نشریه علوم دامی (پژوهش و سازندگی)
پیاپی 138 (بهار 1402)

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of preparing silage, determine nutritive value and characteristics of silage prepared from three genotypes of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa willd.) forage (Sjama, Titicaca and Q12) in a completely randomized design. The chopped forages were siloed with four replications in laboratory silos. After 60 days, the silos were opened and the appearance characteristics of the silages were examined. The quinoa silages were sampled for analysis concentration of chemical composition and silage characteristics. The results show that, the duration of sowing to the dough stage of seeds was 60 days in Kerman climate. In silage of Sajama, Titicaca and Q12 genotypes, the average of dry matter (P<0.01) was 20.36, 22.99 and 22.21%, the concentration of crude protein (P<0.01) was 13.50, 14.21 and 14.31% respectively. The characteristics score of silages were 16.75, 17.50 and 18.13 in a 0 to 20 scoring system for Sjama, Titicaca and Q12 genotypes respectively (P<0.01), Quinoa forage silage had a high buffering capacity and were determined 273.09, 195.90 and 200.33 meq NaOH for Sjama, Titicaca and Q12 genotypes respectively (P<0.01). In general, the results have shown that quinoa forage silage have an acceptable quality, especially in crude protein concentration and can be used as a substitution feedstuff in ruminant nutrition. However, there are many differences between genotypes in chemical composition and silage properties. It seems some genotypes (Sejama) don’t have the potential for silage production and more studies are needed to select the appropriate genotypes.

In present study the effects of chicory, turmeric, artichoke and sage powder on yield, egg quality and fatty liver status in laying hens fed high energy and low protein diets. A total of 270 LSL laying hens at 80 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 5 treatments, 6 replications and 9 birds per replicate. Experimental treatments were included high energy (3000 kcal/kg) and low protein (13%) diet as control, and four diets containing 0.15% of chicory stem and root powder, turmeric rizhom powder, artichoke leaf powder or milk thistle powder. The results showed that treatments decresed feed intake and turmeric increased egg weight (P<0.05). Yolk color, white weight, and shell weight were affected (P<0.05) positively by medicinal plants. Diet containing turmeric significantly reduced blood glucose compared to control diet (P<0.05). The effect of treatments on biochemical and hematological parameters of blood was not significant (P>0.05). Abdominal fat weight was significantly lower in birds received milk thistle diet (P<0.05). The results showed that the medicinal plants used in the present study had no effect on bird’s performance however milk thistle powder by lowering the abdominal fat and with lower histological and hemoragic scores had more potential for improvement of fatty liver and more researches with higher level of milk thestle is needed.

The present research was conducted to investigate the effect of adding different levels of forage corn on the improvement of fermentation properties and aerobic stability of the aerial part of Jerusalem artichoke silage. To prepare silages, this plant was ensiled with ratios of 0, 25, 50 and 75% of forage corn in laboratory silos with four replicates. The lowest pH (3.85) and the highest concentration of lactic acid (48.5 g/ kg DM) were observed in silages containing 75% and then in silages containing 50% of forage corn. In silages containing 50% and 75% forage corn, a decrease in the concentration of butyric acid and ammonia nitrogen was associated with an increase in the population of lactic acid bacteria and a decrease in the population of mold and yeast. The highest ratio of lactic acid to acetic acid (2.2) was observed in silages containing 75% of forage corn. Silages containing 50 and 75% of forage corn had the highest crude protein and soluble carbohydrates. The highest aerobic stability in silages containing 50% of forage corn (584 h) was associated with no growth of mold in these silages. The results of the present research showed that the use of 50% forage corn during the preparation of aerial part silage of Jerusalem artichoke improved fermentation. Also, mixing these two forages with different levels of used forage corn improved the aerobic stability of silages and the highest aerobic stability was observed in the silage resulting from a 50:50 mixture of these two forages.

