Effect of different housing systems on fattening performance,slaughter and carcass characteristics of Akkeçi (White Goat) male kids

The aim of this study was to determine the fattening performance and the slaughter and carcass characteristics of Akkeçi (Saanen × Kilis (B₁) crossbred) male kids raised in individual crates (IC) or in group pen housing (GP). In both GP and IC groups, total 13 heads of male kids, whose initial body weights were 21.43 ± 1.03 kg and 20.61 ± 0.98 kg, respectively, evaluated for their fattening performances. After 56 days of the fattening period, the final body weights and average daily weight gains of the GP and IC kids were recorded as 30.84 ± 0.82 kg and 25.84 ± 0.76 kg; 182.42 ± 14.77 g and 92.09 ± 13.76 g, respectively (P < 0.001). Adrenal gland weights of the GP and IC groups were similar as 1.66 ± 0.25 g and 1.77 ± 0.22 g, respectively. Although, the carcass conformation of kids was similar between groups, there were significant differences between GP and IC groups for some slaughter and carcass characteristics. In general, although housing kids reared in individual crates provides opportunity to individually feed and monitor a kid, the results obtained from the individual crates in the present study were not satisfactorily from the ethological and production points of view.     

Management options to accelerate growth rate and reduce age at first calving in Friesian–Boran crossbred heifers

Two experiments were conducted simultaneously to evaluate the effects of different concentrates to roughage ratios on growth performance and attainment of puberty in Friesian–Boran crossbred heifers. Weaned 50% Friesian–Boran crossbred female calves were used in both experiments with 25 and 20 calves in experiments I and II, respectively. In experiment I, the calves were offered diets with concentrate to roughage ratios of 50:50 (treatment 1) or 30:70 (treatment 2). In experiment II, the calves grazed for 8 h a day and supplemented with 2 kg hay and 1 kg concentrate per head per day (treatment 1) or only 2 kg hay per head per day (treatment 2). The concentrate mixture was composed of 34% wheat bran, 31% wheat middling, 31% noug cake, 3% limestone, and 1% salt. In experiment I, heifers fed a ration with 50% concentrate and 50% roughage had higher (P < 0.05) daily body weight gain (0.532 kg) and attained puberty at 221 kg (65% of the mature body weight) in 15 months, while heifers fed a diet with 30% concentrate and 70% roughage gained 0.434 kg/day and reached puberty at 247 kg (70% of the mature body weight), about 3 months later. Heifers in treatments 1 and 2 of experiment II reached puberty 5 and 12 months later, respectively, than those in experiment I. In experiment II, heifers given 1 kg of concentrate supplement had higher (P < 0.05) daily body weight gain (0.346 kg) than those given only 2 kg hay in addition to grazing (0.278 kg). Growth rate of crossbred heifers was enhanced and age at puberty was reduced by changing the rearing management from outdoor to indoor and with increasing level of concentrate in the ration. This helps to bring the dairy heifer into production earlier and enhance to the overall productivity of the dairy industry.     

Length of productive life of sows in four pig farms in the tropics of Mexico

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of some factors on the length of productive life (LPL), the number of parities (NP), and the culling interval (CI) of sows. The information from 2003 to 2009 of 3,746 sows with LPL and NP records and 5,819 sows with CI records from the four farms of Yucatan, Mexico was used. LPL was defined as the number of days between the first farrowing and culling or death and CI as the number of days between the last farrowing and culling. To determine the effects of farm, litter size at first farrowing (LSF1) and age at first farrowing (AF1) on LPL and NP, and of farm, LSF1 and culling reason on CI general linear models were used. Means and standard errors for LPL, NP, and CI were 496.4 ± 8.42 days, 3.35 ± 0.04 parities, and 48.3 ± 0.52 days, respectively. All factors had significant effects (P < 0.05) on LPL, NP, and CI. The sows from farm 2 stayed longer (806.0 days) and had more parities (5.25) than the sows from the other farms. Sows with the smallest litters (≤8 piglets) at first farrowing stayed the least time in the farm (675.1 days) and had the fewest parities (4.49). Gilts farrowing the first time before 331 days of age stayed longer time in the farm (726.4 days) and had more parities (4.81) in comparison with 331–348 and more than 348 days age groups. With respect to CI, the sows in farm 3 stayed the longest time in the farm. Sows with more than five parities were culled sooner after their last farrowing. In conclusion, differences between farms for LPL, PN, and CI were found. Females that farrowed at a short age and those with large litters stayed longer in the herd. Old sows and those culled for reproductive reasons stayed the least time in the herd after their last farrowing.     

