فصلنامه پژوهشهای علوم دامی ایران
سال دوازدهم شماره 2 (تابستان 1399)

 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iran is the largest pistachio (Pistachio vera) producer in the world. Nevertheless, pistachio byproducts (PBs) contain a high level of phenolic compounds and tannins, which can affect their utilization by animals. Tannins (hydrolysable and condensed tannin) are polyphenolic polymers of relatively high molecular weight with the capacity to form complexes mainly with proteins due to the presence of a large number of phenolic hydroxyl groups. They are considered as anti-nutritional compounds due to their adverse effects on intake and animal performance. However, tannins have been recognized to modulate rumen fermentation favourably such as reducing protein degradation in the rumen, prevention of bloat, inhibition of methanogenesis and increasing conjugated linoleic acid concentrations in ruminant-derived foods. The inclusion of tannins in diets has been shown to improve body weight and wool growth, milk yields and reproductive performance. Pistachio byproducts (PBs) contain a high level of phenolic compounds and tannins, which can affect their utilization by animals.The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of PBs extract on nutrients apparent digestibility, nitrogen balance and ruminal fermentation characteristics in ruminants.

PBs were completely dried under sun and were ground to pass a 1 mm sieve by cyclic mill. PBs were soaked in water at 1 to 5 ratio in ambient temperature for 12 h  and then were smoothed with the 4 layer cotton cloth. The extract was concentrated in an oven at a temperature below 40◦C. Four mature Baluchi male sheep (36.82 kg body weight, standard deviation 1) were fitted with ruminal cannula and were placed in individual metabolic cages with free access to fresh drinking water. The basal diet comprised 0.415 kg/d alfalfa, 0,165 kg/d barley straw and 0.250 kg/d concentrate feed (as-DM basis) that met their energy and crude protein (CP) requirements for maintenance according to the NRC (2007), and was offered in one meals. The concentrated PBs extract was infused in rumen at the levels that were administered to supply 0 (CON 1), 2, 4, or 6 % total tannin in the daily DM intake. All animals simultaneously received the same PBs extract dosage. Every period comprised 14 d of adaptation and 7 d of total urine and feces collection. Subsequent to highest PBs extract dosage, infusion was ceased and after 14 d of adaptation, urine and feces were collected again for 7 d (CON 2). Also in the end of every period rumen sampling was taken and animals were weighted.

 Feed intake of animals were not affected by ruminal infusion of the different levels of PBs extract due to the restricted feeding level, but duration of feed intake was significantly increase when the concentration of PBs extract was increased. It seems, the intraruminal PBs extract application might not have interfered with diet palatability. The ruminal PBs extract infusion had no significant effect on body weight gain, DM and CP apparent digestibility but OM, NDF and ADF apparent digestibility were significantly reduced. Besides, the pronounced ability of tannins to form complexes with feed proteins; they may impair microbial degradation of other polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and starch. The increasing of PBs extract concentration significantly increased rumen pH and acetate/propionate ratio and decreased rumen ammonia nitrogen, propionate, valerate and isovalerate. Lower ruminal ammonia nitrogen concentration may have resulted from a greater concentration of tannins that bound to proteins and decreased proteolysis resulting in a reduction of ammonia nitrogen release in rumen. Depression in VFA concentrations might be related to lower microbial activity of rumen in the presence of tannins. Iso-acids are derived from amino acids catabolism by cellulolytic bacteria in the rumen, that reductions their concentrations can indicate the protection of protein from bacterial deamination. Higher ruminal pH may have resulted from lower ammonia nitrogen and VFA concentrations in the rumen. The urine nitrogen excretion was reduced by increasing of PBs extract concentration, while the feces nitrogen excretion and retained nitrogen were increased. Infusion of incremental PBs extract dosages greatly shifted partitioning in nitrogen from urine to feces and could contribute to lower ammonia emissions from manure in ruminant production. The decrease in urinary nitrogen excretion can be attributed to the protein-binding property of PBs extract and the consequently lower ruminal protein degradation and ammonia nitrogen release. Besides of the tannin level, the effects of tannins differ greatly by the type and source of tannin as well as the composition of the animals’ diet.

 Generally results of this experiment indicated that while the ruminal PBs extract infusion at the level that was administered to supply 4 % total tannin in the daily DM intake preserved CP apparent digestibility, it improved nitrogen balance and rumen fermentation characteristic of sheep.

