محمدباقر منتظر تربتی

In many countries of the world, the camel has played an important role in the lives of people in arid and semi-arid regions in terms of providing milk and meat products. Based on phenotypic characteristics, the camel has been adapted to the deserts from physiological, anatomical, and behavioral points of view. Due to limited water resources, the south Khorasan province of Iran has not been an appropriate geographical region for a great number of agricultural products. Weighing plays an important role in the management of camel breeding to adjust the nutritional needs and also the annual evaluation of the animals. One of the main challenges of camel breeding is the difficulty of recording and the lack of records due to the wild nature and also the large size, especially in adults. Due to the many difficulties and risks, camel breeders usually use various potential alternative tools such as apparent estimation or weighing tape to estimate the weight of camels at different ages. For farm animals, significant correlations between body measurements and body weight can be used as a tool to estimate the weight of animals through a mathematical equation. The main objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple linear regression model (MLR) in estimating the body weight of a humped camel.
In the present study, the data of a total number of 177 one-humped camels in four groups  (including 1. 63 adult female Pakistani camels aged between 9 and 12 years, 2. 21 adult female Baluchi camels aged between 9 and 12 years, 3. 93 male and female camels less than 2 years of age of Pakistani and Baluchi breeds, and 4. total camels) collected at the South Khorasan camel breeding station in 2019 were used. Morphological characteristics of camels include: neck length, neck girth, hand length, foot length, shoulder height to the ground, hump height to the ground, hip height to the ground, chest girth, chest width, abdomen girth, hip width, tail length, breast height, and breast girth were measured. After measuring the body dimensions, the evaluated camels were weighed using a 1000 kg digital scale. To estimate the weight of camels from their body dimensions, the data were analyzed using the MLR model and ANN with the nnet package in R software. For ANN analysis, 80% of the data were considered for network training and 20% for testing. The accuracy of MLR and ANN for camel body weight estimation was compared using the coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).
The results of the MLR model showed that body dimensions of shoulder height to the ground, chest girth, abdominal girth, neck girth, and hand length had a significant effect on body weight (P<0.05). In the ANN model, chest girth, abdominal girth, and shoulder height to the ground were the most important variables in estimating the body weight of camels of the whole population. The MLR and ANN models had acceptable accuracy in weight estimation. However, compared to the MLR model, the ANN model had a higher R2 and a lower error in estimating the weight of camels. In the first group, R2 and RMSE were found to be 0.996 and 6.852, respectively, for ANN while the corresponding values were 0.979 and 22.955, respectively, for MLR.  In the second group, R2 and RMSE were found to be 0.995 and 3.525, respectively, for ANN while the corresponding values were 0.989 and 5.377, respectively, for MLR.  In the third group, R2 and RMSE were found to be 0.896 and 13.959, respectively, for ANN while the corresponding values were 0.849 and 17.549, respectively, for MLR. In the fourth group, R2 and RMSE were found to be 0.929 and 20.248, respectively, for ANN while the corresponding values were 0.903 and 38.505, respectively, for MLR. The results showed that ANN is more accurate compared to MLR in predicting the body weight of camels. 
In terms of goodness of fit (including R2 and RMSE), the results of the present research suggest that both MLR and ANN methods have high acceptable accuracy for predicting body weight in camels. ANN was more suitable compared to MLR, suggesting that it could be used to predict camel body weight. Furthermore, grouping the camels by age and breed could also lead to higher precision and lower prediction error.

 In dairy cows, milk yield changes over the lactation period. Lactation curve modelling could be of importance from nutritional management and genetic selection point of view. The trajectory shape of the lactation curve has inclining and declining slopes which determine total amount of milk yield during the lactation. A great number of linear and nonlinear mathematical models have been so far utilized to describe the shape of the lactation curve in dairy cows. Among the models, mechanistic functions are considered to be more accurate than empirical models in terms of taking account of biological mechanisms undertaken in mammary gland to produce milk. To our knowledge, no research has been carried out to use a complex mechanistic model for describing the lactation curve of Iranian dairy cows. Based on this, the present research aimed to apply a five-parameter nonlinear mechanistic model for mathematical description of the shape of the lactation curve in Iranian first-parity dairy cows.

Animal Breeding Centre of Iran provided the data used in this research. Initial data in separate files were merged and edited by the SPSS software. Final data comprised 5596039 milk test day records from 821153 first-parity cows distributed in 579 herds of 26 provinces over the country. The cows were the progeny of 7957 sires and 530394 dams and calved between 1996 and 2020. The cows were categorized into two groups based on the age of first calving: <=25 or >25 months. Also, two groups of cows were created based on the proportion of Holstein gene inheritance: <100% (grade cows) or 100% (pure Holstein cows). A five-parameter nonlinear mechanistic model was applied to mathematically describe the shape of the lactation curve. The fitted mechanistic model had five parameters including MSmax (maximum milk secretion potential of the lactation), GR (relative proliferation rate of secretory cell number during early lactation), MSLmax (maximum secretion loss), NOD (proportion of parenchyma cell dead at parturition), and DR (relative decline rate in cell number) which their estimates were obtained for different seasons and ages of calving, as well as different genotypes (grade and pure Holstein) using NLIN procedure of the SAS software. Based on the estimated parameters of the model in each year of calving, phenotypic trends were calculated using the SPSS software.

