IRANIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED ANIMAL SCIENCE
Year:2016 | Volume:6 | Issue:4

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of DGAT1, OPN and PPARGC1A candidate genes on milk production traits in Iranian Holstein cattle. Several papers have studied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their association with economic traits in dairy cows, but the combined effect of these genes has not been examined in Iranian Holstein cattle population. Blood samples were collected from 398 registered Holstein cows. Total DNA was extracted using the salting out protocol. The PCR-RFLP technique was used for SNPs genotyping. The largest genotype frequency was estimated as 0.65 for PPARGC1A (c.1892) CT and the least frequency was estimated as 0.09 for DGAT1KK genotype. The allele frequencies were in the range 0.36 to 0.64 for PPARGC1A (c.3359) A and C alleles, respectively. The allelic substitution effects were estimated using a multiple regression model. The effects of allelic substitution for DGAT1K and PPARGC1A (c.1892) T were significant on estimated breeding values for fat percentage (EBVFP) (P<0.01). In addition, the results of multivariate analysis indicated the significant effect of DGAT1 and PPARGC1A (c.1892) on EBVFP (P<0.05). However, there were no association between OPN and PPARGC1A (c.3359) polymorphisms and studied traits.

The early interest in selenium (Se) focused on its toxicity, but since 1957 it has been recognized as an essential dietary element. The diet is the major Se source and approximately 80% of dietary Se is absorbed, depending on the type of food consumed. In several regions of the world, the content of Se in diets has been estimated as insufficient. The dietary requirement for Se for most species is about 0.3 ppm. Deficiencies of Se in animals have been confirmed under natural grazing conditions in many countries. Symptoms of deficiencies such as white muscle disease occur primarily in young calves or lambs born in low Se regions and thus we need to provide sufficient amounts in animal diets. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Se plays an important role in animal health. Therefore, this review gives a brief outline of the current information on the physical, chemical and metabolic properties of Se, oxidative stress, antioxidant defense, dietary requirement, deficiency, toxicity and effects of Se on fertility and performance.

There were no considerable up to date on the trace element requirements of commercial poultry in recent years in despite of the progress in their performance traits. One of the more prevalent problems in modern broiler production system which could be attributed to the trace mineral inadequacy is skeletal disorders. Zinc, is an essential trace element which acts as a co-factor in several metaloen-zymes and plays an important role in different metabolic pathways. Zinc deficiency in poultry affect the protein and carbohydrate metabolism and have negative effects on feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio and also is associated with immunological, reproductive, skeletal and skin disorders. The commercial poultry producers often use a considerable safety margin for trace minerals including Zn in feed formulation, which will resulted in trace mineral excretion into environment. There are differences in the recommended dietary Zn requirement between commercial strains of broiler chickens and all of them are differ from NRC (1994) recommendations.

Using 24 hours in vitro cultures of rumen microorganisms, this study investigates the effect of buffering capacity of 2 inorganic compounds (M1=119.43 and M2=116.50 meq/L) on the in vitro rumen acidogenic value (AV), medium pH, dry matter disappearance (INVDMD) and methane emission of lactating dairy cow diets containing various forage to concentrate ratios as 40:60 (FC40:60) and 30:70 (FC30:70) in a completely randomized design. Inorganic compounds were included in the experimental diets at the rate of 0.0, 10 or 20 g/kg DM. Diet with higher amount of concentrate caused a decline in medium pH, an increase in both AV and IVDMD. The acidogenic value of FC40:6containing M2 at 20, M1 at 10 and 20 g/kg DM and FC 30:70 plus M1 and M2 at 20 g/kg DM was the lowest. The lowest level of CH 4 emission (mL/0.20 g DM) was observed in FC30:70 plus M1 at the rate of 10 g/kg DM, while the highest level belongs to FC40:60 plus M1 at 10 g/kg DM and FC30:70 containing M1 at 20 and M2 at 10 g/kg DM. It has been concluded that the higher buffering capacity of a lactating diet might reduce the rumen acid load and increased IVDMD, while a diet with higher amount of concentrate causes to decline rumen methane emission.

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of somatic cell counts (SCC), differential SCC (macrophage (MAC), lymphocyte (LYM) and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN)), number and stage lactation on milk composition in camel and cow milk. Camel milk appeared to contain significantly (P<0.05) a higher content of minerals. Lipolysis level is similar in camel milk compared to cow milk. Lipolysis level increased as MAC level increased in camel’s milk but not in cow’s milk. Our results suggest that MAC play a role in the degradation of dromedary milk fat. Mineral compositions were significantly affected by the SCC in camel milk. The milk composition was not affected by lactation number in both species. Total solid, Ca and Na content in camel’s milk were gradually decreased through lactation.

