scholarly journals The influence of liver fluke infection on production in sheep and cattle: a meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Hayward ◽  
Philip J. Skuce ◽  
Tom N. McNeilly

ABSTRACTLiver flukes (Fasciola spp) are important parasites of sheep and cattle across the world, causing significant damage to animal health and productivity due to both acute and chronic infection. Many comprehensive reviews have discussed the results of decades of research into the impact of fluke infection on livestock performance traits such as weight gain and milk production. While fluke are considered to be important, there have been no attempts to collate previous research in a quantitative manner, and nor has there been an attempt to determine why some studies find substantial effects of fluke while others conclude that effects of fluke on animal performance are negligible. In this study, we used meta-analysis to provide quantitative estimates of the impact of liver fluke on animal performance, and to identify elements of study design that influence the conclusions of such studies. A literature search provided 233 comparisons of performance in “fluke-infected” and “uninfected” animals. We standardized these data as log response ratios and calculated effect size variances in order to weight studies by their sample size and accuracy of their estimates. We performed multi-level meta-analysis to estimate effects of fluke infection in five traits: daily weight gain (N = 77); live weight (N = 47); carcass weight (N = 84); total weight gain (N = 18) and milk production (N = 6). There were significant negative effects of fluke infection on daily weight gain, live weight and carcass weight (9%, 6% and 0.6% reductions in performance, respectively), but not total weight gain or milk production. We then used mixed-effects meta-analysis to estimate the impact of moderator variables, including host, fluke, and study design factors, on study outcomes. We found that, in general, studies that gave experimental infections found generally larger effects of fluke than observational or drug studies; younger animals were more likely to suffer the effects of fluke infection on daily weight gain; and that effects on live weight increased across the course of an experiment. Our results provide the first quantitative estimate of the importance of liver fluke on performance across studies and highlight the elements of study design that can influence conclusions. Furthermore, our literature search revealed areas of research into liver fluke that could be the subject of greater effort, and types of study that could form the basis of future meta-analyses.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6074
Author(s):  
Esther Khayanga Sumbule ◽  
Mary Kivali Ambula ◽  
Isaac Maina Osuga ◽  
Janice Ghemoh Changeh ◽  
David Miano Mwangi ◽  
...  

The acceptance of eco-friendly black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFLM) as sustainable alternative protein ingredient in poultry feeds continues to gain momentum worldwide. This study evaluates the impact of BSFLM in layer chick and grower diets on the growth, carcass quality and economic returns. Mean weekly weight gain and total live weight per chick and grower varied significantly. The highest final weight gain was achieved when birds were provided diet with 25.6% BSFLM. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gain (ADG) and overall weight gain of the chick varied significantly, except for the feed conversion ratio (FCR). For grower birds, ADFI, ADG, FCR and overall weight gain did not vary significantly across the various feeding regimes. The weight of the wings and drumsticks had a quadratic response with a maximum weight obtained at 33% inclusion of BSFLM. The weight of the internal organs were not significantly affected by dietary types. Positive cost–benefit ratio and return on investment was recorded for diet types with higher BSFLM inclusion levels (>75%). Diets with 25% and 100% BSFLM inclusion were the most suitable and cost-effective, respectively. Thus, BSFLM represents a promising alternative source of protein that could be sustainably used in the poultry industries.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Hayward ◽  
Philip J. Skuce ◽  
Tom N. McNeilly

