Evidence of differentiation and population structure in Charolais cattle of Mexico
AbstractCharolais is one of the most important beef cattle breeds in the world. In Mexico, it was introduced almost a century ago, and it has been suggested that particular breeding management and genetic material origin have caused a process of divergence among the current population. By a high-density SNP array genome-wide analysis, this study aimed to assess the proposed differentiation and population structure of local populations by genetic distances and structure approaches, and a European Charolais sample was included as a reference population. The differentiation statistics indicated that local populations exhibit ...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 19, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Expression and localization of insulin-like growth factor gene family members in the caprine ovarian and uterine tissues during different pregnancy stages
This study aims to investigate the role of IGFs in uterine and ovarian cellular events during pregnancy in goats. Forty-two Hair Goats were examined, including four pregnancy groups representing embryo-positive (G1,n=7), early (G2,n=7), mid (G3,n=7), and late pregnancy (G4,n=7), as well as two luteal stage groups representing early (G5,n=7) and late (G6,n=7) phases. Uterine and ovarian tissues were collected, and RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry were performed to evaluate IGF expression. The results showed that IGF1 and IGF2 expressions were significantly higher in G1 than in other pregnancy and control groups (p< 0.05)...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 19, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Evaluation of reciprocal F1 crosses of Fayoumi with two exotic chicken breeds 2: additive and non-additive effects on egg quality traits
AbstractThe current study evaluates additive and non-additive genetic variances for egg quality traits in six genotypes generated through pure mating and reciprocal crossing of Fayoumi (FM) with Koekoek (KK) and White Leghorn (WL). For each genotype, measurements were taken on 30 eggs randomly sampled at 32, 36, and 40  weeks of age to evaluate both external and internal egg quality parameters. The results revealed significant differences (P <  0.001) among the genotypes in all external quality traits and most internal quality traits, including yolk weight (YW), albumen weight (AW), and yolk height (YH). The result...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 19, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Predicting carcass tissue composition in Blackbelly sheep using ultrasound measurements and machine learning methods
This study aimed to predict Blackbelly sheep carcass tissue composition using ultrasound measurements and machine learning models. The models evaluated were decision trees, random forests, support vector machines, and multi-layer perceptrons and were used to predict the total carcass bone (TCB), total carcass fat (TCF), and total carcass muscle (TCM). The best model for predicting the three parameters, TCB, TCF, and TCM was random forests, with mean squared error (MSE) of 0.31, 0.33, and 0.53; mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.26, 0.29, and 0.53; and the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.67, 0.69, and 0.76, respectively....
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 19, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Biomass yield, quality, nutrient composition, and feeding value of oat (Avena sativa) silage subjected to different wilting durations and/or inoculant application
In conclusion, inoculant may not affect the quality, composition and feeding values of ensiled oat grown without irrigation whereas, wilting at different durations may negatively affect the pH, smell, CP, ADF, and feeding values of ensiled oats. (Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production)
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 19, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Physicochemical and microbiological parameters of rumen fluid of lactating goats fed diets containing crude glycerin from waste frying oil used in biodiesel production
The objective was to analyze the effects including crude glycerin (CG) derived from the production of biodiesel from residual frying oil, in diets of lactating goats on the physicochemical and microbiological parameters of rumen fluid. Eight 2-year-old goats weighting approximately 42.06  ± 3.5 kg of body weight (BW) were kept in individual stalls, receiving diets containing 0, 7, 14 and 21% of CG (% DM). The experiment was carried out according to a double 4 × 4 Latin square and lasted for 80 days. Orthogonal contrasts were tested to determine linear and quadratic effec ts, as well as the effects of 0% CG in t...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 15, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Bovine leukosis virus, bovine viral diarrhea, and bovine neosporosis seroprevalence in specialized dairy herds in Antioquia-Colombia
AbstractEnzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bovine leukosis virus (BLV), aDeltaretrovirus. Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is an infectious disease caused by a pestivirus. Bovine neosporosis is caused by the obligate intracellular parasiteNeospora caninum (Nc). These pathogens can have horizontal (postnatal) or vertical (transplacental) transmissions and affect the productive and reproductive performance of infected bovines. This work aimed to detect BLV, BVD, and Nc seroprevalence in specialized dairy cattle from the north, east, and Aburr á Valley regions of the Department of Antioqu...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - September 1, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Quantifying production losses associated with foot and mouth disease outbreaks on large-scale dairy farms in Rift valley, Kenya
