عبدالرضا صالحی

Cow culling is one of the main economic aspects in mega-dairy cattle farms management. Therefore, in this research the cow culling reasons in 20 Iranian industrial Holstein mega-dairy farms during the last 16 years (2005 -2021 years) was considered. A total of 129454 cows data were used to analyze by T-Student methods of SAS software version 9.4. Based on the culling reason, data were classified into 11 classes. The annual culling rate of the milking cows was approximately 23.5%. Predominant reasons for culling were fertility problems and abortion (23.7%), metabolic and digestive disorders (15.8%), and infectious disorders (15.6%). The investigation of the trend of culled cows showed that fertility problems and abortion increased from 22.0% in 2005 to 24.6% in 2021. Also, culled cow’s percentage for metabolic and digestive disorders decreased (from 24.0% to 13.0%) and the culling percentage in year 2021 significantly differed from the average of the past 15 years, also feet/claw disorders (P<0.01) and Infection diseases (P<0.01) were significantly higher than the average of the past 15 years. It means that in the final year of the report, the culling of cows due to metabolic and digestive problems as well as udder disorders decreased compared to the 16-year averages, voluntary culling did not increase or change, but the culling percentage due to infectious diseases and lameness was increased. Increasing trend of voluntary culling can be improved by improving fertility and preventing abortion, along with decreasing slaughter culling of lameness and infectious diseases, and ultimately increase herd profitability.

Queen breeding has always been one of the main pillars of beekeeping, requiring experience and the use of modern, scientific techniques. The use of advanced tools in queen bee rearing, including breeding cells, significantly impacts various aspects related to the quality, as well as the physiological and morphological parameters of the queen. Additionally, it is widely accepted that queen quality is directly related to their weight and size at birth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare queen rearing in three different sizes (small, medium, and large) and examine the effect of temperature stresses on the expression of heat shock protein genes. To achieve this goal, 36 queens were used in a factorial 3×2 experiment, with three queen sizes (large, medium, and small) and two levels of stress (temperatures below 4°C and above 40°C). The experiment followed a completely randomized design with 6 treatments and 6 repetitions. RNA was extracted from frozen samples of the combined thoracic region of 3 queens to assess its quality. The quality and quantity of the extracted RNA were analyzed using agarose gel and nanodrop, respectively. Subsequently, cDNA was synthesized, and the relative gene expression was analyzed using Real-Time PCR. The results showed that larger queens exhibited greater resistance to heat stress (P=0.01). Under cold stress conditions, no significant difference was observed in terms of queen size. In summary, the size of the queen rearing cells affected tolerance to heat stress but had no effect on cold stress.

 Determining the production function is one of the most effective ways to monitor the continuity of milk production, as it indicates the relationship between the intake of feedstuff and milk production. To explain the production function in breeding programs and estimate regression coefficients, third-degree nonlinear regression is used. The milk production curve follows a third-degree rule, and therefore, it can be divided into three basic parts. Second-degree production functions cannot accurately represent a milk production curve from the beginning of lactation to the time of dryness, because they only depict the second-degree performance of milk production from the beginning of lactation to the peak of lactation. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of the production function in breeding programs and their potential use in selecting superior animals.

 In order to recognize the opportunities for profitability in a herd, we first need to create the right production function. To achieve these goals, data on milk production and feed intake from one of the industrial farms in Tehran province were used. Various methods were examined in this study: 1- using OLS approach in R environment to estimate the milk production function, 2- using the Peykani extended ordinary least square (POLS) method, 3- estimating the breeding value of milk production using POLS function and physical milk production (field data) using Wombat software, 4- comparing OLS production functions obtained in R with the POLS production function, 5- Conducting genetic evaluation of animals and ranking dairy cows. When the production functions were obtained according to the POLS program, the optimal amounts of feed consumption and milk production were calculated. The breeding value of milk production was estimated using a repeatability model with permanent environmental effects that consider covariance between records of an animal and this was done using the Wombat program. Finally, cows were ranked based on their genetic rank.

