The nutrient and energy disposition of growing lambs. 2. Results of slaughter and animal carcass analysis

A total of 90 lambs (fattening hybrids of either sex of three different genetic constructions and male merino meat sheep) were butchered at the beginning (9...16 kg live weight) or at the end (29...33 kg live weight) of a growth experiment. Total body and the meat of carcass, cutlet and loin were analysed. Significant differences between the genotypes could only proved in the crude ash content. The female animals showed a significantly higher content of fat, dry matter and energy as well as a significantly lower content of crude ash--at the end of the experiment also of protein--in the total body than the male animals. The content of nutrients and energy in the total body could be much more precisely derived regressively from the corresponding content values in the meat of the carcass than from the values of cutlet and loin.     

Bronchopulmonary Disease in the Cat: Historical, Physical, Radiographic, Clinicopathologic, and Pulmonary Functional Evaluation of 24 Affected and 15 Healthy Cats

The results of clinical and pulmonary functional evaluation of 24 cats with bronchopulmonary disease and 15 healthy cats are presented. Affected cats had historical evidence of excessive reflexes (coughing, sneezing); physical evidence of airway secretions (crackles), obstruction (wheezing), and increased tracheal sensitivity; radiographic evidence of bronchial and interstitial lung disease; and cytological evidence of airway inflammation or mucous secretions. Bacterial isolates from healthy and affected cats were predominantly Gram-negative rods, indicating that bronchi of cats are not always sterile and that normal flora should be considered in interpreting cultures from cats with suspected bronchopulmonary disease. Cats were grouped according to relative disease severity based on scored historical, physical, and radiographic abnormalities. The mean (± standard deviation) baseline lung resistance measurement in healthy cats was 28.9 cm H₂O/L/s (±6.2 cm H₂O/L/s), whereas in mildly, moderately, and severely affected cats it was 38.3 cm H₂O/L/s (±21.5 cm H₂O/L/s), 44.8 cmH₂O/L/s (±7.7 cm H₂O/L/s), and 105.2 cm H₂O/L/s (±66.9 cm H₂O/L/s), respectively. In healthy cats, dynamic lung compliance was 19.8 (±7.4), whereas in mildly, moderately, and severely affected cats it was 14.7 mL/cm H₂O (±3.8 mL/cm H₂O), 17.7 mL/cm H₂O (±6.9 mL/cm H₂O), and 13.0 mL/cm H₂O (±7.9 mL/cm H₂O), respectively. Thus, airway obstruction was present in many of the affected cats. Based on acute response to the bron-chodilator, terbutaline, airway obstruction was partially reversible in many affected cats, although the degree of reversibility varied. Furthermore, based on bronchoprovocation testing, 6 (of 7) affected cats evaluated also had increased airway responsiveness to aerosolized methacholine.     

Nutrient dependence of energy conservation requirements in rats. 4. The influence of protein levels of food on energy conservation requirements of rats during growth and after conclusion of the intensive growth phase

Albino rats bred in the institute (Wistar line) divided into 3 groups of 9 animals each received, beginning at the age of 4 weeks, feed mixtures with 10, 40 and 70% protein in the rations over a period of 24 weeks divided into 14 subperiods of study. The feed mixture changed cyclically for the groups of animals after each sub-period. Every period was divided into a growth period (8 days) with the rats kept in metabolism cages and a period of feeding on maintenance level (4 days) with the rats kept in respiration chambers. In both periods the temperature was kept constant at 30 degrees C. On 3 days of feeding on the maintenance level the metabolism parameters of energy, C and N metabolism were measured and energy maintenance requirement was ascertained. Both the energy maintenance requirement of the growing rats (up to 200 g live weight) and that of the nearly fully grown and fully grown rats resp. (greater than 200 g live weight) significantly depended on the nutrient composition of the feed mixtures supplied. It increased with the increasing protein and simultaneously decreasing carbohydrate quotas in the feed. On an average of the studies the rats had, in the sequence of 10, 40 and 70% protein content, an energy maintenance requirement of 383 +/- 31 (n = 105), 415 +/- 31 (n = 106) and 459 +/- 36 kJ metabolizable energy/kg LW0.75.d (n = 102). Energy maintenance requirement behaved relatively like 100:108:120. Based on the fact that energy maintenance requirement may be considered the requirement of ATP, relative expectancy values for energy maintenance requirement can be calculated with the energetic efficiency of the ATP synthesis (kJ metabolizable energy/Mol ATP gain) in nutrient catabolism from the relation of the experimentally ascertained nutrient metabolism at a variant supply of protein of 100:110:118. The hypothesis that the efficiency of ATP synthesis in the catabolism of the main nutrients supplying energy can be considered a relative measure of the dependence of the energy maintenance requirement on nutrient composition has been confirmed in this experiment. Different findings in earlier experiments raise the question if those findings were influenced by adaptation effects. An experimental solution of this question is considered important.     

Rumen fermentation with special reference to volatile fatty acid production during reproduction. 1. Methods and results of volatile fatty acid levels and production rates in vitro

The target of the investigations was to register part of the synthesis performance in the rumen of ewes during the complete reproduction cycle. With the help of in-vitro experiments with artificial rumen the concentration and production rates of volatile fatty acids in the rumen fluid were measured. From the experiments the measured data of fertility-accentuated crossbreeding (experiment 1) and crossbreeding (experiment 2) ewes were contrasted. The average concentrations of volatile fatty acids in ewes are 95.4 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 109.2 m mol/l in experiment 2 during the early stage gestation, 121.4 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 99.8 m mol/l in experiment 2 in the last stage stage of gestation, 129.6 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 112.8 m mol/l in experiment 2 during lactation and 106.6 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 112.9 m mol/l in experiment 2 during the dry period. The production rates of volatile fatty acids calculated form their concentration amount to 4.8 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.6 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the early stage of gestation, 3.5 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 3.1 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the last stage of gestation, 3.2 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.7 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 during lactation and 3.7 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.9 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the dry period. The correlation between the concentration and the production rate of volatile fatty acids is not significantly negative in either of the ewe experiments. The scattering of the individual values is wide so that the individual influence of the test animals as well as the influence of the in-vitro method used permit the conclusion that a significant statement on the influence of the genotype and the stage of reproduction on the production rates cannot be made.     