Occurrence of concurrent infectious diseases in broiler chickens is a threat to commercial poultry farms in Central Ethiopia

Commercial poultry production is one of the flourishing ventures of animal production in Ethiopia. It has been providing to the demands of proteins at least to the urban population, though concurrent health constraints are hampering its intended potential. This study reports the influence of infectious diseases in commercial broiler farms in central Ethiopia. In this study, clinical signs, gross lesions, laboratory tests (serology, bacterial culture, histopathology and parasitology) and farm management data were used to identify major causes of outbreaks in an age specific manner in broiler chickens in three poultry farms in Debre Zeit, Central Ethiopia. The outbreaks detected in the farms were due to mycoplasmosis, salmonellosis, colibacillosis, coccidiosis and infectious bursal disease. It is observed that the occurrence of concurrent diseases in the farms significantly affects the productivity and health status of broilers. The risk factors that predispose birds to the various infections in the different farms studied were also recorded. In addition, recommendations were also provided.     

Dynamics of natural bovine herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) infection in a dairy herd

In this study, natural cycling of BoHV-1 infection was investigated in two groups of dairy cattle containing 2120 head. Group 1 comprised 127 animals and they were monitored for BoHV-1 infection virologically and serologically in six consecutive sampling periods. It consisted of naive heifers between 6 and 8 months of age, while in group 2, age, sex and the BoHV-1 serostatus of the animals were disregarded. The animals in group 1 were found to have seroconverted at the second sampling. Results of the serological study showed slight antibody response after natural BoHV-1 infection in the herd and neutralizing titres fell below protective levels in the 6–8 months after the peak. During the 2-year study period, one recurrence was detected after primary infection. Virus isolation studies revealed a cytopathic effect indicative of BoHV-1 in two nasal swabs taken during the fifth sampling period from animals with mild upper respiratory tract symptoms. As the study was carried out under natural conditions, it is not known whether the viruses isolated were from recurrences or re-infections. Data from cross-neutralization tests with herd isolates showed higher antibody response than those with the reference virus. The dynamics of BoHV-1 in both groups were found to be statistically similar.     

Evaluation of foot and mouth vaccination for yak (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bos grunniens</Emphasis>) in Pakistan

In northern Pakistan, many farming communities rely on domestic yak (Bos grunniens) as a principle source of income. A 2006 participatory disease surveillance report from this region indicated that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is the most prevalent annual disease of yak. Our objectives of this study were to determine exposure levels of yak to FMD virus; implement a vaccination program based on current, regional FMD virus serotypes and subtypes; and quantify immune responses following vaccination. Blood samples were used to determine pre-vaccination exposure of animals to FMD virus by antibody presence to non-structural proteins of FMD virus using a 3-ABC trapping indirect ELISA. Vaccine used consisted of FMD serotypes ‘O’ (PanAsia-2), ‘A’ (Iran-05), and ‘Asia-1’ (Shamir), but changed later during the study to match newly circulating viruses in the country (‘O’-PanAsia-2; ‘A’-Turk-06 and Asia-1-Sindh-08). Three hundred sixty-three blood samples were tested from selected villages to determine pre-vaccination FMD virus exposure in yak with an average of 37.7%. Immune responses from initial vaccination and booster dose 30 days later showed clear protective levels (as mean percent inhibition) of antibodies against structural proteins of serotypes ‘O,’ ‘A,’ and ‘Asia-1.’ These responses remained above threshold positive level even at day 210 following initial vaccination. Results of sero-surveillance and anecdotal information of repeated FMD outbreaks demonstrate the persistence of FMD virus of yak in northern Pakistan. Laboratory results and field observations clearly indicated that yak can be protected against FMD with a good quality vaccine with FMD serotype(s) matching current, regionally circulating FMD virus.     

Estimates of direct and maternal (co)variance components as well as genetic parameters of growth traits in Nellore sheep

