Changes in clinical values of cattle infected with Clostridium chauvoei CH3 strain and a local Kad1 strain. Haematological values

Clostridium chauvoei CH3 and Kad1 strains were found to cause marked changes in the blood parameters during the course of blackleg disease. These changes displayed by CH3 were found to be more marked than the local Kad1 strain. Results of changes in the haematological values in calves infected with blackleg organisms, showed an increase in RBC, PCV, Hb and the total leukocyte count. MCHC and MCH remained within normal range values, however, a terminal significant increase of MCV was obtained. Thrombocytes showed a steady drop after infection to the time of death of the animals.     

Effect of injecting amino acids into the egg on embryonic and subsequent growth in the domestic fowl

1. The growing embryo uses about 1% of the total protein available in the egg during the first week of incubation.

2. Injecting the growing embryo with amino acids equivalent to the amount of protein used resulted in higher weight of chicks at all stages up to 56 d.     

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.     

Serodiagnosis of Burkholderia mallei Infections in Horses: State‐of‐the‐art and Perspectives

Burkholderia mallei causes glanders or farcy in solipeds, a disease that must be reported to the OIE (Office International des Epizooties, Paris, France). The number of reported outbreaks has increased steadily during the last decade. Serodiagnosis is hampered by the considerable number of false‐positives and ‐negatives of the internationally prescribed tests. The major problem leading to low sensitivity and specificity of complement fixation test (CFT) and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been linked to the test antigens currently used, i.e. crude preparations of whole cells. Future perspectives for the development and evaluation of serological test kits using well‐characterized single antigens are discussed in the light of recent molecular research on B. mallei and the closely related saprozoonotic agent B. pseudomallei.     

Analysis of pastoralists’ perception on challenges and opportunities for sheep and goat production in Northern Kenya

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Small ruminants’ production contributes to livelihood of pastoral communities, but this faces myriad constraints. This study aimed at identifying...     

Predicting early pregnancy in Egyptian buffalo cows via measuring uterine and luteal blood flows,and serum and saliva progesterone

Various methods are being employed to detect early pregnancy in domestic animals. This study aimed to predict early pregnancy in buffaloes via measuring the corpus luteum (CL) diameter, the luteal blood flow (LBF) area, the uterine blood flow (UBF) vascularization area, and progesterones in saliva and serum for non-pregnant (NPBs, N = 12) and pregnant (PBs, N = 12) buffaloes. The results revealed that the CL diameter and the luteal color blood flow blue and red (P = 0.0001) areas of the pregnant animals kept increasing from day 1 to day 35 of the gestation period, but it decreased in NPBs on day 21 after reaching a peak from ovulation to day 18. Interestingly, the UBF of the pregnant buffaloes (PBs) kept increasing (P = 0.0001) from ovulation to day 42. The difference of the CL diameter (P = 0.03) and the LBF color blue vascularization area (P = 0.002) between PBs and NPBs became clear from day 14 after ovulation, though the difference of UBF between PBs and NPBs became markedly obvious from day 7 after breeding. Both saliva (P = 0.001) and serum (P = 0.0001) progesterones of PBs continued increasing (P = 0.0001) from day 14 to day 35, but those of NPBs started decreasing (P = 0.0001) from day 14 and reached low values on day 21. Therefore, measuring saliva progesterone in addition to the high LBF (day 14) and UBF (day 7) of the pregnant buffaloes using a Doppler ultrasound could be applicable as noninvasive methods to detect early pregnancy and to improve reproductive management of buffaloes.     

Virulence traits of avian pathogenic (APEC) and fecal (AFEC) <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis> isolated from broiler chickens in Algeria

Avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) is the etiologic agent of avian colibacillosis, the most common disease responsible for chicken morbidity in the world. Although multiple virulence-associated factors were identified, their prevalence in Algeria is still poorly known. In the present research, 92 avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) isolates were recovered from broilers with clinical signs and lesions of colibacillosis. In addition, 32 E. coli isolates collected from feces of healthy birds (AFEC) were included for comparison. All isolates were investigated by PCR for the presence of a total of 11 virulence-associated genes described for avian pathogenic (iroN, ompT, hlyF, iss, iutA, and fimC) and diarrheagenic E. coli (eae, stx, elt/est, ipaH, and aggR). The sensitivity of 39 APEC isolates to 16 antibiotics was also determined using antimicrobial pretreated microplates. Here, we report that 98% of the examined isolates host at least one of the tested virulence factors. The most prevalent genes in APEC were iutA (90.6%), ompT (86.9%), and iss (85.8%); whereas, iutA (78.1%), fimC (78.1%), and iroN (68.7%) were the highest prevalent genes in AFEC. Our data showed that none of the AFEC isolates harbor any of the tested diarrheagenic genes. Moreover, only elt/est (5.4%), stx (2.1%), and ipaH (2.1%) genes were carried by APEC isolates. We further established that ceftazodime, ceftiofur, mequindox, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and meropenem were the most efficient antibiotics against the analyzed APEC isolates. Overall, our findings provide more insights about APEC and AFEC virulence potential in Algeria which could participate in the fight against colibacillosis.     

Comparison of nuclear and capacitance‐based soil water measuring techniques in salt‐affected soils

A field calibration experiment was carried out on salt‐affected clayey soil in Syria, to compare the sensitivity to soil electrical conductivity (ECe), and bulk density (ρ_b) of two instruments for estimating soil moisture: the neutron probe (NP) and the Diviner 2000 capacitance probe (CP). The results showed that the values of the correlation coefficient of the calibration were decreased when the ECe and ρ_b values increased; this decrease was more pronounced for the Diviner 2000, indicating that it was more sensitive to ρ_b and ECe than the NP. When only scaled frequency was used in the fitted equation, the Diviner 2000 in wet soil underestimated soil water content significantly at all depths, but especially in the top layer, by up to 0.09 cm³/cm³ compared with gravimetric determinations. However, in dry soil, the Diviner 2000 overestimated the volumetric water content by up to 0.05 cm³/cm³ in the top 15 cm, and by 0.03 cm³/cm³ at 30‐45 cm depth. The performance of the neutron probe was better overall; using a factory calibration curve no significant differences were observed between NP estimates and the gravimetric values. Including both ρ_b and ECe in the calibration equations improved the fits, although the regression coefficient (R²) for the Diviner 2000 remained low.