Origanum vulgare contains high levels of phenolic compounds such as gallic acid and polyphenols such as rosmarinic acid and quercetin. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Origanum vulgare extract, as a natural antioxidant, on freezing-thawing semen quality in Holstein bulls. Three Holstein bulls (5-6 years old, mean live weight 800 kg) were used for semen collection twice a week for two months. Ethanol extract of Origanum vulgare (2, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mL/dL extender) was added to a citrate-yolk-base extender. After freezing-thawing sperm motility parameters, viability and membrane integrity were determined using a CASA system, eosin-nigrosin staining, and hypo-osmotic swelling test, respectively; malondialdehyde concentration and activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase were also measured. The percentages of motility were higher (P<0.05) in the freezing extender containing 4 mL/dL Origanum vulgare extract (72.34±7.98). Addition of 2 and 4 mL/dL extract of Origanum vulgare significantly improved the motility, viability and plasma membrane integrity of the spermatozoa following freezing-thawing process compared to the control group. Addition of 4 mL/dL extract significantly reduced the concentration of malondialdehyde compared to the control group (P<0.05). The activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase increased significantly by inclusion of 4 and 8 mL/dL extract of Origanum vulgare to the extender (1.86±0.18 and 1.92±0.28 U/mg protein; 4.54±0.13 and 4.28±0.28 U/mg protein, respectively). The activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase was significantly increased by inclusion of 4 and 8 mL/dL extract to the extender. In conclusion, addition of 2 and 4 mL/dL extract of Origanum vulgare to the semen extender improved the post-thawed quality of semen, which may be due to increasing in antioxidant enzyme activity and reduction in lipid peroxidation.

The objective of present study was to derive the economic values for number of inseminations to conception, calving interval, milk yield and stillbirth, using economic data of 10 Iranian Holstein herds. The economic values were derived by using the profit function methods and differentiating a profit equation with respect to the traits of interest. The cow fertility costs herd amortization or replacement cost and cow feed cost were included in the profit function. The average of feed cost per cow per day was 8.65 USD. The total feed cost comprised 61 percent of milk production, 23 percent of maintenance, 12 percent of pregnancy and 4 percent of growth. In calculation of cow feed cost, the estimated cost for each Mcal and per g protein of feed were 0.0006 and 0.165 USD, respectively. The replacement cost of each heifer per cow herd was 1719 USD. The average cost of each insemination was 30 USD. The estimated economic values for the number of insemination, calving interval, milk yield and one percent unit of stillbirth, were -82, -2.08, 0.193 and -1.27 USD per cow/per year, respectively. The results of the current study suggested that improving the number of inseminations, calving interval, milk yield and stillbirth will have a positive effect on the profit-ability of Iranian Holstein cows.

The study was conducted at Ardaita Agricultural Technical Vocational Education Training (ATVET) college dairy farm, to evaluate the reproductive performance of Holstein Friesian and its crosses with Boran cattle breeds. Data collected between 2000 and 2015 on reproductive traits (n=2632) were studied and analyzed using general linear model procedure. The overall estimated means for age at first service (AFS), age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI), days open (DO) and number of services per conception (NSC) were: 31.33±0.44 months, 41.08±0.44 months, 405.50±3.32 days, 134.84±3.51 days and 1.36±0.03, respectively. Except age at first service, which is influenced by level of Holestien Friesian percentage, sea-son of calving and level of Holestien Friesian percentage was not significant (P>0.05) on all reproductive traits. The traits calving interval and days open significantly (P<0.001) influenced by year of calving and parity. Season of birth (P<0.05) and year of birth (P<0.001) significantly influenced age at first service and age at first calving. Service per conception was significantly influenced by year of calving (P<0.001) only. Except number of service per conception, the result obtained for age at first service, age at first calving, days open and calving interval of Holstein Friesian and its crosses with Boran cows in the study area were below the standards set for commercial dairy farms. Therefore, consideration should be given to the farm to improve those genetic and non-genetic factors affected performance.

A simulation study was conducted to address the issue of how purely additive (simple) genetic architecture might impact on the efficacy of parametric and non-parametric genomic prediction methods. For this purpose, we simulated a trait with narrow sense heritability h2=0.3, with only additive genetic effects for 300 loci in order to compare the predictive ability of 14 more practically used genomic prediction models based on four criteria (mean squared error (MSE), Bias, gy,GEBV and gGEBV,TBV). Results suggested that parametric genomic prediction models have greater superiority over non parametric genomic models under a simple purely additive genetic architecture. Our result also showed that, all parametric methods, other than ridge-regression BLUP (RR-BLUP), could explain most of phenotypic variation because they showed lower MSE, higher predictive correlation (gy,GEBV), the least amount of bias (by,GEBV) and the higher correlations between true breeding values and the estimated genomic breeding values (gTBV,GEBV). Random forest regression had the worst performance among non parametric methods. The simulation results suggested that there is a large difference between performances of non parametric methods in comparison with parametric methods when underlying architecture is purely additive. But this may not happen when dominance and epistatic genetic effects contributing to both additive and non-additive genetic variances.

