فصلنامه محیط زیست جانوری
سال ششم شماره 1 (بهار 1393)

Ghrelin exerts inhibitory effects on gonadotropins secretion. The product of TSPO gene is mainly found on the outer mitochondrial membrane and it is a key protein in the steroidogenesis pathway. It transports cholesterol in to mitochondria of organs that synthesize steroids. Treatment of neonatal female rats with testosterone propionate (TP) alters gonadotropin secretion patterns in the adulthood. In the present study the effects of central injection of ghrelin were investigated on the expression of TSPO gene in the ovaries of pubertal androgenized female rats.Twenty neonatal female rats were androgenized on the third day after birth by subcutaneous injection of 50µg TP and five neonatal female rats in one group was considered as controls. After puberty, the animals in four groups (n=5 in each group) received central injections of saline or different doses of ghrelin(2, 4 or 8µg). Also, five non-androgenied rats as control group received central injection of saline. The ovaries were removed bilaterally and frozen. TSPO gene expression levels was determined by semi quantitative RT-PCR.The mRNA levels of TSPO increased significantly in the ovaries of the androgenized rats compared to the controls. Ghrelin injections decreased significantly TSPO gene expression compared to the androgenized rats (P <0.05).Androgen may stimulate TSPO gene expression in the ovaries. Ghrelin may exert inhibitory effects on reproductive axis partly via reducing the expression of genes involved in the steroidogenesis.

Marine water crabs (P. segnis) was used to obtain Chitin-Chitosan. Specimen captured as by-cache and monthly from Bandar Abbas beach (of khordad to esfand 1391). Exoskeleton of crabs divided to carapace, cephalotorex, claw and walking legs. Chitin-Chitosan was extracted with standardized chemical method. Chitosan was with demineralization, deproteinization, decoloration(Chitin) and deacetylation(Chitosan). Chitin and Chitosan yield of crab shell was determined %16/30 and %12/86 respectively. According to analysis, there were significant (p<0.05) changes between average of length and width of carapace and weight crabs. The population size of crabs captured was biggest in autumn season, also the highest content of Chitin-Chitosan were extract of this period. The result of the present investigation pave the way and provide the baseline information for the extraction Chitin-Chitosan from marine discard apart from opening the avenue of research to the future researchers.

In this survey, we have checked the effects of red bell pepper and tomato as a natural pigments source on the skin color of Flower horn (Cichlasoma sp.). Distributed randomly 45 fish of Flower horn in 9 aquarium Equal to 5 fish per aquarium. The trial was continued for 8 weeks. The fish were fed diets including 10 g kg–1 Red bell pepper and Tomato powder. Total carotenoid quantity of the fish was determined spectrophotometrically at the end of the experiment. The significance of them was analyzed using One-way ANOVA analysis software Spss 18. As an outcome, There was a significant correlation between treatments fed diets containing red bell pepper powder with other treatments (P<0.05). Showed higher concentrations of carotenoids in Treatments fed with food containing red bell pepper powder (0.05 µg g-1). There was no significant difference between treatment fed tomato powder and control treatment (P>0.05).

Heavy metals are present in different types of industrial effluents, being responsible for environmental pollution. Microorganisms play a significant role in bioremediation of heavy metal contaminated wastewater and biosorption has attracted the attention in recent years as an alternative to conventional methods for heavy metal removal from wastewater. In this study, potential of A. niger to biosorption of cadmium, nickel and lead from industrial wastewater effluent was investigated. The effect of pH, biomass dosage and initial concentration of the heavy metal on the removal of biosorption were examined. Range of pH, biomass dosage and initial concentration of the heavy metal (Cd2+, Ni2+, Pb2+) in this software were 1.3-8.7, 0.01-0.75 g/l, and 0.5-37.5 mg/l, respectively. A. niger biomass pretreated by boiling in 0.5N NaOH solution for 15 min exhibited high cadmium, Nickel and Lead biosorption capacity about 96.1%, 68.2% and 93.6%, respectively. This research proved that with a pH of 5, biomass dosage of 3.8 g/l and heavy metal concentration of 19 mg/l a biosorption process with A. niger could be successfully used for heavy metal removal industrial wastewater.