[1] Pulses are important crops belonging to the Leguminosae family. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) production has a long history of numerous and valuable uses in feed and food. Faba beans have been successfully used as a substitute for soybean meal or rapeseed meal in dairy cow rations. Faba bean pods can be used as feed for ruminants. Good quality silage can be made from faba bean plants. Technological treatments may have an impact on the degradability of nitrogen of faba bean. Molasses-urea mixed is a liquid feed supplement suitable for adding into the dry part of the diet or any other component during the processing of complete mashes or feeds. The purpose of the study was the determination of nutritional value of pods, seed hulls and seeds of faba bean (vicia faba L.) and survey the effect of different levels of urea and molasses on nutritional value faba bean pods silage using in vitro methods.

 In order to determine the chemical composition and in vitro ruminal degradability pods, seed hulls and seeds of faba bean cell wall, nylon bag and test gas technique were applied. After preparation of faba bean and isolating pods, seed hulls and seeds and drying, chemical composition analysis for dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, organic matter, ash, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) were done as AOAC. This research was carried out in a completely randomized design with 10 treatments and 3 replicates per treatment in two runs including: 1- faba bean pods of untreated (control), 2- faba bean pods of processed molasses (1.5% DM), 3- faba bean pods processed with molasses (3% DM), 4 - faba bean pods of processed molasses (4.5% DM), 5 - pods processed with urea (1.5% DM), 6- faba bean pods processed with molasses + urea (1.5% and 1.5% DM), 7 - faba bean pods of processed caraway with molasses + urea (3 and 1.5% DM, respectively), 8 - faba bean pods of processed with molasses + urea (4. 5% and 1.5% DM), 9- seeds hulls of faba bean and 10- faba bean seeds. Faba bean pod processing with urea and molasses was performed according to Chaudhry method (2000a) and Hue et al (2008) method. The digestibility of rumen according to Holden (1999) method and digestibility of intestinal according to Mc Niven method were investigated inside the simulator’s (DiasyII Incubator) digestive tract incubated. Amount and rate of gas production were estimated according to Orskov and McDonald model. The amount of DMD, OMD, DOMD (in percentage terms) and ME (in MJ/kg) for the amount of gas production at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after incubation were recorded and the average parameters of fermentation with gas production (ml /200 mg DM), in vitro OMD (percent), ME (MJ/kg DM) and short-chain fatty acids (mmol) were calculated. This experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 10 treatments and 3 replicates by 2 run in each treatment and analyzed using Mixed procedure of SAS.

There was a significant difference between treatments in the chemical composition of different parts of faba bean. Treatment compounds 5, 6 and treatment compound 7 were the highest and the lowest ADF, respectively. Processing faba bean pods with 3% of DM molasses +1.5% of DM urea reduced ADF due to at the same time the provision and suitable carbon skeleton and nitrogen materials and in the other words lead to increasing digestibility faba bean pods. Also results in this experiment showed that the ruminal DM and CP digestibility of treatments were significant. The highest DM digestibility was related to faba bean seeds and pods of processed with molasses and urea (3-1.5) and (4.5-1.5), respectively, and the lowest DM digestibility was related to seed hulls. With increased levels of molasses, total the digestive tract DM digestibility of bean pods had increased. The post ruminal digestibility was not significantly different between treatments of bean pod silage except for treatments 3 and 4 compared to control.
The comparison of the process gas produced (ml/200 mg DM) of showed that the highest amount of gas produced was in the 24 hours after incubation in faba bean pod treatments in molasses (1.5% dry matter) resulting in more ME compared to control treatment. Among all treatments, the highest produced gas in the 96 hours after incubation was related to faba bean seeds due to (60.3 ml/200 mg DM), and therefore, the ME was higher, and the lowest amount was related to faba seed hulls (20.3 ml/200 mg DM). Probably one of the reasons for lowering the amount of gas produced in the faba seed hulls compared to the bean seeds is related to the highest cell wall of hulls.

 The variation in the results of opposite studies with the results of this experiment on the nutritional value of the different faba bean components depends on the level and quality of the processing and the amounts of rapidly digested carbohydrate for facilitating the synergy of nutrient supply. In this experiment, the chemical composition, potential and rate of gas production, OMD, ME, SCFA and MP were significantly different between different bean components. Although more studies are needed to determine the best percentage of addition of molasses to different levels of urea or the use of other compounds that are able to bind to possible anti-nutritional compounds, but bean pod processing with 3% molasses and 1.5% urea caused a decrease in the amount of ADF, in other words, its digestibility, due to its coherent and suitable synchronicity with the carbon frames and nitrogenous materials. The seed of faba bean had the heist nutritional value than other parts of faba bean and amount of NDF was the highest in seed hulls. Totally seed of faba bean with 24.71% CP and 8.94 Mj/kg ME is a valuable nutritional source for feeding of animal. But the bean pods also have a good nutritional value as a non-forage fiber source for ruminants.