AbstractLiver fluke (Fasciola spp.) are important helminth parasites of livestock globally and cause significant reductions in health and productivity of beef cattle. Attempts to control fluke have been thwarted by the difficulty of vaccine design, the evolution of flukicide resistance, and the need to control the intermediate snail host. Mechanisms to reduce the impact of parasites on animal performance have typically focused on promoting host resistance – defined as the ability of the host to kill and remove the parasite from its system – and such strategies include improving protein nutrition or selectively breeding for resistance. Organisms, however, have another broad mechanism for mitigating the impact of parasites: they can show tolerance, defined as the ability to maintain health or performance under increasing parasite burden. Tolerance has been studied in the plant literature for over a century, but there are very few empirical studies of parasite tolerance in livestock. In this study, we used data collected from >90,000 beef cattle to estimate the impact of the severity of liver fluke infection on performance and variation in tolerance of fluke. Severity of liver fluke infection was estimated using liver “fibrosis score” on a scale of 0-3 and performance estimated as (1) age at slaughter and (2) daily dead weight gain. Animals with higher fibrosis scores were slaughtered around two weeks later than animals with no fluke, and gained around 10g less weight per day. There was also considerable variation in these effects of fibrosis score, such that animals from different producers and breeds varied in their tolerance of fluke infection. While breeds did not vary in the association between fibrosis and age at slaughter, there was considerable variation among producers: high fibrosis score delayed slaughter by up to 50 days in some producers, but not at all in others. Meanwhile, there was support for variation in the slope of daily dead weight gain on fibrosis score among both breeds and producers, with some unaffected by high fluke scores and some breeds and producers experiencing a 20g/day lower weight gain under high fluke scores. Our results point to the potential for both environmental and genetic variation in tolerance of liver fluke in cattle, paving the way for quantitative genetic and nutritional research into the feasibility of promoting tolerance as a disease mitigation strategy.ImplicationsPromoting tolerance of disease could help mitigate the impact of disease on livestock productivity, but little research has explored variation in tolerance of livestock diseases or the possibility of promoting tolerance as a mitigation strategy. We used abattoir data to demonstrate that beef cattle vary in their tolerance of fluke infection: while animals from some breeds and some producers experience no impact of fluke on production, others show a large negative effect. Thus, promoting tolerance through management and/or selective breeding could offer a means of reducing the impact of liver fluke on cattle performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-203
Author(s):  
O. A. Ekine ◽  
D. N. Onunkwo

Phytase is essential for enhancing nutritional value of feed and improving animal growthperformance and health. A study was conducted to evaluate the influence of Smartchoicephytase enzyme supplementation in the diet of starter broiler chickens. A total of 150 Rossstrain broiler chicks were used for the study and allotted to five treatment groups of 30 birdseach. Each group was further divided into three replicates of 10 birds per replicate. Five isonitrogenous(21.40% CP) and iso-caloric (2975.40 kcal/kg ME) dietary treatments werecompounded to contain 0g/100kg (T ), 10g/100kg (T ), 15g/100kg (T ), 20g/100kg (T ) and 1 2 3 425g/100kg (T ) of a commercial Smartchoice phytase enzyme preparation for 28 days in a 5Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Feed and water were provided to the chicks adlibitum.Daily feed intake and weekly body weight were measured. The result showed that thedaily feed intake and daily protein intake were not affected (P>0.05) by Smartchoice phytaseenzyme supplementation. Final live weight, daily weight gain and total weight gain weresignificantly different among treatments. Protein efficiency ratio were significantly (P<0.05)higher in T (2.10) than T (1.80) but similar to T (2.05), T (2.05) and T (1.96). Feed 1 5 2 3 4conversion ratio was significantly (P<0.05) different in T5 (2.58) and T (2.02) but similar 1(P>0.05) in T (2.02), T (2.28), T (2.31) and T (2.38). Mortality was lowest in T5. Total feed 1 2 3 4cost per bird and daily feed cost per bird were not affected (P>0.05) by Smartchoice phytaseenzyme supplementation while cost per kg of feed and daily feed cost per bird were notsignificantly (P>0.05) affected. The findings from this study showed that Smartchoicephytase enzyme could be supplemented up to 20g per 100kg in the diet of starter broilerchickens.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aman Gudeto ◽  
Tesfaye Alemu T ◽  
Ashebir Worku ◽  
Frehiwot Mesele ◽  
Genet Dadi ◽  
...  

Evaluation and demonstration study was conducted at Kemo-Gerbi kebele of Adami Tulu Jidokombolcha district on Borana bulls with the objectives of evaluation and demonstration of bulls fattening technologies at on-farm level. One farmer’s research extension group (FREG) was formed for fattening the bulls. Twenty bulls were purchased from Borana zone by farmers for the fattening trials. Two feeding treatments (T1= Grazing + 20% crushed maize grain + 45% wheat bran + 35% Noug cake and T2 = Grazing + 65% wheat bran + 35% cotton seed cakes) were evaluated. The animals were randomly assigned for dietary rations and data on live weight change of the animals were taken using weight chart tape (developed by JICA project).  Final body weights, total weight gain and average daily weight gain of the bulls were not significant (P>0.05) among the treatments. Bulls fed on treatment one attained an average daily weight gain of 0.83 kg per bull ; while bulls fed on treatment two gained 0.76 kg per bull per day. Total gross margin of treatment one (53,154.5 ETB) was higher than treatment two (49,467.75 ETB). Cost-benefit analysis indicated that feeding option number one (T1) is more economical as compared to bulls fed on T2.  However, fatteners can use any of the feeding options depending on availability of the ingredients in their area.


