The impact of Theileria parva infections and other factors on calf mean daily weight gains in smallholder dairy farms in Murang’a District, Kenya

The association between mean daily weight gain, Theileria parva infections, clinical East Coast fever and other possible determinants of weight gain were examined in a longitudinal observational study that was conducted in cohorts of female calves from five agro-ecological zone (AEZ)-grazing strata. The strata were upper-midlands (UM) 1 zero-grazing, UM 1 open-grazing, UM 2 zero-grazing, UM 4 zero-grazing and UM 4 open-grazing. In total, 225 calves on 188 smallholder dairy farms were visited within the first 2 weeks of life and thereafter at biweekly intervals up to the age of 6 months between March 1995 and August 1996. During each visit, the calves were weighed and other calf-management practices in the farm during the visit such as housing, feeding and tick control also were recorded. Other events such as morbidity and mortality between or during the visits were also recorded.The overall mean daily weight gains were 0.24–0.29 kg (S.D.=0.17–0.22 kg) and were lower than the recommended targets for smallholder farms of 0.40–0.50 kg. The major tendency in variability of daily weight gains was due to visit-to-visit variation (especially in calves >3 months old).Differences in mean daily gains were associated with AEZ-grazing strata and calf-level factors that included breed of calf, calf sickness, incidence of ECF, feeding of milk, concentrate feeds and minerals and interaction between calf age and AEZ-grazing strata (P<0.05). ECF and other calf sicknesses exerted a temporal effect on calf-growth at the height of illness and immediately after; calves later recovered the lost growth except where other factors such as poor calf nutrition prevailed. Improvement in calf-growth in Murang’a District is achievable and extension services should continue to target individual-calf-level management practices.     

奶牛乳房炎防治研究进展

奶牛乳房炎是危害奶牛养殖业常见的疾病之一.本文对控制奶牛乳房炎的经济意义、预防和治疗乳房炎及乳房炎防治研究方向等方面进行简要综述,为深入研究奶牛乳房炎的综合防治提供资料.     

奶牛阴离子日粮的配制与应用

目前防治奶牛产褥热效果较好的方法是给产犊前3—5周的经产怀孕母牛饲喂阴离子日粮。但高量阴离子盐类适口性差，对采食量产生不良影响，因此想要地通过添加阴离子盐类来防止产褥热并期望得到应有的效果，有时是不可能的。针对该问题，本文介绍了阴离子日粮的配制与应用的方法。     

藏山羊若干行为观察研究

对全放牧藏山羊若干行为进行了昼夜连续24小时跟踪观测研究。结果表明,藏山羊昼夜采食时间为541.37±93.65分。反刍为280.21±67.59分,睡眠为173.30±45.92分,游走为136.15±62.79分,站立为133.35±34.88分,其他行为占175.62±53.18分。采食、游走、站立及其他行为多发生在白天,反刍和睡眠多在夜间。反刍与采食的时间比例为0.52:1。藏山羊母性较强,好喜戏和觅群,少争斗。此外,藏山羊还有搔痒、打喷嚏、啃食异物等异常行为。研究结果,可供藏山羊的培育和饲养管理作为参改。     

抑制素被动免疫对黄体中期山羊生殖激素分泌的影响

为了探讨抑制素在山羊生殖激素分泌调节中的作用 ,本试验用抗抑制素血清对黄体中期雌山羊进行了被动免疫试验。将酪 30 -抑制素 α(1,30 ) NH2 与兔血清白蛋白螯合 ,用去势雄山羊制备抗抑制素血清 (INH- AS) ,最终滴度为 1∶96 0 0 0。对照血清来自牛血清白蛋白免疫的去势雄山羊。 12只黄体期日本 SHIBA山羊 ,肌注 PGF2α(2 mg/只 )进行同期发情处理 ,处理后 3～ 5 d母羊出现发情。在发情后 10 d(发情当天为 0 d) ,将母羊分为 2组 ,每组 6只。试验组颈静脉注射 INH- AS(2 0 m L /只 ) ,并在注射前 (0 h)和注射后 6、12、2 4、4 8、72、96、12 0 h采取外周血样 (肝素抗凝 ) ;对照组注射对照血清 (2 0 m L/只 )。抗凝血样离心 (4℃、170× g、15 min)分离血清 ,- 2 0℃保存待测。血清 FSH和 L H含量用NIDDK放免试剂盒测定 ,其中 FSH标记纯品为 NIDDK- o FSH- I- 1,标准品为 NIDDK- o FSH- RO- 1,一抗为 NIDDK-抗- o FSH- 1;L H标记纯品为 NIDDK- o L H- I- 3,标准品为 NIDDK- o L H- RP- 2 4 ,一抗为抗 - o L H- YM。二抗为山羊抗家兔Ig G。血清 E2 和 P含量用1 2 5I放免盒测定。测 E2 时 ,为除去游离脂肪 ,样品用 0 .5 m L乙腈 +2 m L乙烷处理。试验结果表明 ,注射 INH- AS后 12 h,血清 FSH含量显著提高     

