فصلنامه تحقیقات تولیدات دامی
سال هشتم شماره 1 (بهار 1398)

Effect of supplementing organic complexes (compound with glycine or methionine) of Mn, Zn and Cu compared with sulphate forms (equal to or twice NRC recommendation) on health, fertility and blood metabolites of dairy cows and suckling calves was assessed. Two months before calving, 60 pregnant Holstein cows were divided to six experimental groups in a randomized complete block design. Six diets containing 1. Mn, Zn and Cu-sulphate at NRC levels, 2. Mn, Zn and Cu-glycine at NRC levels, 3. Mn, Zn and Cu-methionine at NRC levels, 4. Mn, Zn and Cu-sulphate twice NRC, 5. Mn, Zn and Cu-glycine twice NRC, and 6. Mn, Zn and Cu-methionine twice NRC, were fed ad libitum. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) of colostrum and blood, metritis, mastitis, retained placenta, lameness, ketosis, ovarian cysts, calf mortality, fertility and blood glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol (five blood sampling; from day 60 before calving to day 100 after calving) were determined. Feeding organic mineral complexes instead of sulphate form had no effects on IgG, fertility and blood metabolites of cows and calves, but decreased mastitis and lameness. Also, increasing dietary levels of the trace minerals led to the decrease in incidence of mastitis and lameness, and numerical increase in IgG of colostrum, but had no effect on other variables. Overall, feeding organic complexes (methionine- or glycine-) of Mn, Zn and Cu and also increasing the minerals levels in diets of pre- and post-partum cows had positive effects on the health of the animals, without changes in fertility.

In this research, the artificial neural networks (ANNs) and multi-layered non-fuzzy inductive inference system (ANFIS) were used to model the output energy in dairy and beef cattle farms. For this purpose, according to Cochran's relation, 105 beef and dairy farms were randomly selected from five townships which were the main producers of this sector in Mazandaran province from 2016-2017. Using the energy balance of inputs and outputs, the input and output energy averages in beef production farms were calculated to be 16994.76 and 3449.85 MJcow-1 and for dairy production farms were equal to 100100 and 58277 MJcow-1, respectively. Also, ER (Energy Ratio), EP (Energy Productivity), SE (Special Energy) and NE (Net Energy) indices for dairy production farms were 0.58, 0.08 KgMJ-1, 12.5 MJKg-1 and -41825.93 MJcow-1, respectively and for beef production farms were calculated as 0.2, 0.02 KgMJ-1, 50 MJKg-1and 13544.91 MJcow-1, respectively. Using the results of statistical analysis of the data, modeling of the output energy for each unit of input energy was performed by two above methods (ANNs and ANFIS). The results showed that the model of nervous- fuzzy inference comparative multi-layered system with the correlation coefficient of 0.9899 for steer farms and 0.9933 for dairy farms, had better performance and accuracy than that of the artificial neural network with the correlation coefficient of 0.8118 and the structure of 6-16-1 for beef farms and correlation coefficient of 0.9837 and the structure of 5-12-1 for dairy farms.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of using Ziziphora clinopodioides in the diet of fattening lambs on the activity of rumen bacteria and fungi in the in vitro digestibility of sugarcane top. Three experimental diets containing Ziziphora clinopodioides at the levels of 0, 0.2 or 0.4% were fed to 15 finishing lambs (about seven months, 40 kg weight) for 30 days. At the end of the experiment, the rumen fluid of the lambs was taken through a stomach tube. After separation and purification of the bacteria and fungi populations from the rumen fluid, their effects were investigated on the digestion and fermentation of sugarcane top in a specific medium culture
of bacteria or fungi. The results showed that the gas production potential of sugarcane top by ruminal fungi was significantly higher in the treatments containing Ziziphora clinopodioides (P<0.05). Ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH, and the disappearance of dry matter and NDF of sugarcane top in fungi medium culture were not affected by experimental treatments. The ammonia nitrogen concentration in bacteria medium culture was decreased after 72 h incubation and the lowest concentration was observed in treatment containing 0.4% of Ziziphora clinopodioides (13.6 mg/100 mL) (P<0.05). In comparison to the control, the disappearance of dry matter and NDF of sugarcane top from bacteria medium culture after 24 h incubation was significantly higher in the diets containing Ziziphora clinopodioides, and the highest disappearance of dry matter (55.62%) and NDF (44.5%) were
observed in treatment containing 0.4% of Ziziphora clinopodioides. Overall, feeding the Ziziphora clinopodioides supplement to finishing lambs had no effect on digestion of sugarcane top by rumen fungi, but led to an increase in the potential of gas production. On the other hand, the Ziziphora clinopodioides resulted in increase of the nutrients’ disappearance of sugarcane top by rumen bacteria only at time 24 h of incubation.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different doses of fennel essential oil (100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 µg) on in vitro gas production parameters and protozoa population using goat rumen fluid. Rumen fluid was obtained from six Markhoz goats before morning feeding via esophageal tube. Gas production during 96 hours of incubation was recorded. The effect of essential oil on total protozoa and different genus was investigated. Also, gas production after 24h, methane production and some of the other in vitro ruminal parameters were determined. Gas production potential (B) and fermentation rate (c) were decreased by inclusion of the essential oil (P<0.0001), while lag phase in low doses of the essential oil increased (P=0.004). The pH did not alter due to the additionof the essential oil, but ammonia nitrogen and total volatile fatty acids were declined at doses of 750 and 1000 µg of the essential oil. Gas 24h, methane production, in vitro organic matter digestibility and metabolizable energy decreased, while partitioning factor, microbial mass and its efficiency increased by adding the essential oil (P<0.0001). Adding fennel essential oil into fermentation media decreased total protozoa number and Entodinium spp and Isotricha spp (P<0.0001), but it had no effect on Diplodiniinae and Ophryoscolecinae populations. The results showed that the fennel essential oil may have selective antiprotozoal effect on Entodinium spp and Isotricha spp., and it has a good potential to change rumen fermentation by decreasing methane production, ammonia concentration and increasing the partitioning factor.

