Stress responses in adult cattle due to surgical dehorning using three different types of anaesthesia

Dehorning adult cattle is a surgical procedure causing distress of varying intensities that can be reflected in behavioural changes and alterations in plasma cortisol levels. Stress responses during the dehorning process were evaluated in 18 Red Pied cows. The cows were divided into 3 groups of six and kept in tie-stall housing. Those in the first group were dehorned under general anaesthesia (GA) induced by intravenous administration of xylazine and ketamine. The second group was dehorned under sedation and local anaesthesia (SLA) induced by intramuscular administration of xylazine and local anaesthesia with lidocaine. The third group was dehorned under local anaesthesia (LA) with lidocaine. Dehorning was performed with a foetotomy wire. Blood samples were taken 0.5 h before dehorning to determine cortisol levels, and, by means of a central venous catheter inserted into the jugular vein, during surgery at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 h post-surgery. Concurrently, occurrence of stress behaviours was assessed. Cortisol levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). The lowest mean peak levels of plasma cortisol (82.53 +/- 6.04 nmol l(-1)), the most rapid return of plasma cortisol levels to baseline values (1.92 +/- 1.11 h), and the lowest occurrence of stress behaviours (2.38 +/- 5.83%) were noted in the SLA group. The highest mean peak levels plasma cortisol (113.86 +/- 25.65 nmol l(-1)), the slowest return of plasma cortisol levels to baseline values (3.83 +/- 2.18 h) and the most frequent occurrence of stress behaviours (65.48 +/- 28.72%) were observed in the LA group. There were significant differences between the SLA and LA groups in peak plasma cortisol levels (p = 0.011) and in occurrence of stress behaviours (p = 0.003). Sedation induced by intramuscular administration of xylazine in conjunction with local anaesthesia with lidocaine is considered the most suitable method of anaesthesia when dehorning adult cattle. Local anaesthesia with lidocaine alone was least suitable.     

The influence of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids feeding on composition of fatty acids in fatty tissues and eggs of laying hens

The paper deals with supplementation of hen diet with oils with increased content of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and occurrence of fatty acids (FA) in fatty tissues and eggs of laying hens after the respective supplementation. The experiment was carried out on 30 laying hens of ISA BROWN hybrid, divided to three groups (A, B, C). For the period of three weeks the group A was administered flax-seed oil, group B served as a control and group C was fed base rations supplemented with fish oil. In addition to that the diet of groups A and C was supplemented with vitamin E as an antioxidant. Administration of the oils as a source of omega-3 PUFA increased their concentration in both the fatty tissues and egg-yolk which resulted in the change of the ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA. No influence of flax-seed and fish oil on concentration of alpha-tocopherol in egg-yolk was observed.     

Application of peracetic acid and quarternary ammonium disinfectants as a part of sanitary treatment in a poultry house and poultry processing plant

Hygiene and sanitation play a major role in any effective disease control programme for poultry production and processing premises. Various deficiencies in disinfection may induce that chains of infections are not broken from one stock to another. The present study investigated the efficacy of disinfection on a broiler farm and in a plant processing poultry from the investigated farm. Besides inspection of disinfection, the influence of contamination on broiler carcasses and consequences of this contamination on sanitation of the processing lines were studied. Swabs from surfaces coming into contact with the handled raw material were taken and evaluated. The results obtained by a standard microbiological swab method were evaluated and compared with an ATP-bioluminescence method. The investigations included determination of total counts of microorganisms, coliform bacteria and moulds. When employing the standard plate-count method, the total counts of microorganisms (TCM) reached <1, 1-100 and >100 CFU in 0, 12 and 88% swabs on poultry farm and in 22%, 36% and 42% swabs in the processing plant, respectively. The bioluminescence method was used only in the processing plant and contamination corresponding to <100, 100-300 and >300 relative light units (RLU) was detected in 80%, 10% and 10% swabs respectively.     

Epidemiology of feline leukaemia and feline immunodeficiency virus infections in the Czech Republic

Commercial serological sets were used for the examination of 727 cats kept in larger towns of the Czech Republic. FeLV antigen and antibodies to FIV were demonstrated in 96 (13.2%) and 42 (5.8%) of the animals, respectively. Seven (0.96%) animals were positive for both FeLV and FIV. Most of the FeLV and/or FIV positive patients were intact rambling males aged 1-4 years. Chronic gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases were found in 54.2% and 43.8% of the FeLV-positive patients, respectively. Chronic urinary tract diseases and generalized lymphadenopathy were found in 47.6% and 45.2% of the FIV-positive patients, respectively. The results of this first survey in the Czech Republic have shown prevalence values and clinical patterns similar to those reported formerly from other European countries.     

Comparison of selected diagnostic methods for identification of Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium andersoni in routine examination of faeces

This study involved the comparison of suitability of different methods for routine diagnostics of Cryptosporidium spp. Two staining methods, one concentration-sedimentation method, seven concentration-floatation methods and one combined floatation-sedimentation method were compared. The methods were tested with two concentrations (1 x 10(5) and 1 x 10(6)/g) of C. parvum and C. andersoni. The methods were evaluated using light microscope, magnification 400x for concentration methods and 1000x for stained samples respectively. Specificity of both staining methods was 95-100%. Ziehl-Neelsen with P < 0.01 is more suitable for identification of C. andersoni and modified Milácek-Vítovec with P < 0.01 for identification of C. parvum. Concerning specificity and sensitivity, the floatation-concentration method by Sheather was found to provide the best results of all selected methods. The merthiolate iodine formaldehyde concentration (MIFC) method was the least specific one. The least suitable method concerning sensitivity and costs was the floatation method with caesium chloride (CsCl) with a specificity of 29%.     

Efficiency of amino acid utilization in the growing pig at suboptimal levels of intake: branched-chain amino acids, histidine and phenylalanine + tyrosine

Five balance experiments on growing pigs were carried out to study the marginal efficiency of utilization of isoleucine, leucine, valine, histidine and phenylalanine + tyrosine and to estimate their requirements for maintenance. Purified diets based on casein and crystalline amino acids as the sole source of N contained graded levels of each amino acid, corresponding to protein accretion rates of 0, 33, 66, 99 and 132 g/day, respectively. All other essential amino acids were given in a 30% excess. N retention increased linearly (p < 0.01) as the dietary concentration of the limiting amino acid increased. Based on linear regression equations relating amino acid deposition in body protein to amino acid intake, marginal efficiencies of ileal digestible amino acid utilization were calculated to be isoleucine - 0.81, leucine - 0.81, valine - 0.82, histidine - 1.17 and phenylalanine + tyrosine - 0.67. Extrapolating the regression equations to zero N retention, the daily requirements of amino acids for N equilibrium were estimated to be (mg/kg0.75) isoleucine - 18, leucine - 33, valine - 23, histidine - 14 and phenylalanine + tyrosine - 43.