 Animal husbandry is one of the most important agriculture sectors, and with increasing population; demand for animal products has been increased. Currently, due to shortage of water and feed resources as well as increased compete for production of food between human and animals, cost of animal feeds has been enhanced considerably. The global price of feed ingredients such as corn, wheat, fish meal and soybean meal has increased by 160, 118, 186 and 108%, respectively in the previous years. Thus, in this situation, using agro-industrial by-products in the ruminant diets could reduce feed production costs and also improve profitability. Whole carrot tops (WCT) are one of such agricultural byproducts. It remains after harvesting the main product (carrot) and could be used as silage for animal nutrition. Crude protein (CP), crude fiber, ash, nitrogen free extract, Ca and P contents of WCT has been reported 144, 25.1, 151, 189, 493, 24.3 and 7.7 g/kg DM respectively. In another study, WCT contained 11−12% CP, 17% crude fiber and up to 18% ash due to residual dirt. Leaves in WCT have more nitrogen and ash but lower fiber content compared to stems. Due to phenolic content of WCT, using it in ruminant nutrition may be improves rumen protein metabolism via binding dietary CP content. WCT replacing 50% of berseem hay in the diet of Rahmani sheep increased nutrient digestibility. Adding WCT up to 20−30% at the expense of Trifolium alexandrium hay in growing rabbit rations improved growth performance and feed conversion efficiency. However, higher levels (67 to 100%), replacing clover hay in the diet, depressed the performance of growing rabbits. There are a few reports about investigating the nutrition value of WCT as a new by-product in animal nutrition. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate chemical composition, in vitro gas production (IVGP), fermentation parameters and nutrient digestibility of WCT compared to alfalfa and wheat straw (WS) using IVGP technique. Effects of different dietary levels of WCT at the expense of forage potion up to 20 % of dry matter (DM) were also investigated using IVGP technique.  

This study was conducted in animal house and laboratories of Lorestan University. Two Lori sheep (about two years old) with permanent rumen fistula were used as rumen liquor donor in present work. A two-week diet adaptation period was followed by collection of the rumen contents from each sheep before the morning feeding. Four complete carrot plants were collected during October 2017 from commercial carrot field in Share-Kord city (Iran). At the first part, chemical composition, IVGP and fermentation parameters of WCT were determined compared to alfalfa and WS (totally three treatments). After that, different levels of WCT including 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 % of DM (five treatments) were replaced with forage (alfalfa hay and WS) portion of diet and incubated in vitro using IVGP technique. Dry matter, CP, ash, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and lignin were measured.

 Results showed that CP content of WCT was significantly higher than WS, but it was comparable with alfalfa. At 16 h of incubation, highest and lowest volume of GP was observed by WCT and WS, respectively (P<0.05). However, highest and lowest GP at other incubation times, potential (b) and rate (c) of GP, DM, organic matter (OM), estimated metabolizable energy (ME), ammonia-N concentration and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production were noted by incubation of alfalfa and WS respectively (P<0.05). Highest microbial protein synthesis (MPS) was observed by incubation of WCT and lowest amount was for WS (P<0.05). By inclusion of WCT up to 20 % of diet, except for MPS which was increased significantly (P<0.05), other IVGP and fermentation parameters were unchanged among dietary treatments (P>0.05).

 In conclusion, results from the present study indicate that WCT has potential nutritional value to be used in ruminant diets at up to 20% DM without the risk of digestive disturbances. Its nutritive value was also higher that wheat straw while it had a comparable CP content to alfalfa. However, further in vivo studies are needed to validate the benefits of introducing such a by-product in ruminant nutrition. Further studies such as determining potential anti-nutritional factors, as well as the mineral profiles of WCT, will be of great help for optimizing their incorporation in animal nutrition.

 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.