The estimated functions based on the ordinary least squares method were incorrect in terms of signs and coefficients, and did not fit the milk production curve well. Based on the findings of this study, the non-linear regression model POLS is the best in the curve fitting and economical production of milk. The results show that with milk yield corrected using the optimal feed intake by the POLS model the ranking of the animals has changed and the breeding value of the animals is more accurately estimated. By using the breeding values estimated in this method, one can select the best animals as the parents of future generations.

The ability to estimate the production function based on the POLS method, which is used to create a standard curve of dairy cows is very high. Our results contribute significantly to the field of animal breeding by shedding light on the role of production functions in enhancing breeding programs and facilitating the identification of high-performing animals. The insights gained from our study could drive improvements in animal selection processes and ultimately enhance milk production efficiency.

When the urban population around the capitals or big cities increases, then need an intensive and modern dairy industrial farms or even mega dairy farm to support milk and dairy products demands. Therefore, many family farms shifted to big dairy farms which expecting more specializing and modern technology to be used towards reduction of the cost of milk production per cow. Management of these farms also completely different from housing, reproduction, nutrition and other technical points-of-view. In order to investigate true productive life and milk production during the last 15 years (2006-2020 years), in 20 industrial Holstein mega dairy farms this study was done. All the farms had a specialist in the fields of hygienic condition, calf rearing, balancing the diet, heat and Pregnancy detection and planed mating program for semen selection and breeding to control the production and type performance and preventing the inbreeding which help to use maximum inbreeding coefficient, if required.

The correlation between the lengths of true productive life (TPL), maximum lifetime milk production (MLMP305), and maximum lifetime peak of milk production (MLPMP) in 20 industrial Holstein mega dairy farms were investigated. The information recorded in the herd management software in the cattle breeding units, which included the information of the culled cows and all the existed cows in the herds from April 1385 to January 1400, were analyzed. The data includes 176,674 cattle records, of which 43,587 are related to existing cattle and 133,087 data are related to culled ones. The information of the existing cows was done in order to control the information of the herds and also monitor them. Finally, 133,087 data related to existing cows were edited and filled in the computerize program. To calculate the standard milk of 305 days, it is necessary to milk the animals three times a day and the animals have at least 4 monthly records of milk and also that the dryness of these animals has been recorded as the end of the milking period. The Data has been analyzed by univariate method of SAS software (Version 9.4). The Holstein-Friesian cow herds, on average, comprised 2069 cows, with a range from a minimum of 400 to a maximum of 5301 cows. These herds were distributed across 14 provinces throughout Iran. The average age at first calving was 750 days, and the standard 305-day milk yield averaged 12,342 kg during the third lactation. TPL records from 113584 cows and MLMP305 records from 78036 and MLPMP records of 111276 cows were used. The data were analyzed for the correlation between the characteristics of the true productive life, milk production of 305 days and the peak of milk production Also, the linear regression between the true productive life and milk production were analyzed.

The average TPL of the animals under investigation is 33.57 months and the standard deviation of the data is 20.77. The average MLMP305 by these animals is 12472 kg and their standard deviation is 2513 kg. The average MLPMP of the animals was 51.83 kg. The highest correlation was between MLMP305 and MLPMP, which is 74.66%. The correlation between TPL and LPMP was 47.88% (P<0.0001) and the correlation between TPL and LMP305 was 33.27 % (P<0.0001). Our results are in accordance with studies such as Van Vleck, 1964, Hudson Van Vleck, 1981, and Ducrocq et al. 1988, but were in contrast with the results of Hare et al. 2006, and Ajili et al. 2007, and Dallago et al. 2022. The highest level of correlation (as expected) is between305-day milk production and the peak of milk production.

