جبار جمالی

During the recent decades, rain reduction and consequently water shortage in Iran had an impact effect on crop cultivation program. Therefore, considering these factors, it is necessary to plan for crop production, which needs less water. Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), is a high-quality forage in animal feeding and has unique biological traits like drought tolerance. Hence, this experiment was conducted to study the effect of alfalfa substitution with grass pea hay on performance and carcass quality of Kurdish growing lambs. Twenty-four Kurdish male lambs with an average body weight of 30.23 kg and seven months age were used in this experiment. Experimental diets included: (1) diet without grass pea hay (control), (2) diet containing 10% grass pea hay, (3) diet containing 20% grass pea hay, and (4) diet containing 30% grass pea hay. The results showed that neutral detergent fiber, crude protein, and ash contents of grass pea hay were 32.67%, 19.66%, and 11.70% of dry matter, respectively. Experimental diets had no significant effect on dry matter intake and feed efficiency, carcass parameters, carcass cuts, and meat chemical compositions of the lambs (P ≥ 0.05). Orthogonal comparisons showed that lambs fed diets containing grass pea hay had the higher average daily gain (P < 0.05). It was concluded that diet inclusion of grass pea hay up to 30% of dry matter, had no adverse effect on lambs healthy status.

 Suboptimal levels of kid survival are the largest contributor to reproductive wastage in goat flocks. This results in substantial loss of production, producer, and industry income, and is increasingly being perceived as poor animal welfare. Improving kid survival is therefore a priority for the industry. Nutrient provision during gestation not only affects maternal status and reproductive performance but also affects prenatal and postnatal offspring growth and health. Although trace minerals (TM) are needed by the body in small amounts, they are essential nutrients for several metabolic functions such as growth, development, reproduction, and immunity. Furthermore, newborn animals are dependent upon their dams for the transfer of these nutrients via the placenta and the mammary gland. The antibodies obtained from colostrum are the only defense mechanism against environmental factors in neonatal ruminants. Inadequate nutrition of the dam, immune system suppression, and stress factors may lead to the production of low-quality colostrum. Management and feeding of high-quality colostrum can reduce kid mortality, strengthen immunity, and increase animal life span. Nutrition affects the development of the mammary gland, the onset of lactogenesis, and colostrum production, either by affecting some of the hormones that control these processes or by contributing nutrients that are in demand at this stage of pregnancy. Selenium plays an important role in preventing impaired function of the immune response. Copper deficiency has been shown to result in lowered bactericidal activities of blood leukocytes in ruminant animals. Zinc sufficiency has also been linked to proper immune functions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of TM injection in late pregnancy on colostrum quality and plasma metabolites of Lori does and their kids.
Thirty Lori mature does with an average body weight of 40 kg and an age of 2-3 years were used. One month before the expected kidding, animals were divided into two groups (n=15 does/group) and randomly assigned to experimental treatments. Experimental treatments were no injection of trace minerals (Control; C) and injection of 1 mL of TM at four and two weeks before expected kidding. Blood samples were taken through the jugular vein. Each mL of TM solution contained 2.5 mg of Cu, 1.25 mg of Se, 5 mg of Mn, and 5 mg of Zn. All does were kept in similar nutritional and managerial conditions from mating to one month before kidding.
Results showed that plasma concentrations of glucose and total cholesterol (TC) tended to be higher and lower in the TM group at day 7 before kidding, respectively (P=0.06). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma triglyceride (TG), Ca, and Mg concentrations, and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity of does at day 7 before kidding (P>0.05). Whereas, TM injection before mating decreased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased total protein (TP), BRIX index (BI), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant activity at day 7 before kidding (P<0.05). Colostrum of does received TM had a higher fat, protein, and BI content and a lower lactose content than the colostrum of the C group (P<0.05). Plasma concentrations of glucose and MDA were lower in kids born from does received TM than those born from the C group (P<0.05). Experimental treatments did not affect plasma concentrations of TC, Ca, and Mg concentrations in kids (P>0.05). Kids born from does received TM had higher plasma concentrations of TG, TP, BI and SOD, GPX, and total antioxidant activity than those of the C group (P<0.05).
According to the results of the present experiment, injection of a TM solution containing Cu, Zn, Se, and Mn four and two weeks before birth increased the concentrations of TP and BI as well as the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPX) and antioxidant capacity and reduced MDA concentration in Lori goat plasma. This improved the quality of colostrum produced by these does. Kids born from does receiving trace minerals had higher plasma concentrations of TP, BI, and activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPX), higher total antioxidant capacity, and lower concentrations of MDA compared to the C group. Therefore, this strategy may have beneficial effects on the health, viability, and performance of kids before weaning.