This study was conducted to investigate the scenario of buffalo production and reproduction under different farming systems at Subarno Char, in the coastal area of Bangladesh. A total of 14 farms were randomly selected and studied for various traits live weight (LW); daily milk yield (DMY); lactation length (LL); lactation production (LP); calving interval (CI); gestation length (GL); post partum heat period (PPH); age at first calving (AFC) and service per conception (SPC) of buffaloes through pre designed questionnaire, direct observation and available records. The LW (372.31±14.64 kg) and DMY (1.99±0.16 liter/day/cow) were found to be highest under semi-intensive bathan farming systems than other systems, however, the LL (275.25±2.857 days) and LP (628.80±34.49 liter) were found higher under extensive bathan farming system irrespective of breeds. On the other hand, LW (390.54±14.06 kg), DMY (2.82±0.13 liter/day/cow), LL (284.96±3.31 days) and LP (899.75±52.83 liter) were higher in River type buffaloes than other types. The GL (305.37±0.72 days), CI (640.34±51.31 days), AFC (54.72±1.57 months) and SPC (1.62±0.21) were found lowest under semi-intensive bathan farming system, but PPHP (134.04±5.30 days) was found lowest under the extensive bathan farming system. The GL (301.74±0.63 days), PPHP (123.21±7.50 days), AFC (47.00±1.35 months) and SPC (1.40±0.16) were found lowest in River type buffaloes, but CI (660.31±43.82) was lowest in crossbred buffalo cows. The birth weight was highest (28.28±0.48 kg) under semi-intensive bathan farming system. Productive and reproductive performances of buffaloes under the study area found were moderate. The profitability of buffalo rearing under extensive farming system was higher than other. The findings of this study may assist farmers and policy makers in making decisions for future buffalo farming and undertaking the genetic improvement program to increase the milk production in Bangladesh.

A feeding trial with twenty-seven male weaned Zandi lambs (initial body weight 27.1±0.38 kg) was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae SC47 in diet containing high concentrate (85%) on the growth performance, blood parameters and immune system status. Lambs were allocated to one of three treatment diets in a completely randomized design with 3 replicates and 3 observations per replicate including: 1) basal diet without yeast, control diet; (CD) 2) basal diet with 3 g yeast per lambper day, low yeast; (LY) and 3) basal diet supplemented with 4.5 g yeast per lambper day, high yeast; (HY). Regarding dry matter intake (DMI), there was no significant difference among treatments (P>0.05). Average daily gain (ADG) was greater in HY group, but differences among treatments were not significant (P>0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not significantly affected by dietary treatments (P>0.05). Differences between concentrations of total protein, globulin and albumin/globulin ratio (A/G) were significant (P<0.05). The highest amount of total protein and globulin was observed in LY group (P>0.05). Lambs in CD group had the highest amount of A/G ratio. No significant differences were found for the hematology results (P>0.05). No significant differences were detected in differential white blood cells, except neutrophil band that was greater in HY group at the twelfth week (P<0.05).It is concluded that the use of dietary live yeast in high concentration can improve performance (P>0.05), plasma biochemical metabolites (P<0.05) and hematological parameters (P>0.05) in Zandi lambs.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of pre-pubertal plane of nutrition on the skeletal growth, lamb mortality, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations, quantity and quality of colostrum produced in ewe lambs. A total of 40 clinically health Kurdish female lambs (30±8.6 d and weighing 10.2±3.4 kg) were randomly allocated to one of two experimental diets in pre-weaning period: high quality diet (HQD, 2.50 Mcal ME/kg dry matter (DM) and 148 g CP/kg DM) or low quality diet (LQD, 2.02 Mcal ME/kg DM and 87 g CP/kg DM). At weaning, one half of lambs from each group was randomly separated and assigned to HQD or LQD. So there were four treatment groups in post-weaning period: H-H (HQD pre- and post-weaning); H-L (HQD pre-weaning and LQD post-weaning); L-H (LQD pre-weaning and HQD post-weaning) and L-L (LQD pre and post-weaning, control group). Weekly DM intake was determined. Serum IGF-1 concentrations was determined by ELISA method. The HQD treatment increased DM intake and BW (body Weight) compared with the LQD treatment during pre-weaning period (P<0.01). At 210 d of age, animals fed LQD during the pre-weaning period and HQD during the post-weaning period (L-H sequence) had greater body length (BL), wither height (WH), hip height (HH) and hip width (HW) than animals on the H-L sequence. No interaction of the two periods was detected for heart girth, HW, WH, BL at 210 d of age (P>0.05). HW at weaning time was not affected by quality of diet. However, lambs of H-H and L-H sequences had a higher increase in HW during post-weaning period compared with lambs of H-L and L-L sequences. Quantity and quality of colostrum was not influenced by pre-pubertal plane of nutrition (P>0.05). Based on the results of current study the authors’ suggestion is that skeletal compensatory growth during post-weaning period can compensate losses caused by poor nutrition during pre-weaning period. And also, the results indicated that skeletal size is a better indication for first-lactation colostrum yield than body weight (BW).

