PSXII-11 Parameters for yearling wool production, wool quality and liveweight traits in mutton-wool breed of sheep with a different kinship ratio

This study aimed to determine the effect of crossbreeding on wool production for sheep of different kinship ratios. Purebred (Volgograd) and crossbred (F3, Volgograd x ¼ North Caucasian) sheep were used. The birth liveweights (n = 100) of tups were similar (3.71 kg and 3.69 kg) whereas crossbred ewes were heavier than purebreds (3.45 kg vs 3.3 kg). At 2.5 months (n = 97), crossbred tups outweighed purebreds by 6.94% (22.17 kg and 20.73 kg (p ≤ 0.05); ewes’ liveweights were similar (19.98 kg and 19.88 kg). Crossbred tups’ weaning weights (n = 70) exceeded purebred tups by 20.85% (32.33 kg and 26.75kg, (p ≤ 0.01); crossbred ewes outweighed purebreds by 7.38% (27.20 kg and 25.33 kg). Crossbred tup yearlings (n = 67) outweighed purebreds (52.10 and 48.90 kg) (P ≤ 0.01) whereas ewe yearlings were similar (37.30 kg vs. 36.70 kg). However, fleece weights (n = 30) of crossbred tups were heavier than of purebreds. Greasy fleece weight of crossbred tups was 6.72 kg and 6.14 kg (P ≤ 0.05). Clean fleece weight of crossbred tups outweighed purebred by 13.73% (3.56 kg and 3.13 kg, P ≤ 0.05). Greasy fleece weight of crossbred ewes was 3.95 kg and 3.57 kg (P ≤ 0.05). Clean fleece weight of crossbred tups outweighed purebred by 15.34% (2.18 kg and 1.89 kg, P ≤ 0.05). Wool yield of crossbred and purebred tups were 53 and 51%, ewes were 55 and 53%. Staple lengths of crossbred and purebred tups were 12.53 cm and 10.51 cm (P ≤ 0.001), crossbred and purebred ewes were 11.48 cm and 9.56 cm (P ≤ 0.01). This study indicates there was no negative effect of an admixture of new blood of North Caucasian breed on wool productivity of F3. These results can help improve meat and wool production.

Effects of dietary supplementation with taurine on production performance of Angora rabbits

<p>This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with taurine on production performance, serum biochemistry, immunoglobulin, antioxidant and hormones of Angora rabbits. A total of 160 8-month-old Angora rabbits with similar body weight were randomly assigned to one of four dietary groups, with 40 animals per group. The dietary groups consisted of the following different taurine supplementation levels: 0 (control), 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3% (air-dry basis). The 73-d feeding trial (from July 31 to October 11, 2016 in China) included a 7-d adjustment period and a 66-d experimental period. The results showed that taurine dietary supplementation had effects on feed consumption, hair follicle density and wool yield of the Angora rabbits (<em>P</em>&lt;0.05), and adding 0.2% taurine could improve the wool yield. Compared with the control group, serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels in supplemented groups were decreased (<em>P</em>&lt;0.05). Dietary supplementation with taurine could improve the activity of superoxide dismutase, enhance total antioxidant capacity and reduce the content of malondialdehyde in serum (<em>P</em>&lt;0.05). Besides, the serum level of thyroid (T4) hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 in experimental groups was higher than that in the control group (<em>P</em>&lt;0.05). In conclusion, taurine dietary supplementation could reduce the lipid metabolism, enhance the antioxidant capacity and hormone level of Angora rabbits, and adding 0.2% taurine could achieve the effect of increasing wool production.</p>

Influence of Fossil Shell Flour Supplementation on Feed Preference, Body Condition Scores and Wool Parameters of Dohne Merino Wethers