2020 ◽  
pp. 2381-2390
Author(s):  
Gilmar dos Santos Cardoso ◽  
Diego Soares Machado ◽  
Larissa Luísa Schumacher ◽  
Caroline de Avila Fernandes ◽  
Dieison Pansiera Antunes ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to, through a meta-analysis of published data, evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation on the performance of beef cattle grazed on Brachiaria pastures during the rearing and finishing phases of growth. Data from 15 Brazilian studies were analyzed, totaling 462 animals given different types and levels of supplementation. Animals were divided into two categories: 319 in the rearing phase, and 143 in the finishing phase. The reviewed studies evaluated the effects of protein, energy, and protein/energy supplementation on animal performance parameters. Daily weight gain and final live weight were analyzed using forest plots. Daily weight gain during the rearing phase was similar across all supplement types used. Animals given supplementation gained an average of 119 g more per day compared to those who received no supplementation. Specifically, protein supplementation resulted in an increase of 28.22 kg. Animals given supplementation of any kind, represented by the subgroups shown in the plots, gained an average of 24.47 kg more compared to the control group.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-588
Author(s):  
S. Chernyuk ◽  
V. Bomko ◽  
A. Zagorodnii ◽  
O. Chernyavskyy ◽  
M. Slomchynskyy ◽  
...  

<p>There has been the impact on the corn silage harvesting and the influence of the corn silage store technology of the microbial inoculants studied. The main advantages and the prospects of the silage inoculants using were outlined. This has been the supplements of microorganism’s inhibition impact on the molds and the fungi development established. Thereby, this was possible to provide the initial properties of raw materials preservation. The use of the 11C33 inoculants at a dose of1 gramper 1 tone of the silage during the storage period provides the dry matter reduction at a rate of 6.9 % versus 14.9 % in comparison with the control group respectively.  According to the requirements of the GOST 4782:2007 and the results of the biochemical silage studies the harvested feed without the inoculants using can be classified as the 3rd class. However, the treated silage with the 11C33 inoculant can be classified as the 1st class. The biological conservant inoculation during the milky-wax stage of ripeness helps the feed nutrients to have the better preservation. And the corn silage feeding as a part of its ration is likely to increase the average bulls daily weight gain for the feed costs production reduction. The microbial inoculants using during the corn silage harvesting helped to reduce the feed costs with the1 kgof the bull’s live weight gain by 6.07 %. We found that the preslaughter live weight at the age of 15 months was characterized by bulls of the trial group of the Ukrainian black and white milk breed and they were raised on the corn silage with the microbial inoculants. These bulls showed the better results comparing to the control group by 4.3 % (P&lt;0.05) and the bull’s carcass yield of the trial group was higher than the control one, and it was 56.4 %.</p>


2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1643-1648
Author(s):  
Lucas Alberto Teixeira de Rezende ◽  
Júlio César Teixeira ◽  
Antônio Ricardo Evangelista ◽  
Juan Ramón Olalquiaga Pérez ◽  
Joel Augusto Muniz ◽  
...  