The results indicated that Iranian first-parity dairy cows reach to peak of milk production during the third month of the lactation curve. Based on standard deviation as well as coefficient of variation (CV) of milk test day milk records, maximum variation was observed in the last month of the lactation period. The findings also indicated that cows calved in autumn had the greatest MSmax and GR while cows calved in spring and summer had the lowest magnitude for these parameters (P<0.05). The minimum magnitude of MSLmax and NOD were detected for the cows calved in summer (P<0.05). Regarding the DR parameter of the model, cows calved in spring were observed to have a minimum value. Maximum MSmax, Gr, and DR values ​​were determined for cows calving up to 25 months of age, while maximum MSLmax and NOD values ​​were observed for cows of later ages (P<0.05). Compared to pure Holstein cows, grade cows had higher MSLmax and NOD values, but other parameters were found to be greater in the pure Holstein cows (P<0.05), suggesting that the maximum milk secretion potential during lactation in pure Holstein cows is expected to be higher than that of grade cows. Annual phenotypic change trends were found to be 0.376 kg/year (R2=0.9), 0.00009869 (R2=071), -0.146 kg/year (R2=0.59), -0.011 (R2=0.85), and 0.001 (R2=0.85) for MSmax, GR, MSLmax, NOD, and DR, respectively (P<0.0001).     

This study found that the parameters of the mechanistic model fitted to the milk test day records of Iranian primiparous dairy cows are significantly influenced by the age and season of calving as well as the genotype of the cow. Cows calving in summer are expected to have more persistency. Moreover, pure Holsteins are more persistent than grade cows. Positive and negative annual trends have been detected for MSmax and MSLmax parameters, respectively, during 1996-2020 indicating a favorable increase in maximum milk secretion potential of the lactation and also a favorable decrease in maximum secretion loss over that period.

In dairy cattle enterprise, there are several economic traits associated with productive and reproductive performance which milk yield is the main source of income for the herd keeper. Knowledge of lactation is considered a useful tool for management decision-making. Based on this, lactation curve modeling can be utilized as an appropriate guide for planning nutrition programs as well as genetic selection schemes. So far, main research has been focused on using raw (unadjusted) milk test day records to model the shape of the lactation curve by applying a variety of linear and non-linear mathematical models and a few research have been carried out to use adjusted milk test day records in terms of fat and protein percentages. The main objective of the present research was to compare lactation curve parameters of Iranian first-parity dairy cows among three types of milk test day records including raw milk (RM), fat-corrected milk (FCM), and energy-corrected milk (ECM).

The initial data set was provided by the Animal Breeding Center and Promotion of Animal Products of Iran. Editing of the data was carried out by FOXPRO and Excel software based on some criteria such as age at first calving (was set to be in the range of 18-48 months), minimum (3 kg), and maximum (99.9 kg) of RM. There were a minimum of five test day records for each cow during the lactation period. Final data consisted of a total number of 1,902,071 milk test day records belonging to 226,255 first-parity cows (progeny of 5,094 sires and 178,390 dams) distributed in 797 herds and calved during 1996-2015 were utilized. For a mathematical description of the shape of the lactation curve, Wood’s incomplete gamma function was used. The function has three parameters including parameter a (associated with initial milk yield), parameter b (associated with the inclining slope of the lactation), and parameter c (associated with the declining slope of the lactation). Wood's function was fitted to the records of RM, FCM, and ECM of individual cows using SAS software. Based on the estimated parameters, lactation characteristics including peak time (PT), peak yield (PY), and persistency (Per) were subsequently calculated for each cow. Estimated parameters and calculated lactation characteristics were then subjected to a fixed linear model in which the effects of herd, year of calving, the season of calving, age at first calving, genotype group (grade or purebred Holstein), type of milk test day record (RM, FCM or ECM) along with some two-way interactions were included.  

The results showed that FCM had the greatest parameter a as compared with RM and ECM (P<0.0001). The greatest magnitude of the parameters b and c were found for RM (P<0.0001). Later PT and higher Per were observed for ECM (P<0.0001), while the highest PY was detected for RM (P<0.0001). For all types of records, minimum and maximum PY were observed for the cows calving in the spring and autumn seasons, respectively. Later PT was observed for ECM in all calving seasons except autumn. As compared to RM and FCM, cows calved in spring and summer had the highest persistency based on ECM while cows calved in autumn and winter were found to have more persistence based upon RM compared with FCM and ECM. The least-square means of peak time (PT) in grade cows were found to be 77.74, 69.5, and 79.85 d for RM, FCM, and ECM, respectively, while the corresponding figures for purebred Holstein cows were 80.27, 72.89, and 83.15 d, respectively. In grade cows, least-square means of peak time (PY) were found to be 32.02, 29.23, and 30.70 kg for RM, FCM, and ECM, respectively, while the corresponding figures for purebred Holstein cows were 32.51, 29.56, and 31.14 kg, respectively. For both purebred Holstein and grade cows, minimum and maximum persistency (Per) were obtained for FCM and ECM, respectively, which were significantly different from each other (P<0.001). For RM, FCM, and ECM, annual change trends of PT were found to be 2.132, 2.306, and 2.293 d, respectively, while the corresponding figures for PY were 0.408, 0.369, and 0.395 kg, respectively, and for Per were 0.037, 0.036, and 0.035, respectively. All trends were statistically significant (P<0.0001).

The finding of the present research revealed that purebred Holsteins reach the peak time later than grade cows which is an appropriate characteristic of the lactation curve. Based upon energy-corrected milk yield, peak time as well as persistency was found to be greater than those for raw milk and fat-corrected milk yields. Therefore, the use of energy-corrected milk yield could be suggested to be applied as different experimental nutritional treatments are to be compared in terms of the persistency of the cows. All lactation characteristics of Iranian dairy cows were found to be changed favorably over time.