[1] Increasing feed costs are significant issues in the poultry industry. Therefore, poultry producers often interested to feed low energy and nutrient dense diets to reduce production cost, while low energy and nutrients dense diets may not appear to supply sufficient energy for laying hens. Hens can regulate their feed intake to maintain energy and nutrient intake in accordance with their requirements. In this way, hens will consume more of a low energy and nutrients dense diet than of a high energy and nutrients dense diet, ensuring the calories and nutrient consumed be sufficient. However, some studies have shown that hens especially the modern ones are not precise in adjusting their feed intakes, such as the Hy-Line W-36, since they only have a limited capability to increase their feed intake to ensure adequate energy and nutrients intake. While low energy and nutrient dense diets are less expensive to purchase, they may not ensure optimal egg production if hens are unable to adjust their feed intake. On the other hand, the purchase price of low energy and nutrient dense diets can be substantially lower than high-density diets, if they are effective in maintaining long-term egg production performance, so that can result in increased returns for the producer. Thus, feeding low energy and nutrient dense diets to laying hens may result to improve returns due to a lower cost of diets. However, it has been shown that the increased efficiency of birds fed on high energy and nutrient dense diets can offset the higher cost of feed. The hypothesis of this study was to investigate how Hy-Line W-36 laying hens in post molting period can respond to lower energy and nutrients dense diets, through their increase in feed intake to maintain energy and nutrient consumption to support egg production.

The birds that used for this experiment were molted at the 70wk of age on a non-fasting feeding program according to the molting recommendation by Hy-line W36 laying hens guide. Three hundred twenty 78wk Hy-Line W36 hens were individually weighed and randomly assigned to 80 cages of four birds each. Eight replicate groups of 8 hens each (two adjacent cages) were randomly assigned to each of the 5 treatment diets with location within house as blocking criteria. The pre-experimental period was two weeks for acclimatization, and the experimental period was from 92-103 weeks of age (three 28d periods; 92-95, 96-99, 100-103wk of age). Experimental diets were formulated according to the guidelines in the Hy-Line W-36 Commercial Management Guide (2015) for 104g feed intake according to the average pre-experimental period egg production and feed intake data. Thus the control diet (100% of recommendation) was formulated to contain 2845 kcal/kg AMEn; 14.42% CP; 4.14% calcium; 0.48% available phosphorus; 0.17% sodium; 0.67% digestible lysine; 0.36 digestible methionine; 0.56 digestible methionine + cysteine; and 0.47 digestible threonine. Four other dietary concentrations of energy and nutrients density were formulated to provide 91, 94, 97, and 103% and one diet with the 100% of recommendations stated in the 2015 Hy-Line W36 commercial management guide. Egg production (number and weight) and mortality were recorded daily, whereas feed consumption was measured every 4wks as feed disappearance. Six eggs/replicate (48 eggs/treatment) laid in the last 72 h of each 28d period were collected and transported to Egg Quality Laboratory at the Ferdowsi University for of egg weight, albumen, yolk and shell relative weight, Haugh units, egg shape index, egg special gravity, and shell thickness determination. The feed cost/kg egg production was calculated by feed costs time feed conversion ratio. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS 9.1 (2003), with dietary treatment and block as independent variables. Diet effects were evaluated using linear and quadratic orthogonal polynomial contrasts. The linear broken-line (LBL) and quadratic-broken line (QBL) regression models were used to estimate the dietary energy and nutrient density ratios for optimization of egg mass and feed conversion ratio.

Previous research showed that hens would linearly adjust their feed intake in response to diet nutrient density by eating significantly more feed that was low in energy and less feed that was high in energy. These changes in feed intake were not in agreement with the results of the current study showed that egg production, and egg mass were increased and feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased significantly and linearly, with the increase in dietary energy and nutrients density. There was not any significant difference in the egg production, egg mass and feed conversion ratio in birds fed diet containing three percent (103%) more nutrient density than that of strain recommendation. Whereas, feed intake, egg weight, white yolk and shell relative weight, egg shape index, specific gravity, egg shell thickness as well as Haugh unit were not significantly affected by dietary energy and nutrients density. Significant linear increase due to increase in energy and nutrients density were observed for most measured parameters, including hen-day egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed efficiency, energy intake, and body weight gain. The hen-day egg production showed that hens fed diets containing 91% of control diet laid fewer eggs than those fed diets with 100 or 103% of nutrients recommendation. The energy and nutrient requirement for optimal egg mass (g/b/d) and FCR during the post molting period (92-103Wk) by LBL model were 94.96 and 97.02%, and by QBL model 95.71 and 95.95% of strain recommended, respectively.

In summary, the increase in energy and nutrients density in diet of Hy-Line W-36 laying hens increased egg production, egg weight, egg mass, energy intake as well as decreased body weight losses and feed conversion ratio. The regression analyses of data showed that, laying hens diet formulated at the 95-97% of nutrients recommendation had the optimal egg production and economic performance during the second egg production cycle. Furthermore, hens were unable to adjust their feed intakes since the lowest energy and nutrients density diet deteriorate egg production performance.