This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of supplements based on non-protein nitrogen (NPN) as: urea, amirea and multinutritional block, on live weight gain and cost analysis for cattle kept in pastures. During a period of 104 days(April to July 2004), 40 crossbreed bulls, uncastrated and initial average weight of 379kg, were allocated into 4 paddocks with Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu, in continuous pasture system receiving, in troughs, the following treatments: mineral salt (control), protein supplement containing amirea, protein supplement containing urea and multinutritional block. The experimental design used was randomized blocks with repetition within the block. Results of availability bromatological composition of pasture, supplement consumption and daily weight gain of animals were evaluated in two experimental sub-periods: 0 to 45 and 45 to 90 days. In the first sub-period, there was no effect of treatments (P>0.05) on daily weight gain but in the second sub-period, the multinutritional block showed smaller (P<0.05) weight gain than the ones which were similar among themselves, being: 0.60; 0.59; 0.61 and 0.22kg/animal/day, respectively, for the treatments with mineral salt, amirea, urea and multinutritional block. Before these edafoclimatic conditions, the period and duration of the experiment, the supplementation with mineral salt provided the higher profit.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Bennett ◽  
R. E. Walker ◽  
M. L. Blumfield ◽  
J. Ma ◽  
F. Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractDespite many interventions aiming to reduce excessive gestational weight gain (GWG), it is currently unclear the impact on infant anthropometric outcomes. The aim of this review was to evaluate offspring anthropometric outcomes in studies designed to reduce GWG. A systematic search of seven international databases, one clinical trial registry and three Chinese databases was conducted without date limits. Studies were categorised by intervention type: diet, physical activity (PA), lifestyle (diet + PA), other, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (diet, PA, lifestyle, metformin and other). Meta-analyses were reported as weighted mean difference (WMD) for birthweight and birth length, and risk ratio (RR) for small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA), macrosomia and low birth weight (LBW). Collectively, interventions reduced birthweight, risk of macrosomia and LGA by 71 g (WMD: −70.67, 95% CI −101.90 to −39.43,P<0.001), 16% (RR: 0.84, 95% CI 0.73–0.98,P=0.026) and 19% (RR: 0.81, 95% CI 0.69–0.96,P=0.015), respectively. Diet interventions decreased birthweight and LGA by 99 g (WMD −98.80, 95% CI −178.85 to −18.76,P=0.016) and 65% (RR: 0.35, 95% CI 0.17–0.72,P=0.004). PA interventions reduced the risk of macrosomia by 51% (RR: 0.49, 95% CI 0.26–0.92,P=0.036). In women with GDM, diet and lifestyle interventions reduced birthweight by 211 and 296 g, respectively (WMD: −210.93, 95% CI −374.77 to −46.71,P=0.012 and WMD:−295.93, 95% CI −501.76 to −90.10,P=0.005, respectively). Interventions designed to reduce excessive GWG lead to a small reduction in infant birthweight and risk of macrosomia and LGA, without influencing the risk of adverse outcomes including LBW and SGA.


2000 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.F. Carson ◽  
A.R.G. Wylie ◽  
J.D.G. McEvoy ◽  
M. McCoy ◽  
L.E.R. Dawson

AbstractSeventy high genetic merit Holstein heifers were used in two experiments to investigate (1) the effects of plane of nutrition and diet type during the pre-pubertal period and (2) the effects of plane of nutrition during the post-pubertal period on metabolic hormone concentrations, growth and milk production. In experiment 1, treatment 1 and 2 heifers were given food to achieve a live-weight gain of 0·70 and 0·95 kg/day from 3 to 10 months of age on a grass silage based diet, while treatment 3 heifers were given food to achieve 0·95 kg/day on a barley straw/concentrate diet. During the pre-pubertal period, heifers reared on treatment 1 had significantly higher growth hormone(GH) concentrations (ng/ml per 1 h) than heifers reared on treatment 2 (P < 0·01) and had significantly lower insulin concentrations than heifers reared on treatment 3 (P < 0·01). Heifers reared on treatment 1 had significantly lower insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations than those reared on treatment 3 (P < 0·01). At 10 months of age heifers reared on treatment 1 were of lower condition score (P < 0·01) than those on treatment 2 and had a smaller heart girth diameter (P < 0·01) than those on treatments 2 and 3. During the first lactation, milk yield and composition produced by the heifers was not significantly affected by treatment. In experiment 2, treatment A heifers were given, from 14 to 24 months of age, a low plane of nutrition to allow a live-weight gain of 0·65 kg/day on a grass silage and grass based diet during the winter and summer periods respectively. Treatment B heifers were kept on a high plane of nutrition to allow a live-weight gain of 0·90 kg/day on the same forage along with concentrate supplementation. During the rearing period, GH and IGF-1 concentrations were not significantly affected by treatment. Treatment A heifers weighed less before calving (P < 0·05), had a lower condition score (P < 0·01), and had a smaller heart girth diameter (P < 0·01) than those on treatment B. During the first 10 weeks of lactation, heifers on treatment A had a higher silage dry matter intake and lost less weight (P < 0·05) than those on treatment B, however, by 20 weeks of lactation these effects had disappeared. Milk yield and composition during the first lactation were not significantly affected by treatment. Overall, the findings of experiments 1 and 2 did not show any beneficial effects of higher weights at first calving in high genetic merit Holsteins and therefore indicate that accelerated growth in the pre- or post-pubertal period may not be required.


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