The positive correlation between TPL, MLMP305, and MLPMP, shows that the animals with higher peaks also have higher milk production in one lactation period also have a higher true productive life. Considering the high significant positive correlation of this report, by selecting animals with a high production life span, not only can the productive life span be improved in the future generations, but contrary to the existing belief, milk production can also be increased in the future generations. It should be mentioned that the conclusion of this paper is extendable, when we can control all physiological and nutritional factors and have a proper pregnancy detection method which lead to perfect calving management and results that has been done exactly in the farms which we studied.

Youths are valuable assets of the society who would determine the future of that society. As a matter of fact, identifying different dimensions and factors affecting young people as well as finding solution to their problems are of great importance. The aim of this study, as the title indicates, is to sociologically analyze the effect of socio-cultural factors affective on social isolation with a case study of the city of Bagh-e Bahadoran. The research is descriptive and survey-based; with the statistical population being youths aged 17-25 years from that city. The statistical population included 2000 people, 322 of them were selected by the proportional sampling method. The theoretic framework of this research was based on viewpoints of different thinkers such as Durkheim, Hari Alper, Merton, Simmel, Almond, Paul, Inglehart, Gwen, Giddens, and Marcuse. Findings show that there is a direct relationship between religiosity, social participation and social isolation but they are not meaningful and thus the hypothesis is rejected. With respect to socio-economic base and social isolation, there is an inverse and meaningful relationship. A direct and significant relationship is also shown between social media viewing and social isolation. Also, there is a significant relationship between socio-economic base and the ratio of social media viewing with social isolation. The regression analysis results show that two independent and dependent variables are attached to a good model and are able to explain social isolation. Similarly, they found to provide a suitable fit in the modeling of media structural equations and socio-economic base. As a result, socio-cultural factors explain social isolation.

Litter size is one of the most important reproductive criteria in animals. Hence, the effect of this trait on the productivity of the flock has been addressed by its genetic enhancement through molecular technologies. Previous studies have shown that the major genes including GDF9, BMP15, ALK6, and B4GALNT2 (FecL) are associated with litter size. The effect of FecL mutation in homozygous states is additive and results in the release of three ovum for two copies of this gene. The aim of this study was to investigate polymorphism DLX3: c. * 803A> G in B4GALNT2 (FecL) gene on chromosome 11, using High Resolution Melting technique (HRM), and it is association with litter size in Zandi sheep. HRM analysis is a method that reduces the amount of fluorescence during the process of thermal melting of the DNA through color exhaust. The results of HRM were consistent with the sequencing results. No mutations were observed in the nucleotide sequence of the target studied in the Zandi sheep. Therefore, B4GALNT2 gene is monomorphic for this site length in 232bp fragment of this gene. We discovered many deletions, but there was no change in the resulting amino acid. Therefore, that did not result in structural alteration of the protein. In addition, two new mutations included A> G mutation at position 2242 in sample 7 and mutation C> G at position 2241 in sample 77 were detected. It seems necessary to investigate mutations in other major genes for this breed

In this study, the expression of genes and miRNAs related to differentiation, cell cycle and metabolism was investigated in Zandi sheep mesenchymal cells (ADSC) under fish oil treatment as a source of omega-3 fatty acids. Isolated sheep mesenchymal stem cells were confirmed for pluripotency. ADSCs were treated in the presence or absence of 15 mg / ml fish oil, and cell cycle and apoptosis induction were measured in each group (three independent repeat) via Flow cytometry. In a similar experiment, the expression of downstream miRNAs and genes at the growth and differentiation stages to adipocyte was compared in both groups. Mesenchymal cells treated with fish oil had a higher percentage of late apoptosis, while the percentage of cells in S phase decreased. The expression of miRNAs did not change significantly, however, let-7a was significantly decreased in the fish oil group. Fish oil treatment decreased (0.39) relative expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor G (PPARG) and increased (1.85) Interleukin 1 beta expression. In adipocyte-differentiated cells, PPARG expression was decreased. The results of this study showed the inhibitory properties of fish oil on adipocyte differentiation of mesenchymal cells through direct or indirect effects on PPAR pathway. However, no significant difference was observed in the expression of selected miRNAs.