Effectiveness of various therapeutic regimens for bovine brucellosis

Various chemotherapeutic regimens were evaluated in 48 culture-positive dairy cows. Cessation of shedding of Brucella abortus from udder secretions and absence in selected tissues at necropsy were criteria of success. A combination of a long-acting oxytetracycline and streptomycin eliminated Brucella in 10 of 14 (71.4%) cows. Two cows that were retreated with the same regimen also became culture-negative. Other treatment regimens, including the use of liposome-encapsulated antibiotics, were less successful. Serotests were a poor criterion of effectiveness.     

Changes in Placental Hormone Secretion After Dexamethasone Treatment in Cattle

Contents Catheters were surgically placed in the uterine artery and vein of four control and four dexamethasone (DXMS)-treated cows on days 248 or 249 of gestation; at the same time the corpus luteum was removed and all animals were treated with 10 mg chlormadinone acetate i.m. daily to maintain pregnancy. After one day of blood sampling which began on day 250, animals received either 20 mg DXMS crystalline suspension i.m. or only the vehicle solution. Blood sampling was then continued for five additional days. Plasma was assayed for unconjugated estrone (E1), progesterone (P4), and pregnenolone (P5). Concentrations of El were higher in the venous samples (p < 0.02) and increased over time (p < 0.02). There was a site x time interaction (p < 0.05) and a significant effect of DXMS-treatment on the linear component (p < 0.02) of the slope values for the El concentrations for both sampling sites. Concurrently, there was an effect of time on P4 concentrations (p lt; 0.01), the venous P4 concentrations were higher (p < 0.01), and there was also a site x time interaction (p < 0.01) but not treatment effect. There was no significant effect on concentrations of P5 between treatment goups or sampling sites. It is concluded that DXMS activates the synthetic system(s) involved in production of estrone in the cow during late pregnancy. This change in estrone synthesis occurred at an increasing rate during the 5 day sampling period. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the placenta must be capable of utilizing precursors in the cholesterol or pregnenolone group for estrone synthesis and that the major pathway could be the delta-5 pathway. Inhalt: Veränderungen in der placentären Hormonsekretion beim Rind nach Behandlung mit Dexamethason. Bei insgesamt 8 Kühen wurden am 248./249. Tag der Trächtigkeit Katheter in die Vena und Arteria uterina eingelegt, gleichzeitig wurde das Corpus luteum entfernt und zur Aufrechterhaltung der Gravidität wurden 10 mg Chlormadinonacetat täglich während der gesamten Versuchsdauer i.m. verabreicht. Nach einer ersten Blutentnahmeperiode am Tag 250 erhielten jeweils 4 Tiere entweder 20 mg Dexamethason (kristalline Suspension) bzw. das Vehikel (Kontrollguppe) i.m. verabreicht. Die Blutentnahmen erfolgten über weitere 5 Tage, erfaßt wurde der Verlauf von freiem Estron, Progesteron und Pregnenolon. Die in der Vena uterina gemessenen Estronkonzentrationen lagen jeweils höher (p < 0,02) als in der entsprechenden Arterie und stiegen bis zum Ende des Experiments an (p < 0,02). Weiterhin zeigte sich eine Interaktion zwischen dem Ort der Blutentnahme und dem Zeitpunkt (p < 0,05), der Anstieg der Estronkonzen-trationen nach der Behandlung mit Dexamethason war – bezogen auf die lineare Komponente – sigifikant erhöht (p < 0,02). Für P4 ergab sich ein deutlicher Abfall (p < 0,01), wobei in der Vena uterina stets höhere Werte gemessen wurden als in der Arteria uterina (p < 0,01). Auch hier war eine Interaktion zwischen dem Zeitpunkt und dem Ort der Blutentnahme gegeben (p < 0,01), allerdings konnte ein Behandlungs-effekt nicht dargestellt werden. Für Pregnenolon ergaben sich keine Unterschiede zwischen Arteria und Vena uterina sowie den Behandlungsgruppen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß eine einmalige Behandlung mit Dexamethason zu einer zunehmenden Steigerung der Estronproduktion führt, im Hinblick auf die unveränderte Progesteronsekretion wird geschlossen, daß dabei eher der Delta-5-Syntheseweg zugrundeliegen könnte und daß die entsprechenden Precursoren auf der Ebene des Cholesterins oder Prepenolons zu suchen sind.     

Alterations in selected serum biochemical constituents in equids after induced hepatic disease

Effects of induced cholestasis and hepatocellular necrosis and of fasting on serum biochemical constituents including bile acids, IgA, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), arginase, and the clearance of sodium sulfobromophthalein were studied in 4 groups of equids. The reference value for serum bile acids, as determined by an enzymatic colorimetric procedure for horses and ponies was 5.94 +/- 2.72 mumol/L, there being no statistical difference for horses and ponies. Sample collection at time of feeding had no effect on serum bile acid concentration. Seemingly, serum bile acids, arginase, and GGT were the most sensitive indicators of cholestasis and/or hepatocellular necrosis and would form an essential minimum effective battery of tests to diagnose and prognose hepatic disease in equids. These tests provided a measure of hepatobiliary transport function (bile acids), cell necrosis (arginase), and cholestasis (GGT and bile acids).