f. samadi

Genistein (GEN), a soybean isoflavone, is structurally and functionally similar to endogenous estrogen; therefore, it has the potential to enhance estradiol properties. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of GEN on the reproductive performance and bone status of laying hens. In total, 80 Hy-line W-36 (40 weeks old, the late stage of egg production cycle) with an initial body weight of 1,230±15.8 g (Mean±S.E.M), similar egg production, and egg weight were randomly assigned into two groups with 10 replicates and 4 birds in each replicate (40 laying hens per group). Laying hen diets had 0 (control) and 20 mg/kg GEN (white powder, Sichuan Guanghan co. Ltd., purity of 98.5%) for 6 weeks (41 to 46). At the end of the experiment, 20 hens (one hen from each replicate) were slaughtered, and the samples of bone and shell gland (approximately 50 mg) were surgically taken immediately after slaughter for Real-time PCR. The results indicated that dietary GEN increased egg production, feed intake, and egg mass; however, it decreased egg weight (p <0.05). Furthermore, the feed conversion ratio was greater in birds received GEN, compared to those in the control group (p <0.05). GEN enhanced egg quality indices included eggshell strength, thickness, and percentage (p <0.05). Mechanical properties of the tibia, such as weight, length, and breaking strength were also increased by GEN (p <0.05). Moreover, dietary GEN increased the calcium content of the tibia (p <0.05). The mRNA expression of Calbindin-D28k (CaBP-D28k) and transient receptor potential vanilloid channel type 6 (TRPV6) upregulated in eggshell glands of hens treated with GEN paralleled to the controls (p <0.05). In conclusion, the findings of the present study showed that GEN had the potential to improve the bone physical characteristics, mineralization, and the productive performance of Hy-line W-36 laying hens in their post-peak period.

Chitin is the most abundant natural biopolymer that can be converted to chitosan, which has various biomedical applications. This study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant activity of chitosan extracted from shrimp shells on body weight of broiler chickens. The study comprised three experiments. In experiment 1, shrimp (Penaeus merguiensis) shells were demineralized using HCL (1N), deproteinized using NaOH (1N), decolorized using acetone, and deacetylated using 50% NaOH. The antioxidant potencies of chitosan and vitamin C were compared by their abilities to scavenge 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity of chitosan at varying concentrations (1-20 mg/ml) ranged between 34.59 and 87.11%, whereas that of 1 mg/ml of vitamin C was 91.1%. In experiment 2, six dietary treatments containing varying concentrations of chitosan (0, 0.125, 0. 25, 0.5, 1, and 2 g/kg) were allocated randomly to 60 male broiler chicks from 10 to 42 days of age. Chitosan at varying concentrations had no significant effect on the body weight, but it significantly decreased the MDA level in breast meat (p<0.05). In experiment 3, a total of 20 male broiler chickens were divided into two groups (n=10) and were fed a corn-soybean basal diet with or without chitosan for 42 days. On days 35 and 38, five chickens from each group were treated with carbon tetrachloride (CCL4) at 1 mL/kg body weight to induce oxidative stress. Administration of CCL4 significantly decreased body weight and increased AST and ALT activities, which are indicators of liver damage, on day 42, whereas chitosan improved and normalized body weight and enzyme activity (p<0.05). The results suggested that chitosan extracted from shrimp shells exhibits antioxidant effects by increasing the shelf life of the meat and normalizing the body weight of the broilers as well as serum AST and ALT enzyme activities.