Ursolic acid (UA) is known as a naturally occurring triterpene pentacyclic compound in some medicinal herbs including savory that affects the skeletal muscle. In the current study, the effect of UA was evaluated on C2C12 cells and satellite cells (SCs) isolated from native broiler chicks. First in the in vitro experiment, the C2C12 cell line obtained from the Stem Cell Technology Research Center and the SCs were isolated and purified from one-day chickens and then treated with UA. In the in vivo experiment, UA was injected intramuscularly based on the body weight to chicks during the first seven days, two times a day, from day one to day seven by the appropriate dose obtained in the in vitro experiment, and then SCs were isolated from pectoralis muscle at the last day. The purification was confirmed by assessment of PAX-7 expression in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. In fact, SCs and C2C12 cells were cultured for seven days in 10% serum medium with vehicle alone (0.1% DMSO) or UA (0.00025, 0.0005, 0.001, 0.0015 and 0.002 mg/mL) along with DMSO (1 mL). The findings from the in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that UA at 0.00025 mg/mL significantly increased the expression of genes involved in the SCs proliferation and differentiation including PAX-7, MyoD and Myogenin, and improve the muscle hypertrophy. As a result, UA can be suggested as a suitable material to reduce the breeding period and faster growth of skeletal muscle in broiler chickens.

Ursolic acid is a natural compound of tryptophan pentacyclic which is found in flowers and fruits, as well as in some medicinal plants such as mint, basil, savory. In this study, the effect of ursolic acid on C2C12 cells and satellite cells (SC) which are isolated from native day-old chicks was investigated. First, the cells were cultured using the pre-plating method. Then, to determine the appropriate dose of ursolic acid, the MTT technique was used. Also, qRT-PCR technique was used to investigate the expression of genes involved in the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, the independent t-student test was used for mean comparison between the treated and control groups.  Microscopic images and the results of the flow cytometry technique using PAX7 antibodies confirmed the nature of satellite cells. Also, the results have been illustrated  that ursolic acid at a concentration of 0.00025 mg / ml significantly increased the expression of genes involved in the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells, including PAX7, MyoD and Myogenin (p <0.05). Ursolic acid appears to increase muscle hypertrophy in native chickens through increasing the expression of the PAX7, Myogenin and MyoD genes. As a result, ursolic acid can be suggested as a suitable material for improving the growth in native chickens.

Animation is nowadays known as a powerful medium and a very profitable source in every big country, and has been able to evolve through this past decade. In Iran the production of TV animation hasn’t been able to establish itself as on Industry. The aim of this research was to express the industrial problems in the production of TV animation and to provide a good solution for the problems. In this article the weak points of production economy of TV animation in our country has been expressed through Interviews with the cast and crew of different projects in this area. The effect of the governmental system of production and the domination of production led by the national TV has been looked at. Different production stages of two different Animation series (both very popular) of “the simpsons” and “shekarestan” have been compared together. This kind of media faces many obstacles and problems, and (RPCA Pictures) has tried to use the production stages of a successful TV animation such as “the simpsons” to overcome the problems facing production and enter the professional business of TV animation with the release of “shekarestan”. They have also tried to make a move from being only artistic and trying to enter the international market and to be successful economically and industrially.

Social interaction among individuals can have important influences on the production and fitness traits in livestock population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate variance components due to social effects for two production traits including egg weight and body weight in a commercial broiler chicken line. In this study 29,645 production records provided by Arian commercial broiler chicken line center of Iran from 2007 to 2016 were used. Data were analyzed with four different single-trait animal models including or excluding random genetic social and pen effects, using AI-REML algorithm. For each trait, the most appropriate model was chosen based on Akaike information criteria. Based on the most appropriate fitted models, direct heritability estimates ranged from 0.60±0.02 (egg weight) to 0.55±0.02 (body weight). Even though social genetic variance was small, it was significantly different from zero for body weight and egg weight. The variance due to random pen effect was significant for egg production traits. In general, social genetic and pen effects were important effects regardless of trait under study. Correlation between direct and social genetic effects was negative (-0.51) for egg weight and positive (0.27) for body weight. Overall, we concluded that social genetic and pen effects should be included in the statistical models for genetic evaluation of egg weight and body weight in broiler chicken.