Development of poultry production causes increasing demand for feed ingredients and also ways of manipulating poultry diets in order to increase feed conversion ratios for maximum production. In this regard, use of feed additives and growth promoters has been increased. Antibiotic growth promoters have been successfully used at sub therapeutic doses in poultry production to promote growth and protect health of the birds. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters has been prohibited by many countries as they have different side effects on both bird and human health. There has been an increasing trend towards using natural feed additives to improve the performance, increase the dietary protein, energy utilization and to maintain health of birds. Herbs, botanicals, essential oils, oleoresins and algae are alternatives for antibiotics and which have not been found to causes antibiotic-like side effects on consumers. The beneficial effects of herbal plants additives in poultry (broilers, layers, broiler breeders, layer breeders and quail) may arise from their having positive effect on feed intake, digestive secretions, immune stimulation, antibacterial, antibacterial, coccidiostatic, antiviral or anti-inflammatory activity. In plant tissues, pH values are dependent on the presence of poly-carboxylic acids, phosphate salts, fiber and proteins. In this study, we partly replaced quail meal with very low amounts of Melilotus officinalis, Oliveria decumbens vent and Aloe Vera L meal to evaluate the medicinal plants as a Quail meal supplement and to assess the effects of this dietary change on growth performance, Biochemical factors, Qualitative agent and microbial load in Japanese quail meat.

 A total of 280 Japanese Quail hatchlings (one-day-old at test inception) were used in the study. Treatment protocol used four replicates each of eight different tests either of two levels (0.5 or 2% of total food mass) of tested medicinal plant material and one control group that received a diet free of medical plant supplements. Each treatment had four replicates, thus there was a total of 28 groups of 10 birds. The hatchling birds were maintained and adapted for 15 days under lab conditions: 16-h lighting, 8 h darkness, at temperature of 25 °C ± 2. Feed (mash form) and water were provided ad libitum throughout the whole trial. Body weight gain per hen were evaluated at 27 and 42 d. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were determined and calculated during each phase of whole period. At the end of the experimental period, 4 Quail from each replicate of different groups were randomly selected and sacrificed to calculate the carcass. Serum triglycerides (TG), cholesterol (Cho), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were determined. The meat samples were dried for 24h in an oven at 70 ˚C and the meat moisture was calculated. The meat samples were placed after centrifugation for 24h in an oven at 70 ˚C and the meat water holding capacity was calculated. The ash content was determined by charring followed by ashing the samples at 720°C to a white ash. The pH of the meat samples was determined by homogenizing 10 g of meat with 50 mL of distilled water. The homogenates were filtered, and the pH of each sample was measured with a pH meter at room temperature. The samples were analyzed for the total bacterial and coliforms load using plate count agar by PCA and Mac Conkey technique. The subjective evaluations of product quality were carried out by an experienced panel composed of 7 people.

The results showed that the addition of dietary supplements of M. officinalis, O. decumbens vent and A. Vera L at the level of 0.5 or 2% ratio had no significant effect on LW 27d, LW 42d and feed conversion ratio of quail. However, the highest Carcass weight was recorded in group fed with A. Vera L-2% and the least Carcass weight was recorded in group fed with M. officinalis-2%. Qualitative factors, carcass components, microbial community, biochemical factors and meat pH significantly affected by levels of herbal plants powder (p≤0.05). M. officinalis-0.5% reduced cholesterol and triglyceride. We also recorded evidence that O.decumbens-2% Vent powders reduced the total bacterial and coliforms.  It was concluded that addition of 2% of A. vera to the diet can improve performance and addition of 2% of M. officinalis, O. decumbens a to the diet can improve meat shelf life in Japanese quails.

 The Makooei sheep is a medium-sized, fat-tailed breed, carpet wool and white color breed. This breed dispreads mainly in the north west of the Iran in West Azerbaijan province. This sheep breed is called White Karaman in Turkey. Growth curve is the graph of weight as a function of age on time. The changes taking place in animal's body weight with the passage of time that is often sigmoid in shape. Further, information on the growth pattern helps determine feeding and management plans and planning breeding strategies to improve the efficacy of whole growth process. Using growth models is one of the ways that can be used to predict and measuring animal’s performance, such as weight gain. In fact, growth models are linear or nonlinear regression functions that can predict growth at different ages of animal life. Non-linear mathematical functions, empirically developed by depicting body weight against age, have been appropriate to characterize the growth curve in different animal classes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe the growth curve of Makooei sheep using non-linear models. The Negative exponential, Brody, Gompertz, Logistic and von Bertalanffy models were used to evaluate their efficiency in describing the growth curve of Makooei sheep.