Estimates of the amount of milk produced by lactating ewes provide information for the implementation of optimum management and feeding strategies for ewes and their lambs. Lamb survival and subsequent birth weight gains until weaning reflect milk production abilities of ewes. Genetic evaluation of milk yield traits in dairy sheep may be based on whole lactation records (Rahman Ahmad, 2010) or test day records (Horstick et al. 2001; Komprej et al. 2009; Carlos 2014). The random regression method of data analysis seems to be the most appropriated technique to apply in longitudinal data including growth and milk production and the corresponding models have been incorporated in animal breeding for the estimation of breeding values (Schaeffer, 2004). The main objective of this study was genetic analysis of test day milk records for Kurdi ewes of Shirvan Kodri sheep breeding station using fixed and random regression models. Matherial and Kordi sheep is an Iranian fat-tailed native breed developed mainly for meat production but produce milk and wool production as well. This breed is distributed in North Khorasan Province of Iran and is mainly grown traditionally by nomadic people in pastures. Kordi sheep breeding station is located in Shirvan city, North Khorasan Province, Iran. This station was established in 1988. The breeding system in this station is semi-intensive. Considering local weather conditions, lambs and ewes are usually sent to the pastures around the station for daily grazing in late April. Sheep are grazed in the pasture until early July and during the wheat and barley harvest in farm lands of the town. With the onset of the cold season the herd is transferred to the station, and by setting appropriate diets each animal group (pregnant ewes, male and female lambs and rams) is fed separately and manually three meals a day. Mating season is from mid August to late October and the lambing begins in early January and continues until late March (Saghi et al, 2014). Data included 1124 test day records of milk yields collected from 250 Kurdi ewes. Milking was carried out by hand combined with lamb suckling at 14 days intervals starting from May to August 2012. General linear model was used to identify effective fixed effects on the trait by SAS 9.1 software. Fixed effects of litter size, parity and month of recording and random effects of direct genetic and permanent environmental effects were included in the models. Variance and covariance components were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood procedure. Genetic analysis of milk yield was carried out using fixed and random regression models by Wombat software. Average milk yield of studied Kurdi ewes was 0.38 kg. Average heritability estimates of milk yield were 0.04 and 0.07 in fixed and random regression models, respectively. In random regression model, the highest and the lowest heritability estimates were found at 14 (0.18) and 84 (0.006) days, respectively. Heritability of milk yield was higher in the first than in the second part of lactation period. Repeatability of milk yield in different days of lactation was ranged from 0.51 (day 28) to 0.89 (day 126). Genetic correlations between milk yields at different days in milk were ranged from -0.942 to 0.999. Permanent environmental correlations between milk yields at different days in milk were ranged from -0.850 to 0.920. Milk yield additive genetic and permanent environmental correlations between adjacent test days were more than between distant test days. Kominakis et al. (2001) were found low heritabilities for milk yields in different days of lactation for dairy ewes (0.05 to 0.25). Komprej et al. (2013) were also reported estimated heritabilities of milk yields in different days for Slovenian dairy sheep ranged from 0.08 to 0.16. Lower genetic correlations between milk yields at different days with increase in intervals between test day records were also found by other researchers (Zavadilova et al. 2005; Madad et al. 2013). Results indicated that Kordi sheep has a relatively good potential for milk production among Iranian native sheep breeds. For milk yield in the studied population, orthogonal Legendre polynomials of order 2 and 3 for additive genetic and permanent environmental effects, respectively, was found the most appropriate model. Considering low heritability of milk yield, improvements in environmental conditions could result in increasing milk yield performance in the studied flock. Lower genetic correlations with increase in intervals between test-day records may suggest that different genes are involved in milk yield in different days of lactation.

This study was performed to investigate the relationship between concentration changes of metabolites and estrogen، progesterone، insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 hormones with ovarian follicular cyst formation in dairy Holstein cows. For this purpose، blood samples of 20 dairy cows (10 healthy and 10 suspicious cows to having ovarian follicular cyst) were collected before slaughtering. After slaughtering، ovarian follicular fluid of healthy and cystic follicles were aspirated. The blood and follicular fluid concentrations of glucose، urea، triglyceride، and total cholesterol and also the amounts of estrogen، progesterone، insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 were determined، using related commercial kites. This study showed that unlike of follicular fluids، the amounts of metabolites were similar in blood serum of healthy and suspicious cows. Glucose concentration was around 148. 15 percent higher in cystic follicular fluid than large healthy follicle (P<0. 05). The amount of triglyceride in cystic follicle fluid was 142. 12 percent greater than healthy follicular fluid (P<0. 05). The amounts of urea and total cholesterol did not differ between cystic and health follicular fluids. Estrogen، progesterone، insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations did not differ significantly between blood serum of cystic and healthy cows. In comparison between estrogen and progesterone concentrations of follicular fluids، the levels of estrogen around 141. 83 percent and progesterone around 241. 44 percent were greater in healthy follicular fluid and cystic، respectively (P<0. 05). Although، the amounts of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 did not differ statistically between healthy and cystic follicular fluids، the levels of insulin were 184. 62 percent greater in healthy follicular fluid than cystic follicular fluid. Pierson’s correlation coefficients between estrogen and glucose، total cholesterol، progesterone، insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 were positive، while these coefficients between estrogen with urea and triglyceride were negative. In addition، correlation coefficients between blood serum estrogen with triglyceride، total cholesterol، insulin-like growth factor-1 and progesterone were positive، but with glucose، urea and insulin were negative. In general، this study showed that the follicle fate is mainly dependent on the follicular fluid compositions، in particular glucose and triglyceride.