In order to study the impact of different levels of dietary metabolizable energy and crude protein on performance and nitrogen and energy metabolism of Japanese quail during growth period, 360 day-old Japanese quails were used in a 3×3 factorial experiment with three levels of metabolizable energy (2750, 2850 and 2950 Kcal/kg) and three levels of crude protein (24, 26 and 28 percent) in a completely randomized design with four replicates and 10 birds in each replicate. The feed intake and body weight gain were measured weekly and feed conversion ratio was calculated. The nitrogen intake, excretion and retention as gram per bird per day, percent of nitrogen intake and gram nitrogen per kilocalorie per metabolizable energy consumed and dietary apparent metabolizable energy content were measured during 26 to 28 days of age period. The results of this study showed that birds fed diet containing 2850 kcal/kg metabolizable energy and 26 percent crude protein had significantly (P

Bovine mastitis is an inflammation disease of the mammary gland that impose considerable costs to the dairy industry. Regulatory mechanisms of this disease is complex and controlled by various gene regulatory elements and more studies are needed to better understand this disease. In the present study aimed to better understand of regulatory elements involved in mastitis, milk samples of two groups of healthy and infected cows during time series of 0, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours after contamination were collected. The miRNA-seq data obtained from the milk samples and using the advanced bioinformatics, novel miRNAs, their targets and probability functions, isomirs and novel miRNAs* were identified. The results led to the identification of 92 novel miRNA including 26 miRNAs with homologous and 66 miRNAs without homologous genes in other species. Investigation of the functional groups of predicted targets genes, confirmed the roles of new miRNAs in response to internal and external stimulations, apoptosis and production of immunoglobulin. Furthermore, 135 novel miRNAs were identified. Also, 493 novel isomeric sibling miRNAs (isomers) were discovered that immune related functions of these isomirs were demonstrated in some species like human and mouse. Identification of miRNAs target genes with associated functions in mastitis, including safety, apoptosis and inflammation, can indicated the possible regulatory roles of the identified miRNAs in mastitis.

Negative energy balance (NEB) occurs inhigh-producing dairy cows in first few weeks after parturition, that energy demand for maintenance and milk production exceeds the dietary energy intake. NEB has a considerable economic importance due to negative effect on health and fertility in dairy herds, therefore, the identification of its effective regulatory mechanism is important. miRNAs are one of these effective regulatory factors in NEB. Despite of the importance of NEB, the regulatory mechanisms related to miRNAs has not been well documented. In this study miRNA-seq data from liver tissue of eight Holstein dairy cows were analyzed to identify new miRNAs and isomirs. All data have been achieved from GEO in NCBI database. A total of 291 new miRNAs with homologous gene in other species were identified. Moreover, 164 new miRNAs without homologous were identified. Investigation of target genes of these miRNAs lead to identify biological paths related to NEB. Also 466 new isomiR and 95 new miRNA* were detected for the first time in cow genome. The results of the current study provide new information for better understanding of the regulatory roles of miRNAs in NEB.