The used data included 5913 body weight records from 1966 male lambs and 7092 body weight records from 2354 female lambs (from birth to 225 days), collected during 1993 to 2011, at the Makooei Sheep Breeding station, in West Azerbaijan, Iran. In the station, each ram was randomly mated to 10-15 ewes. Lambing was in January and March and lambs were weaned until ~3 months of age. The lambs were weighed and ear tagged after birth.  Data were checked several times, so defective and out of range records were deleted. The Negative exponential, Brody, Gompertz, Logistic, and Von Bertalanffy functions were fit to the data to model the relationship between weight and age. Each model was fitted separately to body weight records for all lambs, male and female lambs using the NLIN procedure in SAS 8.2. The non-linear mixed models were examined for goodness of fit using Adjusted Coefficient of Determination (R2adj), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Finally, the best model was selected with the highest R2adj and the lowest RMSE, AIC and BIC.

 All non-linear models showed good capacities of fitting for describing the growth curve in Makooei sheep. The R2adj for the Brody model was found the highest (0.8799) and the lowest for Logistic model (0.8505) for all lambs. The A parameter is an estimate of asymptotic weight which can be interpreted as the weight at maturity. For the studied dataset the highest and lowest values for the parameter A were obtained by Brody model (for all lambs = 39.04) and logistic model (for all lambs = 32.08), respectively. The parameter B represents an integration constant, related to the initial animal weight but lacking a clear biological interpretation. The highest and lowest values for the B parameter were obtained in Logistic model (for all lambs = 6.28) and Von Bertalanffy model (for all lambs = 0.52), respectively. The parameter k that defined the maturation rate is another important feature to be considered, since it indicates the growth speed to reach the asymptotic weight. Therefore, animals that have higher k values will reach puberty sooner. The estimate of k was highest in the Von Bertalanffy model (for all lambs = 0.10), while Brody (for all lambs = 0.01) and Negative exponential (for all lambs = 0.01) models showed lowest values. The results of this study showed that the Brody model with the highest R2adj and the lowest RMSE, AIC and BIC was able to describe the growth curve better than other growth models in Makooei sheep. In growth curve the most important biological relationship has been found between A and k. The lowest and highest correlation between the two parameters of A and k for all lambs was found for the logistic (-0.59) and Brody (-0.97) models, respectively.

 The results of this study suggest that the Brody model can be useful for set some management strategies such as determining nutritional programs and the appropriate age for slaughter of Makooei sheep

In most mammals, each hair follicle is a mammalian skin organ that produces hair and controls the hair growth cycle. The hair follicle is central to most economically important fiber growth in livestock. Previous studies have shown that changes in the level of genes expression play a role in the development and growth of hair follicles. With the advent of high throughput, next-generation sequencing technology measuring the level of expression of thousands of genes was possible simultaneously. As a result, many regulatory conflicts between genes can be extracted from these data. Expression profiles are generated by combining expression levels resulting from experiments in various conditions or times. Similarities and differences between expression profiles reveal many of these regulatory relationships. Despite recent advances in the identification of the molecular signaling/co-expression networks that govern the development of the skin and hair follicle, the mechanisms controlling of fiber production in Cashmere goat still remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the most important molecules controlling the growth and development of hair follicles in cashmere goats in order to decode the genes involved in the growth and development of hair follicles in cashmere goats.

 Publicly available preprocessed transcript data (accession no. SRP059481) was downloaded from the NCBI database in the SRA section. In this investigation, nine goats were selected at the same stage of gestation. Three fetuses were obtained at 55-65 days’ gestation (60-days old) and three fetuses were obtained at 105-125 days’ gestation (120 –day- old) through cesarean operation and three fetuses were also sacrificed within two hours of birth (newborn). For analysis of RNA-seq data, a random sampling from the right mid-side of the fetal skin and each time point had three replicates. The 60 days (E60) of gestation represented the initiation stage of growth, and the 120 d (E120) represented the development stage, as well as the newborn samples, represented the primary hair follicle maturation stage. The FastQC software (Version 11.7) was used to check the quality of the readings. This software check the quality of the reads, in case of low-quality sequencing, the data were edited by Trimmomatic software (Version 0.39), and filtered reads were evaluated with FastQC software, After removing low-quality reads mapping was performed on the goat reference genome (GCA_001704415.1) downloaded from the ensemble site using the Hisat2 software(Version 2.1.0). The HTSeq2 (Version 10.0) was used to create the count matrix, changes in the expression of genes between the groups (E60, E120, and newborns) was identified using the software Deseq2 (Version 1.24). In this stage, the genes between the two groups were compared to give an expression difference 1- Genes that are expressed throughout the growth process of the follicle 2. Co-Expression networks of up and down genes were created using the STRING database (Version 11) at https://string-db.org. The PPI network was constructed by Cytoscape software (Version 3.6.0). Cytoscape is commonly used for analysis and visualization of biological networks. Gene ontology analysis of effective gene related to development stage of hair follicle in Cashmere goat from fetal to birth was done using DAVID database.

