The association of hoof lesions at claw trimming with test-day milk yield in Danish Holsteins

In a cross-sectional study, performed between October 2002 and April 2003 on 55 Danish dairy herds with 6161 predominantly Holstein Friesian cows the prevalence of 9 hoof lesions was determined.

All test-day yields (TDY) of kg energy corrected milk (ECM) in the lactation of diagnosis were recorded. For the purpose of including hoof lesions in a decision support model an attempt was made to aggregate the lesions into digital dermatitis (DD), other interdigital diseases (OID, infectious diseases other than DD) and hoof horn diseases (HHD, related to metabolic disorders and trauma). A division was made based on the stage of lactation in which the lesions were diagnosed; during the first 100 days in milk, between days 101 and 200 and between days 201 and 305. Associations between the presence of hoof lesions at trimming and milk production were analyzed by linear mixed modeling at the cow level, clustered within herd. The data of primiparous cows was analyzed separately from the multiparous cows.

Based on the associations between TDY and the individual lesions aggregated into HHD, this aggregation as initially planned could not be justified and was therefore not maintained. For OID the value of early diagnosis was apparent; an early diagnosis and early treatment (<101 DIM) was associated with either a positive value or a value less negative compared to a diagnosis and treatment in late lactation (201–305 DIM). This pattern was not as clearly present for the other lesions.     

Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among Salmonella on midwest and northeast USA dairy farms

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among Salmonella isolated from dairy herds in New York, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, USA. Serogroup and antimicrobial susceptibility characteristics were determined for Salmonella from cattle and environmental samples collected during August 2000–October 2001 as part of a longitudinal study where 129 herds were visited at 2-month intervals. Salmonella isolates were tested (using a broth microdilution method) for susceptibility to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ampicillin, ceftiofur, ceftriaxone, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, kanamycin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Of the 1506 isolates tested for minimum inhibitory concentrations to these 14 antimicrobial agents, 81.2% were pan-susceptible and for most herds (81.6%) the predominant antimicrobial resistance pattern was pan-susceptible. At least 1 Salmonella isolate resistant to 5 or more antimicrobial agents was found on 23.6% of herds. This resistance phenotype was most common among serogroups B and E1 and among samples from calves and farmer-designated sick cows. Resistant samples most frequently exhibited resistance to tetracycline, streptomycin, and/or ampicillin. No samples were resistant to ceftriaxone (though 13 were in the intermediate range), and very few samples were resistant to ciprofloxacin (n = 1), nalidixic acid (n = 5), or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (n = 7).     

Genomic prediction for meat and carcass traits in Nellore cattle using a Markov blanket algorithm

This study was carried out to evaluate the advantage of preselecting SNP markers using Markov blanket algorithm regarding the accuracy of genomic prediction for carcass and meat quality traits in Nellore cattle. This study considered 3675, 3680, 3660 and 524 records of rib eye area (REA), back fat thickness (BF), rump fat (RF), and Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF), respectively, from the Nellore Brazil Breeding Program. The animals have been genotyped using low-density SNP panel (30 k), and subsequently imputed for arrays with 777 k SNPs. Four Bayesian specifications of genomic regression models, namely Bayes A, Bayes B, Bayes Cπ and Bayesian Ridge Regression methods were compared in terms of prediction accuracy using a five folds cross-validation. Prediction accuracy for REA, BF and RF was all similar using the Bayesian Alphabet models, ranging from 0.75 to 0.95. For WBSF, the predictive ability was higher using Bayes B (0.47) than other methods (0.39 to 0.42). Although the prediction accuracies using Markov blanket of SNP markers were lower than those using all SNPs, for WBSF the relative gain was lower than 13%. With a subset of informative SNPs markers, identified using Markov blanket, probably, is possible to capture a large proportion of the genetic variance for WBSF. The development of low-density and customized arrays using Markov blanket might be cost-effective to perform a genomic selection for this trait, increasing the number of evaluated animals, improving the management decisions based on genomic information and applying genomic selection on a large scale.     

超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定猪牛组织中甲基盐霉素残留量

建立超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定猪牛组织中甲基盐霉素残留量。猪、牛组织中残留的甲基盐霉素,经乙腈溶液提取,硅胶固相萃取柱净化,超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定,外标法定量。甲基盐霉素在5 ng/mL～250 ng/mL的浓度范围内呈现良好的线性关系,甲基盐霉素在猪、牛肌肉、肝脏、肾脏、脂肪中的检测限均为2.5μg/kg,定量限均为5.0μg/kg,猪牛肌肉、肝脏、肾脏、脂肪中5.0 ng/g～100 ng/g添加浓度范围内的回收率均值为71.9%～88.4%,批内批间RSD值均<15%。     

Plasma lipopolysaccharide elevations in cattle associated with early-stage infection by Fasciola hepatica

Fasciolosis is an endemic zoonotic parasitic disease with significant impacts on human health and both animal health and production. Early post-infection impacts on the host remain unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the changes, if any, to levels of endotoxin in cattle plasma in response to early-stage infection with Fasciola hepatica. Thirty-six (36) commercial bred cattle were experimentally infected with approximately 400 viable metacercariae. Plasma lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin) levels were examined on 24 occasions from 0 h before infection to 336 h after infection using the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate chromogenic end point assay and compared with that of six (6) uninfected control animals. Peak lipopolysaccharide levels in infected animals were reached at 52 h after infection and returned to pre-infection levels at time 144 h after infection. Infected animals had significantly elevated lipopolysaccharide levels between 24 and 120 h after infection when compared to uninfected animals. The mean change in endotoxin units (EU)/mL over time after infection was statistically significant in infected animals. Elevations of lipopolysaccharide occurred in all infected animals suggesting a possible repeatable and titratable endotoxemia conducive to therapeutic agent model development.     