The aim of this study was to identify the effect of ambient temperature and daily milk yield on reproduction efficiency in Holstein cattle. Data was consisted test-day records of first-parity Holstein cows together with their reproduction performance belonged to a dairy cattle herd in Isfahan. Daily of meteorological data, maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall were also used. Dairy cows were grouped according to the average of daily milk yield to four groups: low (average of 21.68 Kg), medium downward (average of 26.54), medium upward (average of 29.91) and high (average of 34.89). Data were grouped according to the daily average temperature to four groups: 4.30°c, 11.84°c, 20.06°c and 27.42°c; in average for the group 1 to 4 respectively. Results showed that insemination year and month, daily milk yield, age at insemination, interaction between milk yield and age at insemination and interaction between age at insemination and daily temperature, significantly affect the number of artificial insemination (AI) for successful pregnancy (p<0.0001). The months January, February and March had maximum number of AI and April and September had minimum of AI. Pregnancy rate for the cows with the age of first insemination under 30 months, with high daily milk production (average 34.89 kg) and under high daily temperature (27°c) is more desirable rather than others. Better reproductive performance of cows with high milk production, possibly related to considering of better conditions such as management, nutrition, healthy cares, housing and etc to this group of dairy cattle in the farms.

Differences between specific anions and cations have a greater contribution to the physiological performance of animals than their individual effect. The difference between cations and anions in milliequivalents of the diet is referred to as the cation-anion difference or the anion-cation balance (Razzaghi 2009). DCAD manipulation by altering blood buffering capacity, improves milk production in dairy cow (Sanchez 2003). Feeding diets with low DCAD during the Prepartum period is a practical nutritional strategy to increase blood calcium and produce more milk Postpartum. Diets containing low DCAD increased the concentration of hydrogen ions in the blood, resulting in mild acidosis and increased calcium absorption (Moore et al 2000). Decreasing DCAD by feeding anionic salts lowers blood pH and increases the binding of parathyroid hormone to the parathyroid hormone receptor on bone, intestinal, and kidney cells (Goff 2004). However, feeding anionic salts reduces prenatal feed intake due to its bitterness; but it improves postpartum calcium metabolism (Golfert et al 2010). One way to activate postpartum calcium homeostasis is to use DCAD-negative diets in the Prepartum period. Nutrition High-anion diets, commonly known as "anion-salt diets," have been used to prevent milk fever for the past 40 years. One possible reason is that dietary metabolic acidosis increases the tissue response to parathyroid hormone. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of anion source type and anion and cation balance on rumen fermentation parameters in dry cows invitro.

This study was done at the Research Farm and laboratories of the Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, in University of Birjand, using the ruminal fluid of two dry Holstein cows with ruminal fistula. In order to investigate the effect of source and dietary anion-cation difference (DCAD) of dry cow's diet on gas production parameters, ammonia nitrogen concentration(N-NH3), rumen pH and dry matter digestibility in in vitro condition. Basal diet was prepared based on the requirements of dry cows. In the next step, concentrations of calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, chlorine, phosphorus and sulfur in the basal diet were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy and the DCAD of the basal diet was calculated. After this, the anionic salts of calcium sulfate hemihydrates, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid and monobasic ammonium phosphate were added as a percentage of the diet in solution form to the base diet with a sampler to reach the desired anion-cation balance. The factorial experiment conducted in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and 15 replications. Anionic salts of calcium sulfate hemihydrates, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, ammonium phosphate monobasic and different DCAD levels (-56.6, -11.33 and -17.0 meq/100gDM) were used. Each treatment was including a DCAD level and a sulfur and phosphorus source that balanced according to each element ratio in table of requirements. In the next step, the gas from fermentation was measured based on the modified method of Bloomel et al. (1997). The produced gas pressure was recorded at times of 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours from the beginning of incubation. The data were plotted against time and analyzed using the exponential Schofield model (P = v (1-exp (-k (t)))) in the NLIN procedure of SAS software. At times of 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after incubation, three vials of each replicate were removed from incubator and after recording gas production, immediately after opening the cap, the pH of each vial was measured Using a digital pH meter (Metrohm 727 pH lab). In order to determine the concentration of ammonia nitrogen after centrifugation of the contents of each vial, 5 ml of clear supernatant was removed from it and combined with 333 μl of 3 N hydrochloric acid and then stored at -20 ° C. Phenol and hypochlorite reagents were used to measure ammonia nitrogen and the adsorption was read by ELISA at 650 nm (Bradrick and Kang, 1980). In order to determine the rumen digestibility of the dry matter, the residues obtained from each vial were oven dried in 60 ° C for 48 hours.