This experiment was carried out on 123 Farahani ewes from a herd in Delijan city in Markazi province of Iran to determine the best short-term method for oestrus synchronization. Ewes were divided into five experimental groups randomly: group 1) use of controlled intervaginal drug release devices (CIDR) for 7 days with intramuscular (IM) injection of PGF2a on zero day and IM injection of 500 IU equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) at the time of CIDR removal; group 2) use of CIDR for 7 days and IM injection of PGF2a on the 6th day and IM injection of 500 IU eCG at the time of CIDR removal; group 3) use of intravaginal sponge for 7 days with IM injection of PGF2a on zero day and IM injection of 500 IU eCG at the time of sponge removal; group 4) use of intravaginal sponge for 7 days with IM injection of PGF2a on the 6th day and IM injection of 500 IU eCG at the time of sponge removal and group 5) control, without any treatment. Results showed that parturition percentage on expected date was almost doubled in all treatment groups when compared to control group. Each treatment used for oestrus synchronization increased the percentage of twinning on expected date in comparison with control group. Obtained results indicated that the most ewes lambed on expected date after 7 day treatment with both the intra-vaginal sponge and CIDR, and had a favorable impact on fertility of ewes.

This experiment was conducted to determine the reproductive performance of Arabian ewes treated with short and long-term progesterone devices in addition to low doses of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) during the anoestrus season. A total of 36 ewes were divided into three groups: in group I vaginal sponges (60 mg medroxy progesterone acetate; (MAP)) were applied and removed after 6 days; in group II, vaginal MAP sponges were removed 12 days following insertion, while group III served as control group. The first two groups were intramuscularly injected with of 300 IU eCG, following sponge removal. Parameters such as oestrus response rate, time to onset of oestrus, duration of oestrus, pregnancy, lambing and fecundity rates were evaluated. Blood samples were collected one day before sponge insertion and two days after sponge insertion and on day of oestrus. There were significant differences between the group I and II with control group regarding the plasma estradiol and progesterone levels. There were no significant differences in oestrus response, time to onset of oestrus, pregnancy, lambing and fecundity rates between groups I and II (P>0.05). However, differences were significant when these two treatment groups were compared with the control group. In group I, duration of oestrus was significantly higher than group II (P<0.05). In addition, other factors in group I was numerically greater than group II (P>0.05). It was concluded that short-term sponge treatment (6 days) had better performance when compared with the long-term sponge treatment (12 days) in Arabian ewes.

Utilization of fecundity genes such as GDF9 and BMP15 can help improve reproductive traits in sheep breeding programme. To evaluate effects of missense mutations on protein function, the polymorphisms of GDF9 and BMP15 genes were screened in twelve mehraban sheep using DNA sequencing, followed by protein structure modeling. Six single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) known as FecG mutations (G1-G6), were detected in exons 1 and 2 of GDF9 gene. Mutations of G1 (GDF9 exon 1 g.2118 G>A), G4 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3451 T>C) and G6 (GDF9 exon 2 g.3974 G>A) have shown amino acid substitution. None polymorphism was detected in exon 1 and exon 2 of BMP15 gene. Based on identified polymorphisms, individuals were classified into three haplotypes of wild haplotype (without mutation), haplotype A (simultaneous mutations of G1, G2, G3 and G4) and haplotype B (simultaneous mutations of G5 and G6). The 3D-structure of GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes was rotated 90o and 45o than wild haplotype, respectively. The missenses G1/p.Arg87His, G4/p.Glu241Lys and G6/p.Val332Ile variants were benign. However both the missenses of G7/p.Val371Met and G8/p.Ser315Phe were probably damaging. Phylogenetic tree of GDF9 gene revealed that individuals with A and B haplotypes were distinct from wild haplotypes with bootstrapping values of 63 and 76, respectively. In conclusion, GDF9 protein in A and B haplotypes showed a higher performance than wild haplotype due to synergism effects of simultaneous mutations. These types of mutations with effect on turn and helix of GDF9 conservative regions showed physical and functional interaction with TGFb proteins.