The effects of dietary energy and lysine levels on performance of growing Japanese quail were investigated by using 360 One- day old Japanese quails in a 2×6 factorial arrangement with two levels of metabolisable energy (2850, and 2950 Kcal/kg) and six levels of lysine (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6%) in a completely randomized design with three replicates and 10 birds per each. Feed intake and body weight were measured weekly and feed conversion ratio was calculated. At 35 d of age, to evaluate carcass traits, four birds (from both sexes) from each replicate were randomly selected and killed. Results showed that body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass yield and breast yield (35 days) improved by increasing in dietary lysine (P

This study was conducted to determine the optimal level of lysine in grower diet of Japanese quail by using 360 day old quail chicks in a 2×6 factorial arrangement [two levels of metabolisable energy 2850, and 2950 Kcal/kg) and six levels of lysine (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6%)] in completely randomized design with three replicates and 10 birds per each. Feed intake and body weight were measured weekly and feed conversion ratiowas calculated. The optimum level of dietary lysine was assessed using spline regression. The results showed that daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were improved by increasing the dietary lysine (P<0.05). The optimum level of lysine for the best daily weight gain during 1-21 and 22-35 days of age were estimated 1.39 and 1.40 for the birds fed on diet containing 2850 Kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 1.34 and 1.35 for the birds fed on diet containing 2950 Kcal/kg metabolisable energy, respectively. According to the results of this study, the best growth rate and feed efficiency in Japanese quail could be obtained by feeding diets containing 2850 Kcal/kg energy, 26% protein and 1.39% and 1.40% lysine for 1-22 and 22-35 days of age, respectively.

In order to determine the optimal levels of energy and protein in grower diet of Japanese quail، 360 day old Japanese quails were used in a 3×3 factorial arrangement of dietary treatments that comprised three levels of metabolisable energy (2750، 2850، and 2950 Kcal/kg) and three levels of crude protein (24، 26 and 28 percent) with four replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design. Feed intake and body weight were measured weekly and feed conversion ratio was calculated. At 35 d of age، four birds (from both sexes) from each replicate were randomly selected and killed following blood sampling to evaluate carcass traits. The blood samples were assayed for the sera concentrations of growth hormone. Results indicated that birds fed on diets containing 2850 kcal/kg metabolisable energyand 26 percent protein had higher daily weight gain and better feed conversion ratio and carcass yield (P<0. 05). The sera concentration of growth hormone was higher in birds fed on diet containing 2750 kcal/kg metabolisable energy (P<0. 05). This study indicated that Japanese quails can grow faster and more efficiently on diet containing 2850 kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 26 percent protein. Therefore، the diet containing 2850 kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 26 percent protein could be recommended as dietary metabolisable energy and protein requirements for growing Japanese quails.

Fetal DNA in maternal plasma and serum has been shown to be a useful material for prenatal fetal sex determination during early gestational ages. Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis is now possible at 8th week of pregnancy, by maternal blood sample testing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two DNA extraction methods from mother plasma and its routine clinical application in bovine fetus gender determination with non-invasive method. Maternal blood samples were taken from 40 pregnant cows during the 8th-38th weeks of gestation. DNA was extracted from 350 µl of maternal plasma with two salting-out and phenol-chloroform methods. The absorption in A260 and purity (A260/A280) of extracted DNA were detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometer. Three µl of the extracted DNA with phenol-chloroform method was used as a template. The PCR reaction was carried out to amplify the fragments of X and Y chromosomes of amelogenin, TSPY and BC1.2 genes. The difference between the mean absorption of DNA extracted by phenol-chloroform method and salting-out method was not significant in A260 (p>0.05, p=0.3549), but the difference between mean purity (A260/A280) of DNA extracted by phenol-chloroform method and salting-out method was significant (p<0.001). X chromosome fragment was detected in all 40 samples and Y chromosome fragments were detected in 25 plasma samples which were delivered a male calf. The sensitivity and specificity of test was 100% with no false negative and false positive results. The results showed that phenol-chloroform method is a simple and sensitive method for isolation of fetal DNA in maternal plasma.