The results showed that the effects of experimental treatments on gas production parameters, rumen pH and ammonia nitrogen concentration were significantly different at different incubation times (p <0.05). The highest gas production potential per fermentable substrate is related to Treatment containing DCAD level of -5.66, which is supplied from two sources of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid. As expected, the total gas production at 120 hours of incubation and also gas production at t0.5 is related to this treatment. The fermentation rate and time to reach half of the gas production potential in this treatment is average. Therefore, it can be concluded that this treatment has been able to provide suitable ruminal buffering conditions for microorganisms due to good results in DM digestibility too. The highest area below the pH curve of ruminal fluid was related to treatment with DCAD of -5.66, which was obtained from ammonium phosphate and sulfuric acid sources. The lowest level below the pH curve of ruminal fluid is related to the treatment containing DCAD -11.33, which is provided from sources of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid. The highest ammonia nitrogen production is related to the treatment containing the anion-cation balance of 170 with two sources of sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid. Ammonia nitrogen is strongly influenced by the breakdown of crude dietary protein by microorganisms and the breakdown of the microbial population due to nitrogen recycling under adverse conditions. On the other hand, because the dry matter digestibility has increased at this time and in this treatment, this increase is probably related to the breakdown of feed crude protein due to improved fermentation conditions. In general, the use of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid sources with the anion-cation balance of -5.66 meq/100gDM improved the gas production parameters, the rumen pH curve under area, and the ammonia nitrogen concentration.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of in ovo injection of royal jelly on immune response and growth performance in broiler. A total of 400 eggs were used in 5 experimental treatments. For each treatment, four replicates were considered and 20 eggs were used in each replicate. The solutions containing 60% RJ and 80% RJ were prepared by mixing 600 and 800 mg of royal jelly in 100 mL of sterile water, respectively. The treatments included 1) control 2) injection of 0.5 ml sterile water, 3) injection of 0.5 ml of solution containing 60% RJ, 4) injection of 0.5 ml of solution containing 80% RJ, and 5) injection of 0.5 ml pure RJ. The hatched chicks were raised for 42 days with the same basal diet. The results showed that in ovo injection of RJ significantly increased average daily gain and improved feed conversion ratio (P<0.05). In comparison with the control group, in ovo injection of solution containing of 80% and pure RJ significantly increased (P<0.05) IgM concentration and antibody titer in response to sheep blood cell (SRBC) injection but significantly reduced total cholesterol and LDL in serum. The carcass yield, relative weight of internal organs, serum concentration of triglycerides, HDL, calcium, phosphorus, and total protein were not affected by experimental treatments. The results of the current research indicated that in ovo injection of RJ may decrease serum lipid parameters and enhance immunity without showing an adverse effect on the performance of broiler chicken.

Ross and Cobb are two strains of broiler chickens that desirable Conversion Ratio makes them the most appropriate broiler chickens. In this experiment to evaluate morphometric carcass characteristics (live weight, featherless carcass weight, breast weight, thigh weight, back + neck, wing, liver, heart, bursa, spleen, pancreas, proventriculus + gizzard, abdominal fat) sampling of 134 broiler chickens were taken in South Khorasan. The results showed that 12 characteristics (live weight, featherless carcass weight, breast weight, thigh weight, back + neck, wing, heart, bursa, spleen, pancreas, proventriculus + gizzard, abdominal fat) between strains (P<0.01) were significantly different. The liver weight was not significantly different. Edible organs weight mean indicated that meat production efficiency and utility in Ross strain is higher compared to Cobb strain.

The main aim of the present research was the genetic analysis of the first lactation milk yield trait and evaluation of the impact of selection for milk on the phenotype of age at first calving in Iranian dairy cows using quantile regression. Lactation milk records of 327190 first parity cows (progeny of 5260 sires and 235172 dams) in 637 herds (in 15 provinces) and calved between 2007 and 2015 were utilized. Genetic analysis was carried out with the use of an animal model. In the model, fixed effects of the province, herd, year and month of calving, covariates of lactation length, age at first calving, percentage of Holstein gene, as well as the random effect of the cow were included. The model was fitted on the data using the DMU package. Regression of age at first calving on predicted breeding value was fitted through a quantile regression model. The findings revealed that the heritability of lactation milk yield was equal to 0.276. Annual genetic gain in grade and Holstein purebred were found to be 17.352 (R2=0.913) and 23.398 (R2=0.962) Kg, respectively (P<0.0001). All estimated regression coefficients were negative in different percentiles of age at first calving and ranged between -0.0009 and -0.0344 (month per Kg) which indicates that the influence of genetic potential of cows for milk yield on different parts of calving age distribution is not the same.

In this research in order to identify the part of the gene polymorphism transforming growth factor beta-3 (TGFβ3) in broiler chickens Ross, polymerase chain reaction technique and single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) were performed. For this purpose randomly selection was done between 200 chicks and selected chicks were bled, and genomic DNA was extracted. To determine the quality of the DNA extracted 1% agarose gel was used. Then, by using a pair of specific primers through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene fragment with the size of 294 bp from parts of fourth introns and entire fifth exons of the gene was amplified, and finally to determine the bands acrylamide gel and stained with silver nitrate were used. The analysis of band patterns lead to identify three band patterns AA, AB and BB, with 0.52, 0.42 and 0.06 frequency, respectively. Two alleles A and B, with a frequency of 0.73 and 0.27 in the study population was also identified. Shannon index and effective number of alleles for the TGFβ3 gene were 0.5833 and 1.6507, respectively. To confirm the results of PCR-SSCP some samples of each genotype were sequenced directly. Compare of least squares mean different genotypes showed that the gene polymorphism TGFβ3 has significant relation with leg weight and carcass traits.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of zinc oxide on production performance, egg quality and antioxidant status of layer hens. This experiment was performed with 96 Bovens strain layer hens at peak production (28-35 weeks) in a completely randomized design with 3 treatments with 4 replicates and 8 hens each for 3 periods of 28 days. The treatments included control group (without zinc oxide nanoparticles) and two levels of 100 and 200 mg zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) /kg of diet. Experimental diets were provided to laying hens for 8 weeks. Zinc oxide nanoparticles increased the egg mass (32-35 wk), and decreased feed intake (28-31wk) compared to control (P<0.05). The ZnONPs did not affect the egg production and egg weight. The haugh unit (31 and 35 wks) and quality traits of egg shell including eggshell stability (31 and 35 wks), and relative weight of eggshell and specific gravity (35wk) increased with increasing ZnONPs supplementation in diet (P<0.05). The concentration of total protein, HDL, and antibody against Newcastle disease were not affected by ZnONPs supplementation level. The use of ZnONPs supplementation reduced the concentration of cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, concentration of MDA in blood and yolk, and the activity of the enzyme ALT (P<0.05). The ZnONPs supplementation increased the antibody titer against the influenza and increased zinc concentration in the blood. The results of this research showed that supplementation of 200 mg of ZnONPs per kg of layer diet may improve the growth performance indices, hough unit and egg shell quality, and decrease the blood lipids and improve immune response in layer hens at peak production.