Background: The abundance of fossil shell flour (FSF) globally has resulted in an increased interest in its use as a feed additive in sheep diets. This study evaluated the effects of varying inclusion levels of FSF on feed preference, body condition scores and wool parameters of Dohne Merino (DM) wethers. Methods: Twenty-four wethers, weighing 20 ± 1·5 kg on average were fed dietary food-grade fossil shell flour in a completely randomized design of four treatment with six wethers in each treatment. The wethers were fed a basal diet without FSF addition (control, 0%), or with the addition of FSF (2%, 4% or 6%) into the diet for 105 days.Results: Average daily weight gain and body condition score of 2%, 4% and 6 % FSF inclusion levels were higher (P < 0.05) than the control 0%. Wool yield, staple length, coefficient variation of the fibre diameter and fibre <15% of wethers supplemented with FSF were higher (P < 0.05) compared to the diet without FSF. Fibre diameter of the wethers supplemented with FSF were the same (P>0.05) as the control.Wethers preferred FSF supplemented diets to the control. The inclusion of FSF in the diet of DM wethers up to 6% DM showed improvement in the average daily gain and body condition scores, feed intake through preference, wool yield, and quality. Conclusion: The addition of FSF in the diets could be advantageous in Dohne-Merino wethers performance and production with the potential of increasing both the quantity and quality of wool.

The correlation of the main qualitative characteristics of wool with the histological structure of the skin

A comparative evaluation of the study of the main traits of wool with indicators of the histostructure of the skin of rams has been shown that the fat content in wool averaged 13,1 %. The correlation coefficient between the percentage of pure wool yield and the amount of fat was 0,38. A negative correlation between the amount of wool shorn, the yield of pure fiber, and the length of the wool has been was obtained with the amount of sweat in the wool (P < 0,01). This suggests that the reduction of the sweat part in the fat content will occur to a certain extent due to indirect selection for wool productivity. As the level of the comprehensive evaluation has decreased, the wool thinned by an average of 0,98 microns. The difference in the length of the wool of rams of the 1st group with average indicators was 1,3 cm, and for the amount of wool shorn and the yield of pure fiber –1,18 kg and 7,17 %, respectively. A negative correlation (r = –0,50) has been obtained in rams with the thinness of 23,0–25,0 microns compared to herdmates with 18,0–20,0 microns when studying the correlation between follicle density and the primordial follicle/secondary follicle ratio. The narrower the DPF/DSF ratio the thinner the coat, and vice versa animals with the narrower ratio (0,98) have been characterized by a more balanced fiber. The correlation coefficient between the thinness of wool and the diameter of the secondary fiber was 0,42. With increasing thickness of the skin and especially its pilar layer the hair becomes shorter. Rams with a hair length of 10 cm have 19,2 % thicker skin and 23 % thicker pilar layer. There is a tendency to thicken the skin and pilar layer in rams of the 3rd group. Animals with the total follicle density of 80,0 pcs/mm[sup]2[/sup] or higher have 8,0 % less thickness compared to their herdmates who have 50,0 follicles per mm[sup]2[/sup] . Thus, the significant correlation has been found not only between the traits of fleece and wool, but also indicators of skin histostructure. This confirms the need to evaluate the fleece for the entire range of various properties of wool and skin histogenesis.

Effects of the dietary digestible fiber-to-starch ratio on pellet quality, growth and cecal microbiota of Angora rabbits