The aim of this research was to investigate the interaction effect of ruminally undegradable protein (RUP) level and flaxseed type in flushing diets of ewes on reproductive performance and ovarian activity. Seventy-two Baluchi ewes (2-3 years old) were fed one of six experimental diets. The experimental diets were: 1) diet without flaxseed with 20% RUP; 2) diet without flaxseed with 40% RUP; 3) diet containing 10% whole flaxseed with 20% RUP; 4) diet containing10% whole flaxseed with 40% RUP; 5) diet containing 10% extruded flaxseed with 20% RUP and 6) diet containing10% extruded flaxseed with 40% RUP. Dry matter intake of ewes was not affected by experimental diets. Flaxseed type significantly increased glucose, cholesterol and estrogen concentrations in 24 h before removing CIDR, and 24 hours after removing CIDR, caused a significant increase in glucose and estrogen concentration and a significant decrease in blood urea concentration of ewes (P ≤ 0.05). Increasing RUP level to 40%, significantly increased glucose and estrogen and decreased urea concentrations of ewes in 24 hours after removing CIDR (P ≤ 0.05). The diets containing of extruded flaxseed showed the highest serum progesterone concentration in 8 days after mating and finally, higher lambing rates compared to control diets. Finally, the use of flaxseed (especially in extruded form) at 10%DM with 40% RUP in flushing diets, increased the metabolites and hormones concentration associated with reproductive performance, especially glucose, cholesterol, progesterone and estrogen, and thus improves the reproductive performance of the animal.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of using normal and nanoencapsulated of lavender and chicory essential oils on performance, carcass characteristics and humoral immunity of broilers. A total of 1050 one-day-old chickens (mixed male and female in equal proportions) of Ross 308 strain were used in a completely randomized design with 7 treatments, 5 replicates and 30 chickens per replicate. Experimental treatments include: 1) basal diet without additives (control), 2 and 3) basal diet containing 100 g / ton of chicory and lavender essential oil, respectively, 4 and 5) basal diet containing 100 g / ton of chicory and lavender nanoencapsulated essential oil, respectively. 6) The basal diet contained 100 grams per ton of chicory essential oil and 100 grams per ton of lavender essential oil and 7) The basal diet contained 100 grams per ton of chicory nanoencapsulated essential oil and 100 grams per ton of lavender nanoencapsulated essential oil. At 42 days of age, highest body weight, production index, carcass percentage, relative breast weight and antibody titer in response to injection of sheep red blood cells, immunoglobulin G and M, as well as the lowest feed intake and feed conversion ratio were observed in the group fed with chicory and lavender nanoencapsulated essential oils (P<0.05). Based on the results, the simultaneous addition of 100 g / ton of chicory and lavender nanoencapsulated essential oils in the diet of broilers is recommended.

Studying the changes in concentrations of antioxidant enzymes, hormones and vitamins can be provided valuable guidance in better understanding of pathophysiological processes, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the vitamin E/selenium and AD3E administrations before insemination on serum concentrations of progesterone, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and, also pregnancy rate after laparoscopic insemination in ewes. In this study, sixty-three 3±0.5 years old ewes and weight of 48±3 kg were selected. The ewes were divided into three groups (n=21). At the time of sponging, ewes were received 5 ml normal saline (control), vitamin E/selenium (treatment 1) and vitamin AD3E (treatment 2). Sheep were synchronized by the long-term protocol using the vaginal sponge of progesterone and equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG). Artificial insemination was done by laparoscopic method 50 to 58 hours after sponge removal and eCG injection. Blood samples were collected nine days after insemination. There were no significant differences between control, vitamin E/selenium and AD3E groups in serum concentrations of progesterone, superoxide dismutase and, glutathione peroxidase. Pregnancy rates of control, vitamin E/selenium and AD3E groups were 33.3 and 28.6 and 38.1, respectively that have not significant differences. It seems that the administration of vitamin E/selenium and AD3E compounds should be done according to regional needs and season to obtain optimal results and prevent additional costs and unnecessary stresses.

In this study, genomic data of 590 cattle were used including native breeds of Sarabi, Kermani, Kurdi, Talashi, Sistani, Najdi, Mazandarani and Pars, crossbred from northwest of Iran, Holstein populations from Iran, France and Ireland. Quality control and data filtration were performed using Plink 1.9 software. After this quality control, individuals and SNPs with call rate below 0.95%, SNP makers with minor allele frequency (MAF) > 0.01%, divergence from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium were excluded. This procedure yielded 509 individuals with 13512 SNP marker. Then filtered data were used to genetic diversity and clustering analysis. Identification of genetic groups were performed using PCA analysis data by GenABEL software. PCA and ADMIXTURE analysis showed that studied populations are in 4 separate categories including purebred Sarabi population in the first group, crossbred from northwest of Iran in the second group, purebred Holstein populations in the third group and native breeds of Iran were in the fourth group. Further details of demographic differentiation were identified by Weir and Cockerham's fixation index. The range of differentiation in the present study varied from 0.180 between Sistani and Kurdish breeds to 0.007 to 0.004 between the Iran Holstein breed and Ireland with France Holstein breeds. The results showed that the highest difference between indigenous and Holstein breeds related to Sistani breed that had the highest difference with different Holstein breeds (0.128 to 0.138). With slight differences from other Iranian indigenous breeds, the Kurdish and Mazandaran breeds had the smallest genetic differences with the studied Holstein populations.

