Journal of Livestock Science and Technology
Volume:4 Issue: 1, May 2016

An experiment was conducted, from 22 to 42-d-post-hatch, to evaluate the effect of different combinations of carbohydrases (CHS), citric acid (CA) and high-dose phytase in wheat-canola meal-based diets with very low content of non-phytate phosphorus (NPP) on growth performance, plasma calcium (Ca) and P and tibia ash (TA) content of broiler chickens. One hundred and ninety two 21-d-old male chicks were allocated into 24 pens and fed one of six dietary treatments. The dietary treatments were T1) a negative control (NC, 1.68 g/kg NPP), T2) NC CHS (500 mg/kg) 2,000 phytase FTU/kg, T3) NC CHS CA (20 mg/kg) 2,000 phytase FTU/kg, T4) NC CHS 4,000 phytase FTU/kg, T5) NC CHS CA 4,000 phytase FTU/kg or T6) a positive control (PC, 4.2 g/kg NPP). The birds fed on PC had higher average daily gain (ADG, P

This research was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of wheat bran (as a source of insoluble fiber) in a barley-based diet, fed from 11 to 42 d of age, on villus morphology of jejunum, serum cholesterol level, abdominal fat pad and growth performance of broiler chickens. Three hundred and thirty six 10-d-old female Ross 308 chicks were allocated to six diets with four replicates of 14 birds per diet. The diets were a corn-based diet (CN); barley-based diet without (BL) or with multi-enzyme (BL, 500 mg/kg of the diet, Rovabio Excel 10%); and barley based-diet that contained 4 (BL堞), 8 (BL堟) or 12 (BL堝) percent wheat bran. Average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured from 11 to 42 d of age. Serum cholesterol level was measured on d 24. Villus height (VH) and villus surface area (VSA) of jejunum, and relative weight (% of body weight) of abdominal fat pad were measured at 42 d of age. The birds receiving CN, BL, BL堞 and BL堟 had significantly (P

In this experiment eight 1,600 mL dual-flow continuous culture fermenters were used to measure the fermentation pattern of cultivable and pasture forages in camel. Two adult camels were used as rumen inocula donors. Fermenters were fed with 120 g of DM/d in 3 equal portions at 08:00, 16:00, and 24:00 h. The trial contained two treatments of four replicate each in a completely randomized design. The treatments consisted (DM basis) of alfalfa hay (40%) and wheat straw (60%) as the cultivable forages, and Atriplex L. (80%), Suaeda F. (10%), and Seidlitzia R. (10%) as the pasture forages. Digestibility coefficients of DM, NDF and ADF were significantly smaller (P

The objective of this study was to estimate the protein degradability parameters of 6 common ruminant feedstuff using the nylon bags (in situ) and the innovative in vitro method-the DaisyII incubator. Significant differences were observed between the in situ and in vitro methods in estimation of the rapidly soluble (a) fraction (Pin vitro method were highly correlated with the estimated values by the in situ method (Pin vitro DaisyII method can be used for estimating some protein degradability parameters such as parameter c, PD and ED but not for others (a, b and lag time). In addition, the ability of DaisyII method to estimate some parameters was better for some feeds (soybean meal, canola meal and corn grain) than for others (barley grain, alfalfa hay and corn silage).

The aim of this study is to determine the serum copper (Cu) concentration found in Iranian Raeini cashmere goats in different seasonal and climatic conditions. Twenty four male (6 to 18 months old) and 48 female (6 to 18 and 18 to 30 months old) Raeini goats were selected from the station, rural, and nomadic flocks. The average Cu concentrations among the male and female goats were 0.5 ± 0.04 and 0.5 ± 0.02 mg L-1, respectively. Serum Cu concentration was higher during autumn (0.7 ± 0.03 mg L-1) than spring, summer, and winter. The mean serum Cu concentrations in the station, rural, and nomadic flocks were 0.4 ± 0.04, 0.6 ± 0.04, and 0.3 ± 0.04 mg L-1, respectively. In conclusion, Raeini cashmere goats showed clear seasonality in serum Cu, with low levels from winter to late summer and maximum level in autumn.