Effects of silvopastoral areas on milk production at dual-purpose cattle farms at the semi-humid old agricultural frontier in central Nicaragua

In extensive cattle production systems, the composition of grazing areas may significantly influence productivity. In dual-purpose cattle production systems in the lowland tropics, pasture lands with trees, so-called silvopastoral areas, are considered as being important, particularly to facilitate the management of crossbred European native cattle. The aim of the study was to quantify the effects of silvopastoral areas on production at dual-purpose cattle farms in the semi-humid lowlands of central Nicaragua. The relationships between seasonal milk production and herd data, and the proportions of land use types were examined for 74 farms by stepwise regression analysis.     

Presence of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Cattle Tick Boophilus microplus and in Epithelial Tissue Culture Cells of Chironomus tentans

A muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) has been demonstrated and partially characterized in larvae of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus. Its properties are compared with mAChR from an epithelial cell line from the dipteran insect Chironomus tentans. Competition studies with cholinergic ligands of different specificity revealed the muscarinic nature of the cholinergic receptors investigated in both species. In homogenates from tick larvae, specific binding sites for [³H]quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB) with high affinity (1·2±(0·13) nM ; B_max 22·5 pmol mg protein⁻¹) were detected that do not bind nicotinic compounds specifically. The estimated IC₅₀ values for nicotine, imidacloprid and α-bungarotoxin were all in the mM range. Additionally, with tick larvae, high-affinity nicotinic binding sites were detected with [³H]nicotine which could be displaced by high concentrations of imidacloprid or QNB. The estimated IC₅₀ values for nicotine, α-bungarotoxin, imidacloprid and QNB were 43(±8) nM , 0·8(±0·2) μM , 2·8(±0·6) μM and 78(±1·9) μM , respectively. With homogenates of the non-neuronal insect cell line from C. tentans, only high-affinity binding sites for [³H]QNB were found. Muscarinic antagonists selectively displaced [³H]quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB) binding to tick larvae homogenates. The mAChR of B. microplus preferred pirenzepine (IC₅₀ 2·13(±1·02) μM ) among different subtype-specific mAChR antagonists (4-DAMP had IC₅₀ 49·9(±9·13) μM and methoctramine had IC₅₀ 121(±14·2) μM ) indicating a type of binding site similar to the vertebrate M1 mAChR subtype. The tick muscarinic receptor seems to be a G-protein-coupled receptor, as concluded from the 4·8-fold reduction in receptor affinity for binding of the muscarinic agonist oxotremorine M upon treatment with the non-hydrolysable GTP-analogue γ-S-GTP. Binding data for the agonists oxotremorine M (IC₅₀ 71·3(±19·6) μM ) and carbachol (IC₅₀ 253(±87·1) μM ) parallel the biological efficacy of these compounds, in that, while oxotremorine M showed some activity against ticks, carbachol was ineffective.     

牛卵巢活动对超数排卵影响研究进展

超数排卵在实际生产中提高了胚胎移植技术对单胎动物的繁殖率,但是,超数排卵的结果存在很大的差异性。影响超数排卵结果的因素有很多,如牛的自身因素,超数排卵方法的选择,所使用促性腺激素的种类,激素的质量,环境因素等。文章以牛自身卵巢活动对超数排卵的影响为出发点,综述了牛正常卵巢活动及卵泡活动对超数排卵影响的研究进展,包括卵泡波动力学,卵泡波发育过程中促性腺激素的作用;分析了卵巢对促卵泡素(FSH)及促黄体素(LH)的特异应答性机制,对各个卵泡波进行了比较,根据卵泡波动力学理论列举了几种切实可行的同步卵泡波的超排方法,对超数排卵结果差异性的原因做了补充说明。     

浅谈云南省奶牛业

阐述了云南省奶牛业的现状,论述了云南奶牛业发展中存在的五个问题,并针对性地提出了云南省奶牛业发展的六条应对措施。总结认为首先应制定发展目标,做好发展规划,其次政府应加强宏观调控,加大对奶牛业的扶持力度,积极开拓市场,可使云南奶牛业迅速发展。     

复合蛋白对肉牛生产性能和血液指标的影响

西门塔尔杂交公牛36头,随机分为3组,每组12头。对照组使用牛场原有的预混料及其推荐配方,试验组使用复合蛋白替代蛋白质饲料,比例分别为试验1组6%、试验2组10%。分别测定日增重、饲料转化率,血液指标,消化率并进行饲喂效益分析。结果表明:试验1组和试验2组日增重比对照组分别提高2.1%和11.6%,且差异显著(P<0.05);试验1组和试验2组料肉比比对照组分别降低1.9%(P>0.05)和显著降低10.4%(P<0.05);血液指标和养分消化率变化不大,差异不显著(P>0.05);饲喂净效益试验2组比对照组提高71%。说明合理剂量复合蛋白替代日粮中豆粕等蛋白饲料,不但不降低肉牛生产性能,而且还可以提高日增重,降低料肉比,增长效益。