｔｏｂａｃｔｅｒｉｕｍｆｌａｃｕｍｆａ－ｃｉｅｎｓｐｖ．ｆｌａｃｕｍｆａｃｉｅｎｓ，Ｃｆ）进行血清检测鉴定技术的研究。试验中制备了抗Ｃｆ的血清，应用抗００２０，０２３７，０２３８菌株的抗血清及其ＦＩＴＣ标记的抗体进行间接和直接免疫荧光染色试验（ＩＦ／ＩＦ）。通过对１９个Ｃｆ菌株和其它６个属１４个种的植物病原细菌２０个菌株的测定，结果发现约５０％的Ｃｆ菌株为强阳性反应，且与Ｃｆ种下致病变种也有强阳性交叉反应。由于单个血清检测易产生假阴性反应，故将三种血清１∶１∶１混合后进行ＩＦ试验，结果表明与所有的Ｃｆ菌株反应，且与Ｒｆａ和Ｃｍｔ有弱阳性反应。对含１０４～１０７ｃｆｕ／ｍｌ细菌及３０ｇ种子含１粒人工接种种子的种子抽提液均能检测到典型的阳性细胞，血清检测的灵敏度为４．５×１０４ｃｆｕ／ｍｌ，可用于种子的检测。本研究还进行了初步的免疫荧光菌落染色（ＩＦＣ）试验