Objective: Substituting starch with digestible fiber (dF) can improve digestive health of rabbits and reduce costs. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a criterion for dF and starch supply. Effects of the dietary dF-to-starch ratio on pellet quality, growth and cecal microbiota of Angora rabbits were evaluated.Methods: Five isoenergetic and isoproteic diets with increasing dF/starch ratios (0.59, 0.66, 0.71, 1.05, and 1.44) were formulated. A total of 120 Angora rabbits with an average live weight of 2.19 kg were randomly divided into five groups with four replicates. At the end of 40 day feeding trial, cecal digesta were collected to analyse microbiota.Results: The results showed that the dF/starch ratio had linear effects on pellet variables (p<0.01). When the dF/starch ratio was 1.44, the pellets had the lowest powder and highest durability. The dF/starch ratio had unfavorable linear effects on growth variables (p<0.001). When analyzed by quadratic regression, the optimal dF/starch ratios for average weight gain and feed/gain were 0.59 and 0.74, respectively. There were differences in wool yield, fiber length and fiber diameter caused by the dF/starch ratio (p<0.05), and the dF/starch ratios that ranged from 0.66 to 1.06 were appropriate for good results. The cecal microbiota operational taxonomic unit (OTU) number index in the 1.05 dF/starch treatment was higher than that in the 0.66 and 0.71 dF/starch treatments. The higher dF/starch ratio resulted in a higher cecal microbiota OTU number index (p<0.05). The proportion of <i>Ruminococcus</i> in the 0.71 dF/starch treatment was higher than that in the 0.59 dF/starch treatment (p<0.05)Conclusion: The most suitable dF/starch ratio for feed pellet quality is 1.44, and for rabbit growth the optimal range of ratios is from 0.59 to 0.74. With combination of the wool growth, output cost, and cecal microbiota, we suggest that a dietary dF/starch ratio ranging from 0.74 to 1.06 is optimal.

Characterization of HTATIP2 and its role during hair follicle cycles in Angora rabbit

Hair follicle (HF) growth and cycling is a complex biological process that occurs in most mammals. As HF growth and cycling directly impacts rabbit wool yield, it is important to better understand the potential regulation pattern of HF development. Our previous study demonstrated that HTATIP2 may participate in regulating rabbit HF cycles, but the molecular mechanism of HTATIP2 remained unclear. In this study, the coding sequence of the HTATIP2 gene in Angora rabbit was cloned. The length of the coding region sequence was 840 bp, which could code 279 amino acids, and exhibited high homology in different mammals. Bioinformatics analyses indicated that the HTATIP2 protein is stable, hydrophilic, located around the cytoplasm, and has a putative signal peptide. Moreover, we verified that HTATIP2 is highly expressed during catagen and telogen of the HF cycle. The overexpression vector was constructed and siRNAs were designed. Overexpression and knockdown of HTATIP2 appeared to regulate JAK-STAT pathway genes, such as BCL2, CCND1, c-Myc, and STAT2. It is therefore likely that HTATIP2 promotes cell apoptosis and inhibits cell proliferation. Our results indicate that HTATIP2 is highly expressed during catagen and telogen and may play an important role in JAK-STAT signaling. This study provides a theoretical foundation for investigating HTATIP2 in biological processes.

Hayvancılık İşletmelerinde Kayıtların Veri Tabanlarında Saklanması ve Değerlendirilmesi

The data stored for a long time in livestock enterprises will play a crucial role in increasing the productivity in animal production, revealing animal breeding values, meeting qualified breeding needs, making effective breeding organizations, obtaining high income, determining the animals to be kept or as a breeder. Among the important technical data kept in livestock enterprises; ram, bull, and goat and their reproduction, growth-development, yield records (animal weight and wool yield in small ruminants, body weight gain, feed consumption, lactation and milk yield), reproductive performance measures, slaughter and carcass dimensions and characteristics records such as meat quality, animal diseases and vaccination practices can be shown as important technical data in livestock enterprises. Issues such as followed animals and storing identifying information of the animals from this data in the database are being made compulsory for conformity program of Turkey with the European Union by the rule number 27137 “Regulation on the identification, registration and monitoring of sheep and goat type of animals” that published in the official newspaper by Agriculture and Forestry Ministry on 10.02.2009. Nowadays, database software such as MySQL, MS SQL, Postrage SQL, Oracle, Firebird, IBM DB2 and MS Access are used in order to obtain healthy data and store the data safely. Knowledge of the use and cost of this database software and Database Management Systems (DBMS) is important for the enterprise. In this study, it is aimed to give information about the software that adds value to the enterprise and their costs of the operations on enterprise.