Spirlin (Alburnoides eichwaldii) is a stream species that has a good abundance in southern basin of Caspian sea, but it is supposed to be extincted in many inland waters of Europe. There hasn’t been any study about genetic diversity of this species yet. In this study, to investigate of Spirlin population structure in Tilabad and Shirabad streams in Golestan province 56 samples (28 samples from each stream) were collected. DNA was extracted by phenol-chloroform method and 6 microsatellite loci were used. Results of this study showed that observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity were 0.833 and 0.899, respectively and the Fst value was 0.016 which indicates a low genetic differentiation between the Tilabad, Shirabad and Kaboodwal populations. In examining deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, two loci in Tilabad population were balanced and other loci had a significant diviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P≤ 0.05). According to the results, the Fst values were 0.020. Most of the loci showed deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Analysis of molecular variance showed there is low genetic variation among populations (1%) and most of the observed variation is within the populations (99%).

In this study we investigated the synbiotic effect of Lactobacillus plantarum and Xylooligosaccharide prebiotic on growth factors of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. 480 fish (average weight 77±3 g) were randomly distributed into 8 treatments with three replicates for each treatment. First group fed control diet, groups 2, 3 and 4 fed control diet containing 0.5, 1 and 2 percent Xylooligosaccharides prebiotic, groups 5, 6 and 7 fed same amounts of prebiotic plus 108 CFU Lactobacillus plantarum per gram feed for a period of 2 months. No significant differences were observed on growth parameters between the treatments at the end of the experiment (P > 0.05). However, inclusion of 0.5 percent Xylooligosaccharides plus probiotic in feed showed slightly positive effect on growth indices, and in general use of prebiotic and probiotic had no negative effect on growth.

Environmental temperature effects on poultry meat quality were evaluated during warm and cold weather in a slaughterhouse which located in Zanjan province. After slaughtering, 150 carcasses in sum were randomly collected. During winter (n=75) and summer (n=75) seasons. Immediately after slaughtering, sampling was performed to histopathologic study and 24 h after slaughtering; pectoralis major muscle was used for other testes. Meanwhile, pectoralis minor was used for fat, protein, moisture, and ash measurement. Pectoral muscle showed lower pH chemically and higher moisture histologically. These variabledidn’t show any difference among different weight groups. At last, a positive correlation was seen between environmental temperature and lower pH, and higher muscular moisture (p≤0.001). The results, suggested that poultries’ muscles accumulate more water during warm season which results in lower performance.

This project was conducted to evaluate the concentration of heavy metals such as Nickel and Lead in soft tissue and hard tissue of the dominant sea urchin (Echinometra mathaei) in rocky shores of Kish Island. Sampling was carried out in four different stations including the kashtiyoonani, Bazar Arab, Seda & Sima and Derakht-e-Sabz in winter (February) and summer (August) of 2011. The amount of heavy metal was evaluated after preparation and chemical digestion of the sample (sea water, sediment, algae of sea urchin habitat, sea urchin soft tissue and hard tissue) with the atomic absorption instrument equipped with graphite stove. Bioaccumulation of Lead in winter was higher than Nickel, concentration in algae3.15μgg-1drywt>deposition2.23μgg-1drywt>sea urchin soft tissue 0.86μgg-1drywt> sea urchin hard tissue0.62μgg-1drywt respectively, bioaccumulation of Lead in summer was algae2.15μgg-1drywt>sea urchin soft tissue 1.85μgg-1drywt> deposition 1.73μgg-1drywt>sea urchin hard tissue0.70μgg-1drywt respectively, bioaccumulation of Nickel in winter was deposition2.64μgg-1drywt>algae1.93μgg-1drywt>sea urchin soft tissue1.52μgg-1drywt>sea urchin hard tissue0.68μgg-1drywt respectively, bioaccumulation of Nickel in summer was higher than Lead, concentration in alagae8.63μgg-1drywt>sea urchin soft tissue3.27μgg-1drywt>deposition2.72μgg-1drywt>sea urchin hard tissue0.52μgg-1drywt respectively, was reported. Concentration of Lead and Nickel in sea water in winter and summer in 4 station was for Lead 10> μgl-1drywt and Nickel 5> μgl-1drywt. There was not a significant difference between the amount of pollutant in sea urchin soft and hard tissue, algae and the sediment in winter and summer (p≥0.05).