ABCG2 (ATP binding cassette subfamily G member 2) gene have located in chromosome which is encoded ABCG2 protein that transports various xenobiotics, cytostatic drugs across the plasma membrane and cholesterol into milk. A single nucleotide change (A/C) in base 86 of exon 14 is capable of encoding a substitution of tyrosine to serine in the ABCG2 gene and increases milk yield and decreases fat and protein concentration. The major aim of this research is to identify ABCG2 gene polymorphism in Iranian population of Holstein bulls. Genomic DNA of 105 bulls was extracted from semen samples using high Pure PCR template preparation kit. Primers were designed with Oligo software and utilized in PCR. Then the PCR fragments were sequenced. Results of sequences were compared with NCBI sequence databases. A/C mutation in base 86 of exon 14 was observed with 2% frequency.

The usage of “growth promoter” antibiotics has been banned recently. This is due to the possibility of bacterial resistance and the risk of transferring to consumers. Herbs with antimicrobial and hypolipidemic properties can suggest as proper alternatives for antibiotic. Comparative investigation of growth promoting effect of four medicinal plants (Cuminum L., Mentha piperita L., Achillea L., Teucrium Polium L.) on performance and concentration of serum lipids of broiler. Total 280 day-old male Ross broiler chicks were used in a CRD design with 5 treatments, and 4 replicates and 56 birds per each treatment. Cuminum, Mentha piperita, Achillea and Teucrium Polium was added to diets in levels of 1.5, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.2 percent, respectively. A treatment without any additive was considered as control group. Feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded weekly. Total cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL and HDL were measured at 35 days of age. Among the medicinal plants that used in this study, inclusion Mentha piperita in finisher diets increased feed intake (2196.4 g) and weight gain (1005.3 g), significantly (p<0.05). At total rearing period, addition of Teucrium Polium to diets decreased weight gain (1821.3 g) of chicks compared to control (1963.7 g), decreased total cholesterol (151.33 mg/dl) and LDL (29.06 mg/dl); but it increased HDL (120.16 mg/dl) of serum (p<0.05). The results of this experiment suggest that Mentha piperita L., in diet, improves broiler performance compared to control and it can be used as growth promoter in broiler nutrition.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of four medicinal plants with antibacterial property on immune system and ileum bacteria population of broiler chicks. A total 336 day-old male Ross broiler chicks were used in a CRD design with 6 treatments and 4 replicates per each treatment. Cuminum L، Mentha piperita L، Achillea L، Teucrium polium L، in levels of 1. 5، 0. 3، 0. 2 and 0. 2 percent، respectively. Two treatments with and without antibiotic were considered as control groups. At the fifth week of experimental period، two birds were bled for investigating the immune system activity. Also at the end of experiment، three birds from each pen were slaughtered to determine ileum bacteria population. Medicinal plants had no significant effects on the antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus، but heterophils increased significantly in birds fed diets containing Achillea L. (P < 0. 05). Effect of antibiotic on enhancement of heterophils was significant. Also، the usage of medicinal plants particularly Mentha piperita L. diets significantly reduced clostridium concentration in ileum، (P<0. 05). Diets containing Achillea L، and Teucrium polium L reduced bifidobacterium. But control and antibiotic treatment increased bifidobacterium. Results of this study have showed that various herbs have different effects on broiler system immune and ileal bacteria population. Mentha piperita L and Achillea L can be used to control clostridia infections in gastro intestinal tract and to support immune system in broiler chicks، respectivily.

Myostatin (MSTN), also known as growth and differentiation factor-8 (GDF8), is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) superfamily that decreases growth in mammals. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the myostatin (GDF8) 3'UTR of OAR2 has been known as responsible for muscular hypertrophy in foreign breeds. In this study, in order to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the myostatin (GDF8) gene, blood samples were collected from a population set of Chaal (n = 20), Zandi (n = 24) and Zel sheep (n = 17) lambs. Genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood samples and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out in order to amplify a 1003 bp fragment of the target gene and PCR products sequenced to detect single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Comparison of the sequence of the target gene in Gene Bank with our results of sequencing showed all animals had the g. + 6223G allele in the 3'UTR of myostatin which do not cause double muscle (DM) phenotype.