Myogenin gene (MYoG) affects the synthesis of muscle myofibrillar growth and increase of meat produc-tion. The myostatin (MSTN) gene is identified as a specific negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. Reduction of the expression level of MSTN through mutation in the sequence of this gene leads to an in-crease of myogenesis and regeneration of muscle cells during the postnatal growing period of sheep. The Baluchi sheep are among the most popular breeds of sheep for breeding in Iran and have an important por-tion in meat production industry of the country. In present work the relative expression level of the two candidate genes have been studied at two age intervals (9 and 12 months) in male and female Baluchi sheep. In order to analyze the relative expression level of MYoG and MSTN gene in Baluchi sheep’s long-issimus muscles, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) reaction has been applied. Results of RT-PCR for sex effect showed MSTN and MYoG expression were not highly expressed in ram’ longissimus dorsi compared to ewe at the same age stages (P>0.05) and there were no significant differ-ences between male 12 months comparing to female 12 months (P>0.05) and male 9 months with female 9 months (P>0.05). For the effect of age, relative expression of MYoG and MSTN genes on Baluchi sheep longissimus muscles did not show significant differences between males or females (P>0.05).

This study was designed to identify genetically resistant animals to gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections using microsatellite polymorphisms of Ovar-DRB1 gene in Iranian Ghezel sheep breed lambs. In the present study 120 male Ghezel lambs were at 4 to 6 months of age randomly selected from six different sheep flocks in East Azerbaijan province (n=20 per flock). These lambs were naturally infected with GINs, and individual fecal samples were collected twice with a week interval to evaluate fecal egg counts (FEC). Blood samples were also collected for DNA isolation and PCR was performed to amplify the second exon and microsatellites within the second intron of the Ovar-DRB1 gene. The data were analyzed using a mixed model of SAS software. The present study identified 24 genotypes and 20 alleles on Ovar-DRB1 gene. Results indicated that the presence of 510 bp (base pair) allele (called allele F) in both homozygote and heterozygote animals had a strong association (P<0.01) with lower FEC; while, presence of 506 bp allele (called allele E) in homozygote animals was significantly associated (P<0.01) with higher FEC. Thus, this study showed a strong association between microsatellite polymorphism of Ovar-DRB1 gene and resistance to GIN infections in Ghezel sheep lambs.

The aim of this study was to estimate amount of inbreeding coefficient in Shal sheep and its impact on growth performance. Pedigree information and body weight at different ages (birth weight, 3 month weight, 6 month weight, 9 month weight and 12 month weight) were used from 6692 lambs from 90 rams and 1007 ewes. Data were collected on Ghazvin sheep breeding station during 1997-2013. Estimation of inbreeding coefficient was done by CFC program and quantifying the individual inbreeding regression of traits was run by wombat software. Number of inbred animals at pedigree was 1616 lambs, equal to 24.15% of total population. The average of inbreeding coefficient on whole population and inbred population were 1.51% and 6.28%, respectively. Regression coefficients per 1% inbreeding for birth weight, 3 month weight, 6 month weight, 9 month weight and 12 months weight were estimated as -0.001, -0.017, -0.005, -0.019 and -0.019 kg, respectively. The highest inbreeding coefficient was 31.25% and most of inbred animals had inbreeding coefficients lower than 5%. These results confirmed the low level of inbreeding in the population. Annual trend of inbreeding coefficient on population average was 0.07 and non significant statistically. Applying a designed mating system like cross-breeding could be a suitable method to avoid inbreeding depression.

A comparative study of artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple regression is made to predict the fat tail weight of Balouchi sheep from birth, weaning and finishing weights. A multilayer feed forward network with back propagation of error learning mechanism was used to predict the sheep body weight. The data (69 records) were randomly divided into two subsets. The first subset is the training set comprising of 75 percent data (52 records) to build the neural network model and test data set comprising of 25 percent (17 re-cords), which is not used during the training and is used to evaluate performance of different models. The mean relative error was significantly (P<0.01) lower for ANN than the MLR model. The coefficient of de-termination (R2) values computed for the body measurements were generally higher (0.93) using ANN model than the multiple linear regression (MLR) model (0.81). The ANN model improved the mean squared error (MSE) of the MLR model by 59% and R2 by 15% that the ANN represents a valuable tool for predicting of lamb fat tail weight from birth, weaning and finishing weights.