In the present study, (co)variance components and genetic parameters in Nellore sheep were obtained by restricted maximum likelihood (REML) method using six different animal models with various combinations of direct and maternal genetic effects for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), 6-month weight (6MW), 9-month weight (9MW) and 12-month weight (YW). Evaluated records of 2075 lambs descended from 69 sires and 478 dams over a period of 8 years (2007–2014) were collected from the Livestock Research Station, Palamaner, India. Lambing year, sex of lamb, season of lambing and parity of dam were the fixed effects in the model, and ewe weight was used as a covariate. Best model for each trait was determined by log-likelihood ratio test. Direct heritability for BW, WW, 6MW, 9MW and YW were 0.08, 0.03, 0.12, 0.16 and 0.10, respectively, and their corresponding maternal heritabilities were 0.07, 0.10, 0.09, 0.08 and 0.11. The proportions of maternal permanent environment variance to phenotypic variance (Pe²) were 0.07, 0.10, 0.07, 0.06 and 0.10 for BW, WW, 6MW, 9MW and YW, respectively. The estimates of direct genetic correlations among the growth traits were positive and ranged from 0.44(BW-WW) to 0.96(YW-9MW), and the estimates of phenotypic and environmental correlations were found to be lower than those of genetic correlations. Exclusion of maternal effects in the model resulted in biased estimates of genetic parameters in Nellore sheep. Hence, to implement optimum breeding strategies for improvement of traits in Nellore sheep, maternal effects should be considered.     

Relationship between teat morphological traits and subclinical mastitis in Frieswal dairy cows

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationship between selected morphological traits of teat and subclinical mastitis (SCM) in Frieswal crossbred dairy cows. A total of 1040 quarters from 261 lactating cows were evaluated for teat shape (bottle/fleshy/collapsed/conical/normal/pencil and short), teat-end shape (dished/flat/funnel/pocketed/pointed and rounded), teat orientation (aligned/misaligned) and teat position (front and rear; left-sided and right-sided). Each udder quarter was screened with California Mastitis Test (CMT) for the purpose of defining quarter health status. Data were analysed using Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression procedure. An overall prevalence of SCM (CMT positive) at quarter level was 30.6%. Most of the teats had normal or cylindrical shapes (48%), dished teat-ends (40.7%), and aligned (central or squared) in orientation (65%). At bivariable level, significant association of SCM with teat shape, teat position, teat orientation, parity, and stage of lactation was observed (P < 0.05 to P < 0.001). Teat-end shapes showed some association with SCM (P = 0.07). Results of multivariable analysis showed that pencil-shaped teats were least associated with SCM (P < 0.05) as compared to other teat shapes. Prevalence of SCM was also higher in rear teats (P = 0.015), misaligned teats (P = 0.01), and cows in second or higher parities (P < 0.01) and late stage of lactation (P < 0.001). The results of the present study indicate that selected morphological traits of teat are associated with SCM in Frieswal crossbred cows; therefore, selection towards desirable morphological traits could help reduce mastitis in this breed.     

Modulatory function of NMDA glutamate receptor on MC<Subscript>3</Subscript>/MC<Subscript>4</Subscript> receptors agonist-induced hypophagia in neonatal meat-type chicken

Melanocortin 3 and 4 receptors (MC₃R and MC₄R) are known as the main receptors for melanocortin-induced hypophagia in mammalian and poultry. Also, central glutamatergic system has mediatory role on function of the melanocortin system in some brain areas. So, the aim of the current study was to determine the role of MC₃/MC₄ receptors agonist on food intake and its interaction with glutamatergic in 3-h food-deprived (FD₃) neonatal broilers. In experiment 1, chickens were intracerebroventricular (ICV) injected with control solution, MTII (MC₃/MC₄ receptors agonist; 2.45, 4.8 and 9.8 pmol). In experiment 2, control solution, SHU9119 (MC₃/MC₄ receptors antagonist; 0.5, 1 and 2 nmol) were ICV injected. In experiment 3, birds ICV injected with control solution, SHU9119 (0.5 nmol), MTII (9.8 pmol) and co-injection of the SHU9119 + MTII. Experiments 4–8 were similar to experiment 3, except birds injected with MK-801 (NMDA glutamate receptors antagonist, 15 nmol), CNQX (AMPA glutamate receptors antagonist; 390 nmol), AIDA (mGLUR₁ glutamate receptors antagonist; 2 nmol), LY341495 (mGLUR₂ glutamate receptors antagonist; 150 nmol) and UBP1112 (mGLUR₃ glutamate receptors antagonist; 2 nmol) instead of SHU9119. Then, cumulative food intake was recorded until 120 min after injection. According to the results, dose dependent hypophagia observed after ICV injection of the MTII (p < 0.05). ICV injection of SHU9119 significantly increased food intake in birds (p < 0.05). Co-injection of SHU9119 + MTII significantly inhibited MTII- induced hypophagia in neonatal chicks (p < 0.05). In addition, hypophagia- induced by MTII was significantly attenuated with co-injection of MTII + MK-801(p < 0.05). These results suggested MC₃ and MC₄ receptors have inhibitory role on food intake and this effect is probably mediated by NMDA glutamate receptors in neonatal chickens.