Investigation of the effect of different water intake conditions on the performance, egg quality traits, and accumulation of uric acid in the kidney of commercial laying Bovans strain in mid production phase, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design. Experiments performed with 288 laying hens of Bovans hens including 4 treatments and 6 replications (12 hens per replication). All diets based on corn - soybean and metabolizable energy and protein levels were same . Experimental treatments include: 1) 3 nipples with regulated pressure with regulator, 2) 2 nipples with regulated pressure with regulator, 3) 3 nipples with pressure regulated with flash tank and 4) 2 nipples with pressure regulated with flash tank. Also, there was no significant difference between the treatment and the effect of the period in the parameters of feed consumption and feed conversion ratio and egg weight component and egg mass produced (P> 0.05). Regarding histological results, no significant effect was seen between experimental treatments on histological parameters including glomerular diameter, number of glomeruli, number of proximal tubes, number of distal tubes, number of tubes collecting ducts (P> 0.05). Also, parameters related to blood glucose and HDL- cholesterol levels as well as the amount of alanine aminotransferase were not affected by experimental treatments and were not significant (P> 0.05). Therefore, with respect to improving the quality of shell weight, a significant reduction in cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and heterophilic to lymphocyte ratio, the use of three nipples with regulated pressure is recommended.

Honeybees play a key role in food safety, but various pests such as Varroa have been threatened the health of colonies. To control this mite, the application of pesticides is inevitable, but the consequence of pesticide usages is associated with increased incidences of Varroa resistance. Hence, the researchers point out the botanicals. Despite the effectiveness of botanicals in combating Varroa, their side effects on colony health are key topics. In the present study, the biological effects of thymol, trans-anethole, and diallyl disulfide were investigated on honeybees. The results showed that the lethal concentrations of 50% of thymol, trans-anethole, and diallyl disulfide were 16.46, 55.22, and 37.30 mg ml-1, respectively. The effects of LC15, LC30, and LC50 of these compounds on the activities of honeybee antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione S-transferase) and the lipid peroxidation showed that the activities of these enzymes in thymol, and trans-anethole treatments significantly increased compared to the control, while in diallyl disulfide treatment, the activity of these enzymes decreased. The results also showed that the amount of malondialdehyde was significantly reduced in all treatments. Survival study showed that all concentrations of thymol, trans-anethole, and diallyl disulfide caused 100% mortalities of the honeybee at four, six, and three days post-treatment, respectively. The results showed that the lethal concentrations of thymol, trans-anethole, and diallyl disulfide could induce oxidative stress and influence the survival of the honeybees. Therefore, it is recommended that these compounds could be used with caution to control Varroa in apiaries

This research aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of grounded barley grain on chemical composition, fermentation parameters and in vitro gas production of artichoke silage. According to this, after chopping fresh artichoke forage, ground barley grain was added to artichoke forage at different levels of zero, 5 and 10% and ensiled in a compeletly ramdomized design with 4 replicat for 60 days. Corn forage was ensiled in the same conditions but without additives. Chemical composition, gas production parameters, ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH and buffering capacity of silages were measured. The results showed that the dry matter and ether extract of artichoke silage increased and the crude protein, NDF and ADF decreased with increasing level of grounded barley grain in the silos. Corn silage had the lowest pH and the highest flieg point compared to other silages. In artichoke silage, pH and ammonia-N concentration were significantly reduced by adding grounded barley grain to silos. The amount of effluent decreased significantly with increasing grounded barley grain to artichoke silage. Water soluble carbohydrates and fermentation coefficient in artichoke silage without additive had the lowest value. Among the artichoke silage, silage with 10% ground barley grain had the highest gas volume, gas production potential, metabolizable energy and the lowest partitioning factor. The results showed that the addition of ground barley grain to artichoke silage up to 10% level improves the fermentation parameters in silage and makes artichoke silage desirable silage.