In this study, genetic diversity of two different populations of Hamra goat breed of Morocco was investigated in 60 different samples (including 30 from Beni Arouss and 30 from Rommani) using fifteen microsatellite markers. A total of 145 alleles were detected with average number per locus of 8.67 and 8.07 in Beni Arouss and Rommani goats, respectively. The Shannon’s information index ranged from 1.58 in Rommani goats to 1.66 in Beni Arouss goats. The expected and the observed heterozygosity average over loci varied from 0.62 to 0.72 in Rommani and from 0.64 to 0.75 in Beni Arouss goats. Six markers in Beni Arouss goats and five in Rommani goats showed a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The FIS values were 0.110 and 0.108 for Beni Arouss and Rommani goats, respectively. A low genetic differentiation was indicated by FST values across the two goat groups. The genetic distance of Nei between the two groups was 0.046 indicating a low genetic differentiation. This was confirmed by the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) that showed that 99.15% of variation was distributed within genetic groups. The presence of two clusters (K=2) for microsatellite markers suggested a high level of population admixture. It was concluded that both groups (Beni Arouss and Romani) presented a high similarity and may be considered as belonging to the same population.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary energy sources and levels on performance and small intestinal morphology in broiler chickens. A total of 600 one-day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into five treatments with four replicates each. Chicks were fed diet based on corn as main energy source and energy level based on Cobb 500 manual instruction considered control group (C), basal diet with 3% lesser energy than control (T1), basal diet with 6% lesser energy than control (T2), basal diet based on corn and soy oil level according to Cobb 500 manual instruction (T3), basal diet based on corn and soy oil with 3% upper energy (T4) for 42 days. Results showed that chicks in T3 group had higher body weight, body weight gain and duodenum villus height compared to control group (C) and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) at day 42 of age (P<0.05). Chicks in T2 group exhibited the lowest body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG) and FCR but the highest feed intake (P<0.05). Feeding of diet T4 improved daily weight gain and duodenal villus height while caused concurrently increased FCR. Energy levels greater than Cobb recommendation significantly increased the villus height of the duodenum and de-creased crypt depth compared to the control group (P<0.05). In order to achieve a higher weight more energy is needed than the recommended manual instruction for Cobb 500 but to have better feed conversion ratio the energy level recommended manual instruction is sufficient.

Lysine (Lys) and Methionine (Met) as two primary essential amino acids and precursors of carnitine biosynthesis are involved in most of economical traits function in domestic animals. We assessed the impact of dietary Lys and Met on the performance, lipid redistribution, intramuscular fat, carcass quality and especially phenotypic correlations among some studied parameters in broiler chickens.300 day-old male Ross 308 chicks were randomly divided among 5 treatments, with 4 replicates per treatment. There were 15 chicks in each replicate in a completely randomized design. Same basal diet was supplemented with 5 levels of synthetic Lys and Met in amount of 0, 10, 20, 30 or 40% higher than National Research Council (NRC), 1994 recommendation for starter and grower periods. The collected data were analyzed and deter-mined the correlation coefficient by SAS software and Duncan’s test was used to compare the means on a value of (P<0.05). The results indicated that the two highest levels of Lys and Met treatments (30 and 40% more than NRC recommendation) led to significant increase in carcass efficiency, European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF), blood albumin, breast muscle, heart, spleen, lymphocytes and liver weight (P<0.05), whereas feed conversion ratio (FCR), crude fat contents of breast and thigh muscles and plasma triglyceride were the least in these two treatment groups (P<0.05). Statistical analysis also showed many numbers of significant (at levels of P<0.01 or P<0.05) positive or negative correlations between the studied traits. For example highly positive correlations between carcass efficiency with heart, liver, spleen and breast weights and negative correlations with FCR, abdominal fat, plasma triglyceride, heterophyles breast and thigh fat was observed. As a conclusion of present study, dietary Lys and Met in higher levels of NRC recommendation could influence the parameters relate to performance, fat distribution, carcass quality and immune system in broilers.

The present study was designed to study the chemical composition, apparent and true metabolizable energy values of the walnut meal and to evaluate the effects of different levels of walnut meal (0, 10, 20 and 30%) on Japanese quail's growth performance, blood metabolites, relative weight of different organs, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in breast meat and egg yolks' cholesterol. This study was conducted as a completely randomize design with 288 unsexed Japanese quails randomly dividing into 4 treatments with 4 replicates of 18 birds each. As a result of this study, no significant differences were found for feed intake and feed conversion ratio (P>0.05), except the birds fed 30% walnut meal showed lower weight gain com-pared to the control at 7-21 days of age (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in serum glucose, uric acid, serum aspartate aminotranspherase (AST) and alanine aminotranspherase (ALT) activities between different dietary treatments. The serum low density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol and triglyceride tended to decrease linearly (P<0.01) as the walnut meal levels were increased. The serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) level in quails fed 10% walnut meal were significantly higher than control group (P<0.05). Consumption of different levels of walnut meal significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in breast meat of chicks aged 42 d (P<0.01). Different dietary treatments had no effect on the relative weight of different organs and carcass traits. In general, walnut meal is a good source of energy (apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn) 3689 kcal/kg), oil (23%) and crude protein (40%) and could be used up to 20% for young chicks and 30% for older chicks, without any adverse effect on growth performance.