After determining the level of expression of each gene at different stages of sampling, genes that increased expression in all comparisons were considered as up-regulated genes that, by increasing their expression, control the growth and development of hair follicle. On the other hand, those genes that have been shown to reduce expression in all of the follicle growth stages comparisons were considered as genes which by decreasing their expression, causes the growth and development of the hair follicle. The interaction relations were investigated between the increased and reduced genes expressed separately by STRING database. Among the up-regulated genes, the relationships between 145 genes with 203 edge were confirmed. Also, the interaction network between the down-regulated genes confirmed between 650 genes with 1302 edge. Among the genes with differential expression, the co-expression genes (genes with the most interacting) were identified based on the results of the analysis of the statistical parameters of the network using computational algorithms in Cytoscape software. These results led to the identification of seven unique genes that were SHH, KLF4, MMP9, MSX1, KRT17, COL2A1 and VEGFA, ontology analysis of these genes showed that involved the hair cycle process, hair follicle development, skin epidermis development, epidermis morphogenesis and epidermal cell differentiation that these pathways are activated in the cashmere production process. Therefore, these genes have been used as regulators of cashmere growth and development to better understand the cashmere production process and improve its quality.

The results have been able to introduce genes with major effects that regulate the expression of genes and molecular signals associated with the production of fiber that including KLF4, MMP9, MSX1, KRT17, COL2A1 and VEGFA in Cashmere goats. Based on functional analysis, these genes can play a significant role in the improvement of cashmere goats breeding. We hope that the obtained results would be beneficial toward finding the smart strategies for Cashmere production improvement.

Genomic Selection (GS) has been proved to be a powerful tool for estimating genetic values in livestock breeding. Newly developed sequencing technologies have dramatically reduced the cost of genotyping and significantly increased the scale of genotype data that used for GS. The estimation of breeding values in order to select the best animals as parents of the next generation is the main goal of animal breeding programs. Traditional methods of genetic evaluation were performed using a combination of phenotypic and pedigree information to produce estimated breeding values. Most simulation studies of genomic selection (GS) methods have considered genetic architectures in which the number and relative magnitudes of quantitative trait loci (QTL) have varied. Among the Bayesian methods, those using marker-specific shrinkage of effects (e.g., BayesA or BayesB of or the Bayesian LASSO are commonly used in animal breeding applications. The Bayesian methods proposed differ in the way of looking at the variances of parameters. In classical livestock breeding methods, selection for important economic traits using pedigree information with individual phenotypic records was performed and best Linear Prediction of Breeding Values (BLUP) is achieved. In genome selection, genomic breeding values of all individuals can be predicted with high accuracy using a linear model. Various factors can be affecting the accuracy of genomic breeding values. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of estimating genomic breeding values in different genetic architectures including different distributions of gene effects, different numbers of QTL, different levels of heritability and different marker densities using GBLUP and Bayesian methods including Bayes A, Bayes B, Bayes C and Bayes LASSO. In addition to comparing the performance of different methods in different genetic architectures, a marker density and QTL numbers were introduced for simulation programs of sheep populations.

To create a basic population (G0), 100 heads of livestock, including 50 males and 50 females, were considered. The frequency of primary alleles for single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the basal generation was considered to be 0.5. To create the first generation (G1), the parents were randomly selected from the males and females of the G0 generation. Parental gametes were simulated based on the assumption of disconnection imbalance using the Halldan location function method, and then randomly generated gametes were randomly selected and mixed to create a new generation of G1 generation. A genome with a length of 300 cM was simulated and 500, 1000 and 1500 SNPs were equally spaced over the chromosome. Three different numbers of QTL (50, 100 and 150) were considered and QTLs were uniformly distributed over the chromosome. One hundred individuals, including 50 males and 50 females, were simulated for the base population. The first generation structure was followed through to the 50th generation of random mating to make linkage disequilibrium populations. Generation 51 was assumed as a training population and the other generations (52 to 60) as validation populations. Five methods, GBLUP, Bayes A, Bayes B, Bayes C and Bayesian LASSO, were used to estimate genomic breeding values.