The bias in the selection of superior animals and accurate prediction of hereditary values of animal offspring selected in future generations is one of the important topics of breeding; therefore, the study of oblique trends in successive generations can be effective in the method of unbiased selective animals in the future. The statistical distribution of the effects of single nucleotide markers can be different in different traits and occupy a range from the normal distribution to the gamma distribution; therefore, the study of the amount of bias caused by pre-selection for different traits can be different according to their genetic structure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of statistical distribution of the effects of SNPs on the biased process of estimating breeding values resulting from pre-selection of animals by genomic selection method. The statistical distributions studied included two distributions of normal and gamma, the biased trend of each of which was studied during consecutive generations. The bias criterion includes the regression of actual correction values on the estimated correction values. Initial Simulation and historical population in the form of two selection scenarios in three different traits with different heritability in 10 consecutive generations by two selection scenarios of 10% and 50% and the number of three QTL species were simulated accurately to estimate genomic breeding values using QMSim software. The need for calculations was analyzed using R software. The regression of TBVs on their GEBVs in the first generation whose genotyping was random was about one and unbiased; But by making choices based on superior breeding values from the second generation onwards it created a bias. As the number of consecutive selection generations increases so does the amount of bias but the rate of change in this bias decreased dramatically after the second generation and remained almost constant in the fourth generation which could be due to a reduction in genetic and phenotypic variance as a result of continuous selection known as the Bolmer effect. The results showed that in both statistical distributions, the amount and intensity of bias and its trend are almost the same and the difference in the statistical distribution of effects will not cause a difference in the amount and trend of bias. Moreover, due to the stabilization of the amount of bias in the 4th generation onwards, it is possible to correct the amount of bias from the 4th generation onwards by using a scale corrector.

 This experiment was performed to evaluate the effects of peppermint extract, vitamins C, vitamin E, probiotics and antibiotics on performance, biochemical parameters and immune system of broilers under heat stress conditions. Peppermint (Mentha piperita) is considered as one of these medical plants and belongs to the Lamiaceae family. The essential oils and extracts of this plant are mainly made up of menthone, menthol and methyl acetate. Peppermint is traditionally used as an antiseptic, antispasmodic, mild tonic, antimicrobial.

 A total of 240 one-day-old broilers (Ross 308) were distributed to 8 treatments with 5 replications/treatment based on a randomized block design. Experimental diets consisted of base diet without feed additive and under standard temperature conditions (negative control), base diet without feed additive and under heat stress conditions (positive control), positive control supplemented with 28 mg/kg virginiamycin, 28 mg/kg probiotic protexin, 1 g/kg vitamin C, 1 g/kg vitamin E, 250 and 500 mg/kg peppermint extract, respectively. House temperature was initially set at 28°C for the second week and then reduced by 0.5°C per day until a temperature of 22°C was achieved at the end of the fourth week and then maintained constant thereafter. To induce heat stress, room temperature was raised to 34◦C during 10 AM to 16 PM from 15 to 42 days of age. A 23:1h light to darkness lightening regimen was followed throughout the experimentation period. Body weight gain and feed intake were recorded for days 10, 24 and 42 of age and data were used to calculate feed conversion ratio (FCR). At the end of the experiment (day 42), two birds from each replication with a body weight close to cage mean were selected and killed. Individual blood samples were collected form the slaughtered birds and centrifuged at 1800× g for 15 min. The collected sera samples stored at -20°C pending biochemical assessments. Concentrations of serum glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), very- low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC), Hematocrit and Hemoglobin were determined by different recommended procedures. To assay the primary and secondary antibody responses against SRBC, 2 birds/replicate were immunized intramuscularly with 0.5 mL 10% SRBC in. Blood samples (1.5 mL/bird) were obtained from the brachial vein at 7d following each injection.