A total number of 66 day old Japanese quail chicks divided into 2 treatment groups (33 in each treatment) with 3 replications in each having 11 birds (male, 5 and female, 6) were reared on floor and in cage system for a period of 5 weeks to know the effect of rearing system on growth performance and carcass characteristics. At the age of 35 days, average body weight and feed intake were 102.15 and 320.7 g/quail for cage and 78.41 and 146.02 g/quail for floor system, respectively. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was 3.89 and 4.10 for cage and floor system, respectively (P<0.01), at the end of study period. Body weight, feed intake and FCR were significantly (P<0.01) different between cage and floor rearing system. At the age of 21 and 35 days survivability were 72.72 and 72.72% for cage and 63.63 and 60.60% for floor, respectively. There was higher survivability in cage system. In case of meat yield characteristics, average weight of breast, thigh, wing, drum stick were 20.92, 7.37, 5.42 and 5.72 g for cage and 20.84, 7.35, 5.39 and 5.63 g for floor, respectively. There were no significant difference among average weight of breast, thigh and drum stick be-tween two rearing system. In case of sex average, wing weight differed among sexes. It was concluded that cage reared quails showed better performance compared to littered floor rearing system.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of offering a multi-material innovative (MMI) feed including: Vitex agnuscastus, Thymus vulgaris, Lavandula angustifolia, Marigold (Calendula officinalis) on curtails molting and sex hormone concentrations in canaries and laying hens. In the first study, a total of 120 female molted canaries were allotted in to 12 cages of 10 birds with 4 replicates for 135 d. Treatments were control (drinking water without MMI) and 1.25 g or 2.25 g MMI dissolved in 1 L of drinking water. In the second study, a total of 72 molted laying hens were allotted to 24 cages of 3 birds with 8 replicates fed with similar treatments of the first study for 21 d. Results showed that at 45, 90, and 135 d, a linear and quadratic decrease (L and Q: P£0.006) in plasma prolactin and a linear increase (L: P£0.037) in plasma progestron and estrogen concentrations of canaries as MMI levels increased. On d 21, the plasma concentrations of prolactin (L and Q: P=0.001), progesterone (L: P=0.042), and estrogen (Q: P=0.036) in-creased in laying hens along with the increasing of MMI levels. Also, the feather rejuvenation of canaries and laying hens was decreased (L and Q: P£0.018) with increasing MMI levels. The egg production in-creased in the first (L: P=0.045), second, and third (L and Q: P£0.005) weeks with no pronounced trends in feed intake and drinking water of laying hens during the experiment. The use of MMI in the drinking water of canaries increased sex hormones production and shortened molting duration. Also, the innovative dietary additive has stimulating effects on egg production of laying hens without impressed feed or water consumption.

This experiment was carried out to evaluate different levels of peppermint (Mentha piperita) plant powder usage on feed conversion ratio (FCR), body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), body temperature, carcass parts (breast and thigh) and internal organs (liver, heart, gizzard) weights in broiler chicken. A total of 192 broiler chicken were randomly divided into 4 experimental treatments with 4 replicates (12 birds per replicate) arranged in a completely randomized design. Experimental diets consisted of: (1) basal diet (control); (2) basal diet+1% peppermint powder; (3) basal diet+2% peppermint powder and (4) basal diet+300 mg of vitamin E per kilogram. Heat stress performed by setting room temperature on 34 °C for 8 hours/day from 35 to 42 days of age. Results showed peppermint powder supplement in all levels significantly affected the FCR at 21 days of age and BW at 42 days of age (P<0.05). Birds treated by basal diet plus vitamin E and control diet showed the highest and lowest FCR values, respectively, at 21days of age. Body weight and feed consumption were significantly reduced in birds in the heat stress group. Peppermint powder supple-mentation at the level of 1% reduced body temperature compared with the control group during heat stress period (P<0.05). Significant differences were observed between dietary treatments for the relative weights of carcass, breast and thigh at 35 days of age and breast, gizzard and liver relative weights at 42 days of age (P<0.05). Birds fed basal diet plus vitamin E had higher carcass weight than the control groups on 35 days. In general, the results of this study revealed that peppermint powder as a natural antioxidant has beneficial effects on chicken growth performance, body temperature regulation and carcass and internal organ weights.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of protexin probiotic and aquablend avian antibody on the performance and immune system of broilers. In this experiment, 320 1-day-old male broiler chicks of the Ross 308, with 5 treatments and 4 replications in a completely randomized design were distributed in experimental units (cages). The treatments include: control (C), protexin (P1), protexin (P2) with double there commended dose, aquablend (A1) and aquablend (A2) aquablend twice there commended amount. The results showed that protexin probiotic and aquablend avian antibody in different doses had no significant effects on average weight gain and feed consumption of broilers at different week (P>0.05). A significant difference between treatments was observed in feed conversion ratio at the second and fifth weeks (P<0.05). Consumption protexin probiotic and aquablend avian antibody with different doses has significant effect on the relative weight of carcasses (P<0.01). Consumption protexin probiotic and aquablend avian antibody with different doses had no significant effect on antibody titers produced in primary and secondary challenge with sheep red blood cells (P>0.05). According to results of this research, it seems that the using of protexin probiotic and aquablend avian antibody has not importance effect on improving the performance of broilers except for carcass weight.