In order to investigate the effects of different levels of iron nano-oxide(INO) on performance, egg quality parameters and the antioxidant status of laying hens, 96 Bovens layer hens at the production peak(28 weeks) were used. The experiment done for 8 weeks in a completely randomized design with 3 treatments, 4 replicates and 8 birds in each replicate. Hens were fed with experimental diets containing 0, 50 and 100 mg iron nanooxide/kg of diet. The performance indices included egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were daily recorded. The qualitative parameters included yolk color index, egg shape, yolk height index, Haugh unit, Eggshell thickness, eggshell strength, Specific gravity and relative weight of albumen, yolk and eggshell were determined at the end of each period(28 days). At the end of experiment, two birds per replicate were bleed and the blood biochemical parameters were studied.The results were revealed that the iron nano-oxide had no effect on performance indices. Total protein and enzyme activity of alanine aminotransferase were not affected by dietary INO.Dietary supplementation of INO decreased the serum concentration of cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL, and increased serum concentration of HDL, iron, zinc. The antibody titer against Newcastle disease were increased with increasing the levels of dietary INO. The yolk and serum concentration of MDA was increased by the addition of iron nanoparticles. Therefore, the addition of iron oxide supplementation can improve performance indices, some qualitative characteristics of egg and immune response and decrease serum lipid in laying hens.

 Minerals are an essential component of all biochemical reactions of the animal's body and microorganisms. The difference between specific anions and cations has a greater contribution to the physiological performance of the livestock than their individual effects. In the last decade, several studies have conducted on the use of diet minerals and their interaction on increasing dry matter intake. Recent studies have shown that high-yielding cows in early lactation respond well to raising the level of dietary anion-cation difference in order to increase milk production. Published results are much fluctuated regarding to mineral source and the changes scouring in rumen ecosystem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of DCAD level and cation source on rumen digestion kinetics.

 In order to investigate the effects of cation source and dairy cow diet’s DCAD level on microbial fermentation properties, the gas production and batch culture experiments were used. The experimental diets were prepared for use in the gas production method based on the metabolic needs of dairy cows using NRC system software. Then, the samples were milled and screened by one-millimeter mesh, and dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, ash, NDF and ADF were determined according to AOAC methods. In addition, the concentration of calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium elements was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy method, phosphorus, and sulfur were determined by colorimetric method and chlorine by gravimetry. Finally, the dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) was calculated based on the Goff equation. The gas production parameters, the time corresponding to half of the maximum produced gas (t0.5), rumen acidity and dry matter degradability were measured in a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial experiment. Main factors were included of DCAD (+150, +250 and +350 meq/kg DM), potassium sources (Potassium carbonate (KC)) and Potassium carbonate sesquihydrate (KCS)) and magnesium sources (magnesium oxide (MO) and magnesium carbonate (MC)). 

 Based on the results, there was a significant difference between treatments in gas production parameters, t0.5, ruminal pH and dry matter degradability. Treatment with DCAD of  +150 with two sources of KC and MC showed the highest amount of gas produced during 120 hours of incubation, with the highest potential for gas production and the highest gas production rate. In this treatment, since the fermentation rate was higher, t0.5 was reduced. The main effects of two sources of potassium have a statistically significant difference, so that potassium carbonate has higher gas production and fermentation rates than potassium carbonate sesquihydrate. The interactions of DCAD, magnesium and potassium sources on the pH of the culture medium and the surface under the pH curve were not significant. Among the main effects, the effect of magnesium source on pH of culture medium was not significant, but the potassium source had a significant effect on pH and the surface under the pH curve, so that the potassium carbonate source had higher ruminal pH than the Potassium carbonate sesquihydrate. There was no significant difference in ruminal acidity with increasing DCAD level during 12 hours of incubation. However, at time 24 and 72, the acidity index increased with increasing DCAD. Dry matter degradation was influenced by different experimental treatments. In general, in different treatments, the apparent digestibility of dry matter has increased linearly with increasing levels of DCAD. The increase in DCAD results in an increase in rumen pH and rumen buffering capacity, which leads to an increase in the concentration of rumen-derived volatile fatty acids and improved rumen function, and increases the degradability. The difference in gas production from dry matter degradation between different levels of DCAD was also statistically significant, So that DCAD +250 and +350 may increase the degradability of dry matter and consequently, increased gas production by improving the culture medium status. The use of the KCS source reduced the fermentation rate and increased the fermentation time, which increased the digestibility of dry matter.

 Generally, it can be concluded that DCAD increases the rumen pH and buffering capacity, and therefore the use of KC and MC sources with DCAD +250 levels improves rumen fermentation, But the use of the KCS source specifically increases dry matter intake by supplying potassium for the microbial population and increasing digestibility. Based on this, potassium carbonate sesquihydrate and magnesium oxide with DCAD +250 seems to be an appropriate supplement to dairy cow.