In this research for evaluate the effect of L- Carnitine on growth and body composition in Caspian Sea Kutum (Rutilus firsii kutum), an experiment with 240 pieces of fish (means weight 13.21 ± 2.5) was done during 70 days. Fish were randomly allocated in 12 tanks (20 fish per tank) The L-Carnitin level of diets was 500, 1000 and 2000 mgkg-1 of diet. Fish were fed of the three levels of L-carnitine with 7 percent body weight (3 times a day).The different level of L-Carnitine did not have a significant effect on body weight gain, the percent of body weight gain, specific growth rate, overweight rate and the percent of ash (P> 0.05) but, had a significant effect on percent of protein and lipid among different treatment (P<0.05). As the result, the different level of L-Carnitine did not have a significant effect on Caspian Sea Kutum growth but had effect on roach carrion quality.

In this study, performance and pedigree records of the native fowls of Fars province collected by Breeding Center during 1990-2004 were analyzed. A pedigree file collected on 30855 female and male birds was used to calculate the inbreeding coefficients. Heritability and Genetic and phenotypic correlations between recorded traits including body weight at 12 weeks (BW12), egg number (EN), egg weight (EW) and age sexual maturity (ASM) were estimated by multivariate animal model procedure by restricted maximum likelihood using ASREML software. On the other hand, The Inbreeding coefficient has been considered as a covariate to estimate its effects on traits. Results showed that inbreeding has not significant effects on recorded traits. The average of inbreeding coefficient for all birds were 0.002%, ranged from 0 to 14.8%. In this population, 14% of the birds were inbred, and average inbreeding coefficient for inbred birds was 0.019%. Estimated heritabilities were 0.53, 0.47, 0.57 and 0.22 for body weight at 12 weeks (BW12), age of sexual maturity (ASM), egg weight (EW) and egg number (EN), respectively. Due to relatively high heritability and low inbreeding coefficient of productive and reproductive traits, it is possible to achieve more progress in these traits using appropriate genetic selection.

The Iranian Cave Fish (Iranocypris typhlops) is one of at risk species and important genetic resource that only habitat of this species is a cave in Lorestan province. In order to Genetic Determination of Iranian Cave Fish, after sampling and DNA extraction from ventral fins of 2 fish, the 12S rRNA region was used. After loci amplifying in PCR, the all samples were sequenced. The results revealed that all sequence pattern of 12S rRNA region were similar that it can be concluded that The 12S rRNA region in the two Iranian Cave Fish were a one haplotype and there weren’t any variation and it would appear that the high genetic similarities and no differences are in the two Iranian Cave Fish of this population.

This study was to investigate the possibility of pellet production for grow out common carp considering attractiveness and stability of the pellets. The experiment consisted of two periods and was conducted at the Caspian Sea ecology research center in 2011 and 2012. In period one, two types of pellet with similar protein level (31%) and different energy contents (3000 and 3500 cal/g) were formulated by the ingredients used in fish feed industry. In period two, 316 juvenile carp with initial weight of 27.9g were assigned randomly to 9 fiberglass tanks (4×4×1 m), with three replicates for each treatment. The fish were fed by three diets throughout the eight weeks study, two diets were formulated in the current study and third one was a commercial carp diet with 25% protein. The results showed that feeding with diet containing 31% protein and 3500 cal/g energy led to a feed conversion ratio of 3, but this value was recorded 1.9 for commercial diet. The type of diets was also influenced (P<0.05) average final weight of the fish. Fish fed diet containing 31% protein and 3500cal/g energy showed largest weight gain and this value was significantly different from the other treatments. Pellet stability test showed that commercial pellet water stability was 3min, but this value for the two formulated pellet were 12 min. There was a highly significant difference for water stability between the commercial pellet and the formulated pellet. The result suggests that the formulated pellet in the current study can be easily replaced by commercial pellet.

Metaschistura cristata is a small nemacheilid loach species found only in Turkmenistan and Iran. The present study reports data on its feed habits and preferences, based on 1029 specimens collected in the northeast of Iran. Maximum age, based on opercula readings, was 6+ years for both sexes. Specimens ranged in size from 24 to 98 mm total length and weighted from 0.08 to 7.32 g. Length-weight relationships implied positive allometric growth for both sexes and sex ratio was 1:1. Small relative gut length (<1) confirmed that M. cristata is a carnivorous species. The values of relative gut length (13.2-86.4%) and gastrointestinal index (53.6-94.4%) increased significantly (P<0.05) with an increase in the age class from 0+ to 6+. The highest value of gastrointestinal index was observed in May. Based on the Ivlev index, the preferential feed ingredients were blood worm (chironomidae) and ephemeroptera. Overall, the present study provides evidence that the population of Metaschistura cristata in the northeast of Iran is in the unique condition; however, more experimentation is necessary to determine biological effects of this species on the ecosystems.