屡配不孕母牛发情开始后八天内血清促黄体素（LH）含量的变化

本实验采用放射免疫测定技术(RIA)分析了9头屡配不孕母牛和6头正常母牛于发情开始后8天内的血清促黄体素(LH)的含量变化。测定结果表明:屡配不孕母牛的LH排卵峰值低于正常母牛,其峰值分别为2.71±1.00ng/ml和4.70±1.71ng/ml,差异显著(P<0.025)。为了初步验证LH峰值与屡配不孕之间的关系,对20头屡配不孕母牛在发情开始至配种前肌肉注射外源性LH180IU,其配种后60天的受胎率为70％(14/20),而未用LH处理的11头屡配不孕母牛的受胎率为18％(2/11),两者差异极显著(P<0.01)。上述实验结果提示:体内LH排卵峰值降低可能是导致乳牛屡配不孕的重要原因之一。     

The place of Sanga cattle in dairy production in Uganda

A survey was carried out on milk production and reproductive performance of dairy cattle: 24 farms, with a total of 900 animals and distributed in four agro-ecological zones, were visited every 15 days over 18 months. Cows were fed on natural pastures as the only source of feed, and animal performance was dependent on the season and exhibited a dramatic drop in dry spells. Numeric productivity indices integrating productive performance for settler’s, multipurpose, crop–livestock integrated and modern farms were 0.56, 0.74, 0.69 and 0.63, respectively. Milk productivity was higher on modern farms (6.7 L/cow per day) than in the other systems, and higher with Holstein-Friesian cows (7.7 L/cow per day) than with indigenous cattle (1.8 L/cow per day) or crossbred animals (3.7 L/cow per day). This paper speculates on the opportunity to improve the genetic potential of indigenous cattle, concomitantly with the efforts to adapt exotic cattle to a mountainous equatorial environment.     

Effects of Epidural Ketamine–Xylazine Combination on the Clinicophysiological and Haematobiochemical Parameters of Uraemic and Healthy Goats

Xylazine–ketamine combination was evaluated for its efficacy and safety after epidural administration in uraemic and healthy goats. The combination (xylazine 0.025 mg/kg and ketamine 2.5 mg/kg) was administered to uraemic (n = 6) and healthy (n = 6) animals in the lumbosacral epidural space. The combination was evaluated in terms of clinical, physiological, haematological and biochemical parameters. The onset of analgesia was faster in healthy animals than in uraemic animals. Xylazine and ketamine produced complete analgesia of tail, perineum, inguinal and thigh regions in all animals of both groups. However, healthy animals showed longer duration of complete analgesia than did uraemic animals. Greater ataxia was recorded in healthy animals than in uraemic animals. The heart rate showed a significant decrease in both groups; however, respiratory rate and rectal temperature did not show any significant changes. Haemoglobin, packed cell volume and total leukocyte count decreased non-significantly in both groups. Total leukocyte count was significantly higher in uraemic animals. A significantly higher value of urea nitrogen and creatinine was recorded in uraemic animals. The blood electrolytes (Na⁺, K⁺ and Cl⁻) and blood gases (P o ₂ and P co ₂) did not show any significant changes in both groups; however, base excess was significantly higher in uraemic animals. The effects produced by the combination on different systems were transient and values normal as the effect of the drugs wore off. The results suggest that the combination when used epidurally in uraemic goats produced effective and safe surgical analgesia.     

温氏附红细胞体对奶牛免疫水平的影响

选择5头感染温氏附红细胞体的奶牛和5头健康奶牛,分别进行红细胞C3b受体花环率、免疫复合物花环率、B淋巴细胞EA花环率、外周血中T淋巴细胞百分率、淋巴细胞转化率的测定。结果表明,感染温氏附红细胞体的奶牛其红细胞C3b受体花环率、免疫复合物花环率、B淋巴细胞EA花环率、外周血中T淋巴细胞百分率、淋巴细胞转化率明显低于健康奶牛,且二者在0.01水平上有差异。这说明温氏附红细胞体对奶牛的免疫水平有明显的抑制作用。     

奶牛线性外貌Fuuzy综合评判方法的研究

本研究拟合了将线性评分转换为百分隶属度功能分的最优回归方程，采用Ｆｕｕｚｙ广义综合评判决策模型，确定了综合评判奶牛体型的模糊数学模型和计算机程序，其中各性状的权重分配用灰色关联度分析法研制。用此法对部分实测奶牛做的计算结果表明，该数学模型本身具有较高的灵敏度，评判结果与实际情况相符。