 In all five methods, the accuracy of genomic values decreased as the number of QTLs increased from 50 to 150. The reason for this can be attributed to the limited amount of genetic variance distributed over many QTLs. Also predicting accuracy of all five methods increased with increasing marker density. Results showed that increasing marker density at low (0.1) and high (0.5) heritability levels, increased genomic accuracy but increasing at moderate heritability (0.3) traits did not affect the accuracy of genomic evaluation. Accuracy of genomic breeding values in the gamma distribution provides better gene effects to uniform distributions.

 The results showed that factors such as marker density, QTL numbers, distribution QTL effect and trait heritability were effective in estimating the accuracy of genomic breeding values. In high heritability traits, the higher markers density and lower QTL numbers, leading to increase accuracy of estimating genomic breeding values. In genomic studies, if the trait is affected by a small number of QTLs, estimation of breeding values by Bayes B method can yield a more favorable result. Marker densities did not affect the accuracy of genomic evaluation in traits of moderate heritability, and since most of the economic traits in native species of sheep are moderate heritability, 500 to 1000 markers can be used to estimate breeding values in simulation programs.

Oocyte maturity includes nuclear and cytoplasmic maturity, both of which are important for embryo fertilization. Cytoplasmic maturation involves the redistribution of a range of organelles, including mitochondria. The nuclear and cytoplasmic mammalian oocytes maturation is a complex process nuclear maturation is demonstrated by extrusion of first polar body while there may be no indication for cytoplasmic maturation According to critical role of mitochondria for energy production in oocytes, it can be considered as an indicator of cytoplasmic maturation. Oocyte maturation requires more energy. Energy reaches its peak during ovulation. Changes in the mitochondrial distribution pattern can affect the ability of embryo development from oocytes. Since fetal mitochondrial replication is not performed until the blastocyst its stage, mature Oocytes (MII), fertilized Oocytes, Energy required for fertilization, embryonic development prior to implantation and early stages of fetal development depend on the storage of mitochondria in the time of ovulation. Therefore, the location and function of mitochondria can affect the quality of the Oocyte and consequently interfere with the process of embryo development. The topic of genetic networks explores the most important genes in a physiological process. The graph theory is used to construct and reconstruct the biology network. In biology networks, genes, proteins, or any other molecule that plays a role in a cell can be considered as a node and the relationship between these nodes is considered as an edge.

 In this study, GEO access codes for this data set GSE38345 were used to determine the effect of FSH on the expression of mitochondrial genes. In the past decade, with the ability to study genetic information of the genome in a wide range, micro arrays were a high-performance method for analyzing gene expression. The data are microarray and contain the gene expression information for cow's oocyte cells, whose maturity is influenced by the FSH hormone under laboratory conditions. After data implementation, the quality of the data was analyzed and if necessary, normalization was performed using the data conversion technique. Data analysis and comparison of gene expression in two cases before maturation (20 hours after oocyte treatment with FSH in laboratory conditions) and after maturation (96 hours after oocyte treatment with FSH in laboratory conditions) using From the GEO2R software link were done. After identifying the genes and examining the different genes expressed, two genotypes included Increased and decreased expression genes. The interaction of each gene group was studied using a string database based on co-expression data. Gene ontology was performed using the comparative GO database.

 In a comparison between oocyte gene expression data in the pre-maturation stage and the post-maturation stage after treatment with FSH, it was determined that 100 mitochondrial genes in maturation compared to pre-maturation stage increased expression and 94 genes of this organ has declined. Among them, the protein interaction network has been identified in a set of increased and decreased expression genes. Of the 100 genes that have been increased expression, 68 genes are coexpression based on string information. Among decreased expression genes, 53 genes from 64 genes were reported as coexpression. In the protein interaction network of the increased expression genes, the important genes of MRPS10, MRPS18A, MRPL16 and MRPL17, which played a role in the mitochondrial destruction and translation processes of mitochondrial genes, and in the network of decreased expression genes, MRPL22, ATP5B and ATP5C1 genes, which by reducing its expression, attempted to balance in the pathways associated with mitochondrial destruction and ATP production through its role in the ATP synthase structure.

The results of this study reveal the most important genes affecting mitochondrial activity during oocyte maturation and control genes of this organ according to the network of protein interactions in the set of increased and decreased expression genes. In addition, the most important biological pathways in order to understand the mechanism of FSH effect on oocyte maturation through mitochondrial organ is investigated. Also, by comprehensive examining the gene expression network in the process of cytoplasmic oocyte maturation and showing the marker genes and different biochemical pathways, it is possible to understand the quality of oocyte during maturation, which can help improve IVM-IVF technique. Since effective mechanisms in cytoplasmic maturity are not yet fully understood, efforts to identify important regulators of mitochondria in oocyte maturation process will be effective in using fertility technology in animal production.