The designing of animal breeding program on Aryan broiler chicks without development of vital organs such as the heart, has made the chicken most susceptible for ascites syndrome. The cell apoptosis is common in ascites syndrome. Therefore, this study was done with the aim of identification of genes and genetic networks that involved in cardiac cell apoptosis among normal Aryan chickens and Aryan chickens resistant to ascites. For this purpose, two ascites and two normal samples of Aryan chicken were RNA extracted and transcriptome data were produced by the Next Generation Sequencing. The data quality and elimination of pollution were performed with FastQC and Trimmomatic softwares. In addition, the gene expression analyses were investigated using Cuffmerge, Cufflink and Cuffdiff. The results showed that there were 20034 genes in samples that 291 genes were associated with 66 biological pathways. Among this, 53 genes were associated with apoptosis pathways. Investigation of the biological process of gene ontology showed that regulation of cellular process and negative regulation of apoptosis pathways were significantly affected by chickens resistant to ascites syndrome (FDR <0.01). The gene network was extracted by 48 nodes in two clusters. The results of genes’ networking showed that MEF2A, FGF10, CDK1 and MAD2L1 genes had maximum gene association. Therefore, the ascites syndrome in Aryan chickens can be controlled focusing on these genes for breeding programs and drug designing.

Genetic resistance to diseases is very important in chickens. Determining the genetic diversity of the chicken immune system is one of the main options for examining differences in resistance to diseases. Two hundred blood samples were taken from indigenous chickens populations of Common, West Azarbaijan, Marandi and Mazandarani and genomic DNA was extracted by salting out method. The allelic polymorphisms were investigated in IgL and IFNɣ loci involved in the immune system using PCR-RFLP and the Sau96I and Tsp509I enzymes. After enzymatic digestion, for IgL marker site (354 bp), three genotypes of AA, AB and BB and allele A (with two bands of 173, 161 and two bands of 10 bp) and allele B (with three bands of 161, 103 and 70 and two bands of 10 bp) and for IFNγ marker site (129 bp), three genotypes of CC, CG, and GG and allele C (with one band of 129 bp) and allele G (with two bands of 90 and 39 bp) were identified. The total populations for loci were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The Shannon information index for markers’ sites of IgL and IFNɣ (0.67 and 0.69, respectively), fixation index values (-0.24 and -0.18, respectively) and the highest observed heterozygosity index (0.61 and 0.59, respectively) was estimated. Regarding the presence of polymorphism in the studied loci, it is possible to use these candidate genes in selection programs to increase disease resistance.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of adding selenium and vitamin E to the basal diet on performance, sperm quality and some blood parameters in Japanese male quails, in a completely randomized design with 240 single-day quail chicks in four treatments and five replicates and 12 birds per replicate for 42 days. The experimental groups consisted of control (basal diet without selenium and vitamin E), second treatment (basal diet plus 0.2 mg/kg selenium: S0.2), third treatment (basal diet plus 0.4 mg/kg selenium: S0.4), and fourth treatment (basal diet plus 0.4 mg / kg selenium and 150 mg/kg vitamin E: S0.4 + Vit E). Average daily gain, feed conservation ratio and feed intake had not significant difference between various treatments. The results showed significant effect of the treatments on the sperm parameters of the quail (P

The aim of this study was to compare the performance, quality and quantity of meat and egg production and fertility of seven quail strains (Italian speckled, Wild, Tuxedo, Scarlett, English White, A & M Texas and White Button). For this purpose, 125 Wild, 159 Italian speckled, 58 Scarlet, 56 Tuxedo, 81 English white, 92 A & M Texas and 57 White Button one-day-old chicks were hatched and reared from the first day under the same conditions. To calculate the feed conversion ratio (FCR) of strains, weight and feed intake of all quails were measured from 21 to 35 d of age. At day 42, 10 birds of each strain were randomly slaughtered and after measuring the carcass components, samples of breast and thigh meat were evaluated for their quality and chemical composition. After beginning the egg production, daily egg production was recorded and quality and quantity of egg parameters were recorded and fertility and hatching were evaluated. The results showed that strain had a significant effect on feed intake, weight gain, FCR, culling risk in week 6, oxidative stability of meat on  day 30, drip loss on days 1 and 7, chemical composition of meat (except for ash), quality and quantity of egg parameters (except for albumen height and Haugh unit) (P<0.05). According to the results of this experiment, Wild strain and Tuxedo had the best performance and meat quality, respectively. The highest and the lowest egg production and fertility percentage were observed in English White (84.84 and 75.47%) and White Button strains (74.66 and 64.26%), respectively. In most egg quality parameters, A & M Texas strain was better than other strains. These results suggest that in quail production, suitable strain should be selected based on the purpose of rearing.