The central melanocortin system appears to be an important mediator of the actions of both leptin and insulin, which are key elements in the control of energy balance. Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is a complex precursor protein that is proteolytically cleaved to a variety of biologically active and important neuroendocrine peptides. The POMC gene is expressed mainly in the anterior and intermediate lobes of the pituitary and in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, and at a lower level also in a wide variety of peripheral tissues and of brain regions in mammals. It produces many biologically active peptides via a series of enzymatic steps in tissue-specific manners, which have important roles in the regulation of appetite, sexual behavior, the movement of melanin produced from melanocytes in skin and the production of endogenous opioid peptides with widespread actions in the brain. In chicken, the POMC gene consisted of three exons and two introns and its protein has 251 amino acid residues with nine proteolytic cleavage sites, suggesting that it could be processed to give rise to all members of the melanocortin family, including adrenocorticotropic hormone and alpha-, beta- and gamma-melanocyte-stimulating hormones, as well as the other POMC-derived peptides.
Considerable evidence has been collected indicating that POMC mutations are associated with obesity.

Blood samples were collected in EDTA vials from one hundred Ross and sixty Cobb broiler chicks, stored at -20 and their DNA was extracted using the modified salting-out chloroform method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out by specific primer pairs to amplify a 444bp fragment from a part of exon two of the Pro-Opiomelanocortin gene. The pattern of all samples was determined through single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analyses by Acrylamide gel using silver nitrate staining.
The associations between polymorphisms (patterns) and the growth traits (live and carcass weight, and the weight of breast, thigh, back and neck, wings, liver, heart, bursa of Fabricius, pancreas, paraventricular, gizzard and spleen) were evaluated using the GLM procedure of the SAS software.

The extraction or genomic DNA and amplification of 444bp fragment of Pro-Opiomelanocortin gene were successfully done and it was polymorph in both strains. Two different patterns were found in Ross strain, E and F patterns with the frequencies of 0.56 and 0.44, respectively. Four different patterns were found in Cobb strain, A, B, C and D patterns with the frequencies of 0.63, 0.09, 0.14 and 0.14, respectively. There was no significant association between the patterns and the growth traits. In Ross strain, the effect of genotype (pattern) tend o be significant for carcass weight (p value = 0.054) and the chickens with F pattern have more carcass weight than those with pattern E. In Cobb strain, chickens with B pattern tend to have better slaughter yields compared to other patterns. Our results revealed that Cobb strain has more diversity in the studied fragment of POMC gene than Ross strain.

Energy homeostasis and body weight (BW) are regulated by coordinated actions of multiple genes. For significant economically traits, improvements in BW can be achieved through mass selection whereas feed conversion is relatively more difficult to improve. Gene polymorphisms can be used for improvement of the production traits by genetic selection, if the allelic association with the traits be determined. The variable associations of the identified polymorphisms may be a result of the differences in the population characteristics,
sex, or both, indicating that the selection criteria may influence the production trait associations. This should be taken into consideration while selecting for the desired production traits. Additional studies are required to expand the genetic and physiological aspects involved in feed intake, digestion, and metabolism. The genomic diversity also has important implications in the evolutionary dynamics of species. Investigations of polymorphisms are useful for better understanding of the gene function, and those associated with commercially significant production traits have a potential for usage as molecular markers for selection programs. In summary, the identified polymorphisms and their associations with the traits of economic importance in the present study provides greater insight into the role POMC gene involved in energy balance in poultry and points toward the
potential application of the findings for the enhancement of production traits by marker assisted selection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of source and balance of dietary anion-cation (DCAD) of dairy cows on protozoa and methanogens populations, ammonia nitrogen concentration, methane gas and digestibility of dry matter in vitro. Competitive polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) techniques were used to count the protozoan and methanogens population. This design for dairy cow in early lactation with an average body weight of 580 kg, age 25 months and daily production of 35 kg was carried out in the form of a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial experiment. Effective factors included DCAD (+150 meq / kgDM, +250 and +350 meq / kgDM), potassium sources (potassium carbonate (KC) and Potassium carbonate sesquihydrate (KCS)) and magnesium sources (magnesium oxide (MO) and magnesium carbonate (MC)). The effect of experimental treatments on ammonia nitrogen concentration was not significant. In all treatments, DCAD increased cause reduced ammonia nitrogen concentration in the rumen. The effect of experimental treatments on gas production, dry matter digestibility, protozoan and methanogens population was significant. The results of this study showed that the treatment containing DCAD +250 meq / kgDM provided by Potassium carbonate sesquihydrate and magnesium carbonate is reduced the protozoa and methanogens population, production of methane and increasing the digestibility of dry matter. Considering that there was no significant difference between DCAD +250 and +350, it seems that the sources of Potassium carbonate sesquihydrate and magnesium carbonate plus the anion-cation balance level of +250 meq / kgDM through the rumen buffering conditions improve, improves the parameters of rumen fermentation. Therefore, these two sources are probably appropriate supplements in the dietary of dairy cows.

Longevity expressed as the distance between birth and culling is an economically important trait of dairy cattle for increasing the profitability of dairy management. The aim of the present study is to determine the factors affecting longevity in dairy cows of the farms of Razavi economic organization (RazaviKhorassan, Iran). The dataset consisted of milk production, longevity and health records belonging to 11481 Holstein cows from six herds, culled during 1985 to 2015. Culling reasons were further classified in six groups including reproductive problems, metabolic and digestive disorders, injury and the problems related to dairy cattle welfare, infectious diseases, low and non-economic production and other factors. Farm number one and four (Kenebist) had the lowest and highest longevity with 75.96 and 86.12 months, respectively. From 1985 to 2015, by increasing milk production, the mean of longevity has been decreased. Reproductive problems, metabolic and digestive disorders and infectious diseases were the main reasons of culling with the percentages of 28.49, 24.79 and 22.45 respectively. Results demonstrate again this fact that the dairy cattle management (in this study herd effect) and the high levels of milk production (because of its negative correlation with longevity) are the important factors affecting longevity and should consider them in our breeding programs for dairy cattle lifetime. Key words: Longevity, Reproductive disorders, Days In Milk, Involuntary cull.