This study was carried out to investigate the egg production performance and egg quality characteristics of the indigenous chickens reared in rural areas of two different climates of Isfahan province. Totally, 2160 indigenous chickens were studied in this research. Two dominant climatic regions (cold and hot) were de-termined for Isfahan province. In each climate, two towns and three villages in each town were chosen. Chadegan and Khansar were considered as cold and Kashan as well as Varzane were considered as towns in hot climate. Furthermore, six families were determined as experimental units in each village (a total of 72 families). Primarily, thirty-six chicks and four roosters of 45 day-old ages were delivered to each family. Laying performance of the chicks was recorded during the laying period (21-72 weeks of age). The egg quality characteristics were recorded once every two months. The results showed that although climate affected egg production across 25-32 and 57-64 weeks of ages (P<0.05), it did not influence the average egg production during the entire laying period. The least egg production observed in Chadegan (25.9%) which was significantly lower than Varzane and Khansar (35.9% and 37.5%, respectively; P<0.05). Moreover, shell qualitative index in cold climate was statistically better than that in hot climate (P<0.05). Chadegan had the highest egg shell thickness and shell to egg weight ratio among four towns (P<0.05). Furthermore, yolk color index in hot climate was significantly improved compared to cold climate (P<0.05). In conclusion, the egg qualitative characteristics were affected by climate conditions.

In order to have a good perspective of wild animals, it is necessary to determine their population and genetic structure. It provides an opportunity to decide on better conservation managements. In the wilderness, due to the escapable nature and sometimes not having the distinguishable bisexual appearance, sex identification could be difficult by observing animals. The X- and Y- chromosome linked amelogenin (AMELX and AMELY) due to its independent and different evolution on both chromosomes could play an important role in sex determining of wild animals. To determine the sex ratio and also the genetic structure of AMELX and AMELY in Maral deer (Cervus elaphus maral), 37 samples were collected from populations were located in north parts of Iran. Results showed that in female deer, the amelogenin gene had one banding patterns (231 bp, for X chromosome) and the male deer had two banding pattern (231 bp and 180 bp for X and Y chromosomes, respectively). The AMELY of Maral had in/del mutation (54 bp). The genetic distance (D) of AMELX from Maral deer and Red deer was 0.12±0.02, it was calculated zero for AMELY. The phylogenetic analysis of AMELX and AMELY of different deer species, showed no distance for AMELY and the D was 0.048 ± 0.009 for AMELX. It is recommended that sex determination of wild animals, especially mammalian populations using amelogenin gene would be a useful and simple method which could provide further information for genetic conservation strategies.

An experiment has been performed to utilize the wasted and disposed fish from White Nile River after simple heat treatments (Sun drying, roasting, direct boiling and indirect boiling) in layers’ rations from 19 up to 40 weeks to replace the imported concentrate with the levels of 0, 1.5, 3.5 and 5% for all heat treatments. The crude protein of treated fish was 50.75, 52.50, 50.55 and 50.05% for sun drying, roasting, direct boiling and indirect boiling, respectively and for super concentrate 31.50%. Rations had been formulated according to NRC, 1994 recommendations. A total of 390 birds of Hyline W-98 at 19 week of age were randomly distributed for groups, 5 group (6 replicate/13 birds). The performance of layers during the productive period (22 up to 40 weeks) showed significant differences (P<0.05) for feed intake, body weight gain, egg production and egg quality characteristics among treatment groups. The sun dried, roasted and supper concentrate respectively had the highest feed intake and body weight, while indirect boiling and boiling fish showed the lowest one. Sun dried 1.5%, roasted 1.5 and 3.5% levels and supper concentrates were the best egg production percentages and weights while the indirect boiling and direct boiling treatments were the lowest ones. There were no any significant differences among treatments for egg shell, weight, shell thick-ness and panel test. The study recommended the utilization of local wasted and disposal fish of White Nile River in substitution of imported concentrates in layers rations.