Milk yield records from 1st to 5th lactations of Iranian Holstein cows were analyzed using repeatability and a number of multivariate models that varied in additive genetic variance structure. A total of313,006 milk yield records were used. The records were obtained from 116,531 cows born between 2001 and 2005. The animals originated from 2,355 sires and 91,212 dams. A multivariate model with heterogeneous residual co (variance) and heterogeneous genetic variance was found to be the most parsimonious model in comparison with the repeatability and the other pre-structured multivariate models.Heritability of milk trait at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th locations were 0.27, 0.19, 0.14, 0.11 and 0.07, respectively using the preferred modelwhile a value of 0.18 was estimated for the heritability of the milk yields where repeatability model was applied.In comparison with the pre-structured multivariate models; the repeatability model was not an appropriate model for genetic analysis of the repeated records of milk yield in the population investigated. In the current study, homogenous genetic covariance was assumed among the different lactations which can be modelled in future studies.

Myostatin (MSTN) is an inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth, and a mutation in the gene coding region leads to increased muscling. Calpastatin (CAST) is a specific inhibitor of the ubiquitous calcium-dependent proteases, µ-calpain and m-calpain, found in mammalian tissues. In this study, genomic DNA was extracted from Zandi sheep blood samples. Gel monitoring and spectrophotometer methods were used to determine the quality and quantity of DNA. Exon 3 of myostatin gene and intron 1 from L domain of the ovine calpastatin gene were amplified to produce 337 and 622 bp fragments, respectively. The PCR products obtained for the myostatin (MSTN) and calpastatin (CAST) genes were digested by the restriction endonuclease enzymes HhaIII and MspI, respectively. The digested products were separated by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel and visualized after staining with GelRed on UV transillumination. The HhaIII digestion of the PCR products produced digestion fragments of 81, 123 and 131 bp. The MspI digestion produced fragments of 286 and 336 bp. Data analysis was conducted using PopGen32 software. In this population, mm genotype and AA, AB and BB genotypes were identified with 100% and 60, 36, 4% frequencies for MSTN and CAST genes, respectively. This sheep population was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the CAST gene. The polymorphism found in the CAST gene may be helpful in selection programs for genetic improvement of meat traits. However, before application in the genetic improvement of the indigenous sheep breeds, the association of these polymorphisms with meat traits needs to be established in these breeds.

The objective of this study was to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting carcass traits on chromosome 1 in Japanese quail. The populations comprised of 422 progeny in 9 half-sib families. Phenotypic data on carcass weight, carcass parts, and the internal organs were collected on 422 progeny. Nine half-sib families were genotyped for 8 microsatellite markers covering chromosomes 1. Quantitative trait loci effects were estimated using interval mapping regression method Chromosome wide significant QTL were identified for the weight of bursa of fabricius at 24 cM (P

Genetic variation among the individuals is considered as an important tool for conservation of livestock animals. This study was conducted to analyze the genetic variation, phylogenetic relationship and paternal lineages among Iranian dog populations using seventeen autosomal and Y chromosome-specific microsatellite markers. Total DNAs of the samples were extracted and applied for genotype analysis. The results demonstrated that all populations except the Bakhtiari, Sarabi and Alborz samples showed significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) at more than one locus. The number of alleles per population ranged from 4 (FH3053) to 9 (FH20609,20) with a mean of 6.2. In addition, based on the effective alleles, Shannon index and PIC, FH3053 and FH20609, 20 loci indicated the least and the most diversity. The expected heterozygosity varied from 0.53 in Sangsari population to 0.72 in Kurdish population. The highest and lowest genetic distance were detected between Tazi and Alborz and between Bakhtiyari and Sarabi populations, respectively. Y-Specific markers identified eight paternal haplotypes in the populations, indicating various paternal lineages in Iranian native dogs. The results of the current study indicated the segregation of breed-specific alleles in some dog populations, and showed that the populations had a relatively high genetic variation. The findings could be useful in the designing of breeding strategies and conservation of the dog populations in Iran.

Bovine lactoferrin (LTF) is a member of the transferrin family of iron-binding proteins. This protein is present in a wide variety of biological fluids and shows important physiological functions in body. In this study, 404 blood samples were collected from Holstein dairy farms in Iran. A 301 bp fragment of intron 6 in bovine LTF gene was amplified and the animals were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Two alleles of bovine LTF, A and B, were identified in the studied population. The frequency of the A and B (mutant type) alleles were estimated to be 0.803 and 0.197, respectively. The alleles controlled the occurrence of two genotypes, AA and AB, with frequency of 0.606 and 0.393, respectively. GLM (Generalized linear Model) analysis was applied to evaluate the association of bovine LTF with milk production (305-day milk yield, fat and protein percentage) and reproductive traits (pregnancy length (d), milking days (d) and somatic cell score, SCS). It was found that AB cows showed significantly higher (P