Successful animal breeding strategies rely on selecting superior animals to produce progeny which are expected to have better performance compared to contemporaries at different rearing environments (Doeschl-Wilson 2007). Based on this, the main aim of a breeding scheme is to promote genetic potential of livestock for the traits of great economic importance. Milk yield varies over a course of lactation as a result of continuous physiological mechanisms of growth and death of udder cells (Val-Arreola 2004). Mathematical models used for description of the lactation curve can be empirical (shape-oriented) or mechanistic (biology-oriented) (Farhangfar 2015). Using mechanistic (biological) models it would be possible to study genetic aspects of cows' lactation curve from the biology of milk secretion in udder tissue standpoint. Vast majority of the research undertaken on the lactation curve of Iranian dairy cows have been focused on the use of empirical models. This research was carried out with the objective of evaluating genetic characteristics of the lactation curve of Iranian Holstein grade and pure-bred dairy cows using a mechanistic model. The data used in this research were provided by Animal Breeding Centre, Karaj, Iran. The data set consisted of 1,448,292 test day milk records belonging to 161,676 first parity cows (progeny of 3979 bulls) in 921 herds (in 14 provinces over the country) and calved during 1997- 2012. Minimum and maximum number of test day records were 4 and 13, respectively. Based on the percentage of Holstein gene inheritance (H), cows were divided into four groups. Pollott-Gootwine mechanistic model with two parameters of MS (maximum secretion potential of the lactation) and DR (relative decline in cell numbers) was applied to describe the shape of lactation curve. This nonlinear function was fitted to the individual lactation curves and the parameters were estimated for each cow by using nonlinear procedure of SAS software. Heritability of MS and DR traits was estimated using a fitting univariate animal model. In the model, effects of province, contemporary group of herd-year-season, calving age, type of genotype, interval of first test day from calving, fat to protein ratio, length of lactation as well as random effect of cow were included. All relationship among the animals were taken into account through including pedigree. The model was run for each trait using DMU software and restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimate of additive genetic and residual variance components and prediction of breeding value of the animals were obtained. Genetic trend was subsequently calculated through fitting weighted regression of mean breeding value on calving year. Additive genetic and residual variance components for MS were 5.7123 and 13.7759, respectively and the corresponding figures for DR were 0.0000012 and 0.0000051, respectively. Heritabilities of MS and DR were found to be 0.293 (SE=0.008) and 0.194 (SE=0.120), respectively indicating that there is relatively good genetic variation for the traits to be used in selection programmes. Mean predicted breeding value (PBV) of the cows with records were 0.255 (Kg) and -0.000005 for MS and DR, respectively. Regarding MS, cows with 50  H  75 had minimum PBV (0.072 Kg) while cows with 87.5  H 100 had maximum PBV (0.309 Kg) and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Based upon mean PBV for MS, mean PBV for the trait of 305-day milk yield in pure-bred Holstein cows (H=100) was expected to be 82.96 Kg. Pearson correlation between breeding values of the traits was -0.29 (P<0.0001) suggesting that cows of high genetic potential for MS are expected to have low breeding value for DR. Phenotypic and genetic trends for MS were 0.52 (SE=0.017) and 0.063 (SE=0.004, R2=0.95) kg per year, respectively, while the corresponding figures for DR were -0.000025 (SE=0.0000021) and -0.000007 (SE=0.00000054, R2=0.92), respectively and that all the trends were statistically significant (P<0.0001). High heritability of MS and DR suggests that appropriate genetic gain could be obtained as the selection of the cows is based upon these traits. As DR is associated with lactation persistency, it could be therefore concluded that Iranian dairy cows have become phenotypically and genetically persistent over the years of 1997-2012.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding different levels of Berberis Vulgaris fruit on performance, carcass traits, blood parameters, immune and antioxidant systems of broiler chickens. 240 commercial broilers (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to a five treatments (with four replicants and 12 birds in each replicate). The treatments were 5 levels (0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%) of Berberis Vulgaris fruit. Average daily feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio, titers of antibodies against Newcastle, antioxidant enzyme levels and blood parameters were the traits under consideration. Glucose and total cholesterol levels as well as weight of heart and abdominal fat were significantly decreased (P

To evaluate the effect of Kombucha on blood glucose, lipids profile and performance 200 male broiler chicks' strain Ross 308 were applied for 42 days in five treatments and four replicates and 10 chicks for each replicate. Diets composition were equal in all treatments and water was different among groups receiving Kombucha fermented tea (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%). At the end of each week, chicks were weighed and the average weight and feed intake and feed conversion ratio for each treatment was calculated. Blood samples were collected from jugular vein and the levels of glucose, total cholesterol, LDL (low density lipoprotein), HDL (high density lipoprotein) and triglyceride was measured. Statistical analysis was carried out with SAS software. Result showed that the concentration of triglyceride significantly decreased by the levels of 40% of Kombucha compare to the control group (P<0.01). But Kombucha fermented tea did not have significant effect on total cholesterol, glucose, LDL and HDL (P>0.05). In addition, feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion were not affected by Kombucha. Therefore, according to the results of this study, the use of Kombucha fermented tea in poultry diet is not economical and is not recommended.