 The results showed that the highest feed intake and feed conversion ratio were observed in chickens fed with negative control diets (P <0.05). The greatest body weight was observed in the birds fed with the negative control and diets supplemented with probiotics and vitamin E (P <0.05). Broilers fed with diets containing antibiotics as same as positive control group could increase abdominal fat percentage and serum triglycerides concentration than other treatments (P <0.05). The broilers fed with diets supplemented with all feed additives decreased the heterophils to lymphocytes ratio compared to the positive control group (P <0.05). The probiotics and 500 mg peppermint extract-supplemented diets improved the antibody titer against Newcastle, Gumburo and influenza diseases, as well as anti-SRBC titer, compared to the positive control group (P <0.05). The results of this study are supported by other studies, indicating that the dietary supplementation of probiotic could improve physiological responses and immune system and thus performance of heat-stressed birds. Dietary supplementation of vitamin C is an effective strategy to reduce the harmful effects of heat stress in poultry. The results of previous studies have demonstrated that the antioxidant and inflammatory properties of peppermint contributes to the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress, through removing free radical. Medicinal plants with secondary metabolites have also reported to possess the positive effects on growth performance and thus increasing the immune function. The positive effects of peppermint could be due to its active ingredients such as carvacrol, flavonoids and menthol. Flavonoids with antioxidant effects have protective properties against free radicals. The mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract plays an important role in preventing antigens and harmful microorganisms from entering the organ and eliminating them, while also being effective in selective nutrient absorption. The results of the present experiment and the other reports also indicate that dietary supplementation of probiotic and vitamin E and C and peppermint extract improve the immune response and growth performance of broilers and could be account as an alternative to antibiotics.

 In conclusion, a high dose of peppermint (500 mg/kg) was as effective as probiotic, vitamin E and C in alleviating the negative effects of heat stress on growth performance, health and immune function.

On the contrary, the grain-fed steers received a grain-based regime that served as an efficient source of high-digestible energy. Rumen may function differently in the grass- and grain-fed regimes. Therefore, grain-fed cattle suffer stronger metabolic stress than pasture-fed steers; and they tend to easily have metabolic and infectious diseases. In this study to gain insights into transcriptional regulation in spleen and rumen tissues under two different regimes include grass and grain, the first high expression genes in two different conditions were identified by RNA-seq data analyses. Promoter analysis was performed using a bioinformatics database of Genomatix. Moreover, in this study to the visualization of regulatory networks containing transcription factors and that regulate the genes in the rumen and spleen, were used Cytoscape software. Then, promoter analysis leads to the identification of 31 novel transcription factor activating in the rumen and 10 novel transcription factors candidates in the spleen in cow fed with grass and grains. Results revealed that 10 genes with the highest expression were identified in both rumen and spleen. According to the analysis of the results in the David Database, the processes: reduction of oxidation, regulation of cell proliferation, ion transport, epididymal development ,and ectoderm development were evaluated as significant. The results in this study provide valuable insights into molecular mechanisms in spleen and rumen tissues under two different regimes include grass and grain.

Thyme extract has the antimicrobial and antioxidant components that can be useful for the broilers under heat stress condition.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Thymus vulgaris extract in comparison with some common feed additives on performance, blood biochemical parameters and antibody response in broiler chickens under heat stress conditions.

This study was conducted using 192 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) in a completely randomized design with 8 treatments in 4 replicates and 6 chicks per replicate. Treatments were as follows: 1) basal diet + standard temperature conditions (positive control); 2) basal diet + heat stress conditions (negative control); 3) negative control + 200 mg virginiamycin; 4) negative control + 150 mg Protoxin probiotic, 5) negative control + 250 mg vitamin C, 6) negative control + 250 mg vitamin E, 7) negative control + 250 mg thyme extract, and 8) negative control +500 mg thyme extract per kg diet.

Dietary thyme extract at the rate of 500 mg/kg as well as probiotic and vitamin E increased (P<0.05) body weight gain (2202, 2183 and 2199, respectively) and improved feed conversion (1.65, 1.74 and 1.66, respectively) compared with negative control group (body weight gain 1960 g and feed conversion ratio 1.96). Moreover, 500 mg/kg dietary thyme extract, probiotic and vitamin C reduced triglycerides, total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein during heat stress conditions (P<0.05). All dietary supplements groups significantly increased antibody titers against red blood cells as compared with negative control.

In general, the results of the present study suggest that thyme extract at the level of 500 mg/kg of diet can be recommended as an alternative to the common feed additives to improve growth performance and health benefits of the heat-stressed broilers.