AbstractFoot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a contagious viral disease to which dairy cattle are highly susceptible. An outbreak of FMD in a dairy herds can cause a drop in milk yield, increase mastitis infections, and force culling. These production losses can be substantial, but farmers undervalue the magnitude of the loss that they incur. The study quantified the association of FMD outbreaks with milk yield, mastitis incidences, and culling rates. The data was from three large-scale dairy farms with a recent history (2008 to 2018) of FMD outbreaks in a region endemic for the prevalence of serotype C of the FMD virus since t...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 23, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Pro-inflammatory cytokines and reproductive hormone responses in bucks post-challenge with Mannheimia haemolytica A2 and its outer membrane protein
AbstractThe lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin and outer membrane protein (OMP) are among the virulence factors of Gram-negative bacteria responsible for inducing pathogenicity in the infected host. OMP and LPS occur on the outer membrane ofM. haemolytica A2, the primary aetiological agent of pneumonic mannheimiosis in small ruminants. While the LPS is known to mediate Gram-negative bacterial infection by activating downstream inflammatory pathways, the potential role of OMP during inflammatory responses remained unclear. Hence, this study determined the effect of the OMP ofM. haemolytica A2 on the serum concentration of p...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 17, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Genealogical structure of the Colombian Romosinuano Creole cattle
AbstractThe Romosinuano cattle breed is one of the most important Creole genetic resources in Colombia, and interesting traits like adaptation or reproductive efficiency have promoted its use in different countries in America. To consolidate the genealogical historical records, the review of very first yield records in this population was used to reconstruct the genealogy of the breed since the first animals incorporated to the in vivo germplasm bank and estimate different demographic parameters. The complete genealogy comprises 17,136 animals with 5.8  years of generation interval for two pathways. The estimated average ...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 17, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Can banana peel and sweet potato vines serve as efficient feed ingredients in diets for growing rabbits?
This study aimed to evaluate the use of banana peel (BP) and sweet potato vines (SPV) as a replacement for maize and alfalfa hay in diets for rabbits. Animal performance, economic analyses, meat composition, and color were evaluated for 49 days in a total 50 New Zealand White rabbits weaned at 35 days with an average body mass of ± 614 g. The animals were allotted, in a completely randomized design, having five dietary groups: control diet (0), without banana peels and sweet potato vines, or experimental diets, 25, 50, 75, and 100—with 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of banana peels and sweet potato vines in substitution to mai...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 15, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Growth performance, hematology parameters and Aeromonas hydrophila challenge of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) in response to dietary protein levels
AbstractThe pirarucu (Arapaima gigas)  is a fast-growing Amazonian species of high commercial value. The present study aimed to determine the dietary crude protein (CP) level to promote maximum zootechnical performance for pirarucu fingerlings and as their resistance toAeromonas hydrophila, as well as evaluate their hematological parameters. Pirarucu fingerlings (2.4  ± 0.08 g, 6.8 ± 0.52 cm) were distributed in 18 tanks (140 L, 40 fish per tank,n = 3) and fed six experimental diets consisting of increasing levels of CP: 300, 400, 450, 500, 550 and 650 g kg−1 in a completely randomized design. Data wer...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 15, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Bamboo forage in Peruvian Amazon: a potential feed for cattle
AbstractDuring the dry and rainy seasons of the Northeastern Zone of Peru, a chemical characterization of five species of bamboo prevalent in the area (Guadua lynnclarkiae,G. takahashiae,Bambusa vulgaris,G. weberbaueri, andDendrocalamus asper) was conducted. Then, the effect of supplementing bamboo leaves (0, 20, and 40% inclusion ofD. asper) on the intake and live weight gain of 18Gyr×Holstein heifers was evaluated for 28 days. Among the species evaluated,D. asper has the greatest crude protein (CP) concentration (158 –166 g/kg Dry matter- DM), post-ruminal CP supply (127 g/kg DM), and in vitro organic matter digestibi...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 14, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Disturbance of oxidation/antioxidant status and histopathological damage in tsinling lenok trout under acute thermal stress
In this study, through the acute high temperature stress (16, 24, and 26 °C), samples were taken at multiple temperature points to analyze the dynamic changes of serum non-specific immune indexes and histopathological changes of tissues of tsinling lenok trout. The histopathological investigation of different studied tissues revealed an increase of histological lesions’ frequency and severity with increasing water temperature. The activity of T-SOD, GSH-Px, CAT, ACP, and LZM and MDA concentration are all impacted by high temperature stress. The activities of T-SOD, GSH-Px, and ACP are significantly lower in temperatures...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 5, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research

Precision technologies for the management of reproduction in dairy cows
AbstractPrecision livestock farming (PLF) utilizes information and communication technology (ICT) to continuously monitor, control, and enhance the productivity, reproduction, health, welfare, and environmental impact of livestock. Technological advancements have facilitated the seamless flow of information from animals to humans, enabling practical decision-making processes concerning health, reproduction management, and calving surveillance. With the increasing population of livestock per farm, it has become impractical for farmers to individually track every animal within these large groups. Historically, cattle managem...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - August 4, 2023 Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research