In dairy cattle genetic evaluation, the use of real records as well as accurate statistical model are of great importance.
The main objective of the present research was to compare two methods of genetic evaluation of Holstein cows for milk yield. The records were unadjusted (for days in milk) and adjusted (for 305-days) milk yields.
A total of 332,160 records obtained from 332,160 first-parity Iranian Holsteins in 2,318 herds and collected from 1990 to 2010 were utilized. Animal models were used in which the effects of herd, year and month of calving, cow type (crossbred or pure), inseminated sperm (internal, external or unknown), covariables of lactation length (only for unadjusted milk trait), calving age, as well as additive genetic random effect of the cows were included. DMU software was applied to fit the models.
Heritability of unadjusted and adjusted milk traits were 0.23 (SE=0.004) and 0.25 (SE=0.004), respectively and significantly different from each other. For the bulls, correlation between breeding values obtained from two methods considerably increased as the number of their daughters increased. The magnitude of genetic trends in two methods were found to be 22.18 (for unadjusted milk) and 18.5 (for adjusted milk) kg per year which were not significantly different from each other.
With respect to the advantage of real records, it is suggested that unadjusted milk records to be used in an animal model (with covariable of lactation length) for predicting breeding value of Iranian Holstein cattle.

The experiment was concluded to study the genetic polymorphisms for Exon 2 leptinreceptor (LEPR) and Exon 1Melanocortin4 receptor (MC4R) genes in native cattle in Guilan province. In order to blood samples were collected randomly from 96 native cattle in Guilan province. After extracting DNA by salting out method, PCR-SSCP was used to amplify a fragment of 261 bp from exon 2 LEPR gene and a fragment of 213 bp from exon 1 MC4R gene. In the sample of study, three patterns AA, AB and AC for LEPR gene and six patterns AA, AC, AD, AE, AF and AG for MC4R gene were observed. Frequencies of genotype were 0.062, 0.615 and 0.323 for LEPR gene and 0.074, 0.21, 0.253, 0.158, 0.105, 0.105 and 0.095 for MC4R gene respectively. Population genetic analysis showed that LEPR and MC4R genes were out of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium but both genes were highly polymorphic and had great genetic diversity.

The objective of this research was to study polymorphism of CAST gene and its association with birth weight and cashmere traits in Kerman Raini goat. Blood samples were randomly collected from 108 Kerman Raini goats. DNA was extracted by salting out method and a fragment length of 247 bp of exon 6 of the gene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was amplified. SSCP obtained by acrylamide gel and stained with silver nitrate. Three patterns AA, AB and AC were detected for CAST gene with frequencies of 0.426, 0.28 and 0.296, respectively. The population deviated from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Birth weight and year of shearing had no significant effects on cashmere wool but the effect of genotype was significant on birth weight (P

By studying lipid and lipoprotein concentrations changes in the pregnant camels, methods can be found to reduce fertility problems and enhance reproduction efficiency in the species Bactrian camels.
This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of age, sex and pregnancy on serum lipid and lipoproteins in two humped Camels.
blood samples were collected from the jugular veins of 20 healthy camels according to their age (4 years), sex and pregnancy. Serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), total lipid (TL), LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol were evaluated.
The concentrations of TG, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol in different age groups was significantly different (P Probably activation of sexual hormones during the puberty and hormonal interactions in the hypothalamus – pituitary - Gonadal axis (HPG) is the main reason for this phenomenon.

Growth traits in farm animals are of great economic importance. Today, growth rate, body weigh changes at different stages of the life, is considered as an important trait in animal breeding. Growth process can be described by a nonlinear function. In the present study, to describe the growth curve of different breeds of Iranian sheep, Gompertz nonlinear function was fitted on body weight records of 134,798 lambs (born between 1985-2010) from birth to 72 months of age. The lambs were progeny of 5,198 rams and 82,577 ewes in a total of 541 flocks. Growth curves of the breed, year and season of birth, sex of lamb, type of birth and dam age were predicted by using estimated parameters of the function. The findings showed Lori-Bakhtiari and Kermani breeds had highest (37.126 kg) and lowest (21.078 kg) mean body weight, respectively. Male lambs were found to be heavier than female lambs (29.956 kg vs. 27.921 kg). Older ewes (parity five and over) had heavier lambs than that of the younger ewes. The highest and lowest mean body weights were obtained for singleton (28.812 kg) and triplet (27.036 kg) lambs, respectively. Gompertz could provide a descriptive comparison for animal growth and to be utilised for predicting growth rate.

The knowledge in blood constituents is important for assessing the physiological status and the health of animals. Only a limited number of two-humped camels (Camelus bactrianus) were reared in Ardabil province, northwest of Iran. The present study was carried out to find out whether the sex and pregnancy affect thyroid hormones, lipid and lipoprotein profile, and selected biochemical factors in healthy Iranian Bactrian camels. The evaluated herd contained twenty clinical healthy Bactrian camels, aged between four and thirteen years. Six of them were non-pregnant, five in the late period of pregnancy, and nine were male camels. Blood samples (10 mL) were collected from the jugular vein of camels in spring 2013 during two consecutive days. All samples were centrifuged at 3000× rpm for 15 min and sera were refrigerated at -21°C until analysis. Thyroid function tests were carried out by measuring serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free and total thyroxin (fT4), (T4), and free and total triiodothyronine (fT3), (T3) by commercially available radio immunoassay kits. The biochemical parameters were measured using a standard autoanalyser (Hitachi717, Boehringer. Mannheim, Germany). The levels of fT4, HDL-Cholesterol, ALP, and glucose in the sera of pregnant camels were significantly lower than the male and nonpregnant camels. The serum levels of other parameters were not significantly different among the groups. The present study revealed that heavy pregnancy has a profound effect on certain serum biochemical parameters in Bactrian camels.