The purpose of this research was the study of reproductive performance in postpartum dairy cows with different parities. Twenty Holstein dairy cows were assigned into two equal primiparous and multiparous groups. Body weight and body condition score (based on 1-5 scoring) were measured every other week, starting from two weeks before calving till pregnancy confirmation. Daily milk yield was also recorded. Reproductive parameters including days from calving to the uterus returning time, to the initiation time of clinical oestrus signs, to the first time of insemination and number of insemination per pregnancy were recorded. Meanwhile, blood serum concentrations of estrogen and progesterone were measured. Results indicated that, the mean (±SE) of body weight and milk production was significantly higher for multiparous cows. Blood serum concentration of estrogen (mean ±SE) was significantly lower for primiparous cows (61.86±17.91 vs. 71.39±17.02 pg/ml). The number of insemination per pregnancy and estrus frequency did not differ between both groups. However, the intervals (mean ±SE) of calving to the uterus returning time (40.0±5.41 vs. 24.0±5.41 days), to the first insemination (119.62±14.17 vs. 67.5±14.17 days) and the initiation of clinical oestrus signs (28.5±4.5 vs. 19.67±8.5 days) was significantly higher for primiparous than multiparous cows. In general, this study demonstrated that the effect of parity on postpartum reproductive performance is modulated through its effect of blood serum estrogen level, uterus returning time and estrus initiation time.

At this study, the possibility of barely grain substitution with crude olive cake in Dalagh lamb fattening was investigated. 28 male Dalagh lambs with mean initial live weight of 30±1.1 kg were allocated into four groups with 7 lambs each in a completely randomized design. Lambs were fed four different rations for 93 days. The first group (control) was fed a commercial concentrate, but the second, third and fourth groups were fed a concentrate that barely grain was replaced by olive cake at 33, 66 and 100 per cent, respectively. Rations were similar in nutrient. At the end of experiment, five lambs from each treatment for the study of some carcass characteristics were slaughtered. The final live weight, dry matter intake, daily gain, feed conversion, hot and cold carcasses weight differed significantly between treatments (P<0.05). The results showed that the high level of olive cake inclusion (100 percent substitution) decreased (P<0.05) dry matter intake and also feed conversion and consequently resulted in low daily gain, final weight and carcass weight. The medium level of olive cake inclusion (33 and 66 percent) resulted in a significantly higher (P<0.05) feed conversion and daily gain compared to the control. There were no differences among groups in percentage of hot and cold carcasses, hand weight, fat-tail weight and fat-tail percentage. Feed cost per kg based on dry matter for diets 1 to 4 was 1010, 962, 905 and 859 Rials, respectively. In addition, feed cost per each kg carcass with considering daily gain and carcass performance for diets 1 to 4 was 20804, 15182, 15172 and 20840 Rials, respectively. The results of this study suggested the possibility of administration of up to 66 percent of olive cake to the concentrate for lamb fattening, considering the positive effects on the feed conversion, daily gain and carcass weight and also reducing production cost.

Menstruation disorders are among most common in genecology that can cause problems, social and psycho-emotional effects in young girls. Hence this study was designed to evaluate this disorder in this age group of girls and provide appropriate recommendation.

In this descriptive- analytic study 325 students in 12-18 years old were selected by cluster sampling. The questionnaire with 36 questions was used. Students were filled it nearby researchers to give explanation if necessary. Then date were collected, analyzed by X2(P<0.05).

Results show for age groups, girls in 13-14, 15-16 and >17 years were 16.5%,40% and 43.5% respectively. 74% of sample had their first menstruation in 13-15 years old.7.9% had hypo menorrhea, 29.7% had hyper menorrhea and 39.3% experienced dysmenorrheal. With increasing age, frequency of dysmenorrheal increases but there isnt relationship between disorders and age, also with doing exercise, body mass index. There is relationship between mother's educational level with feeling in first menstruation as well if mother's education increases, obtaining information from mother increase. Among sample: 236 said their problems to mother and sisters, 18 stated to friends and 25 said to others. 40 girls said to nobody. Most of girls agreed with establishing a counseling center to provide information.

It is necessary to establish a counseling center in schools to provide information about this phenomenon and its disorders.