Appraisal of the management practices of goat farmers in selected districts of the KwaZulu-Natal province: can the extensionist play a role to improve?

The study was conducted to assess management practices by goat farmers in uMgungundlovu of the KwaZulu-Natal province. A total of 70 farmers were interviewed using structured questionnaires. A considerable number of respondents had low-level education (40%) n=28. Management activities performed by respondents included control of internal and external parasites, which was done by 94% and 96%, respectively. The most vaccinated for diseases were Pulpy kidney (61.54%) and Pasteurella (51.92%). Fifty-five respondents (78.57%) grazed their animals on the veld, while an insubstantial percentage of respondents had cultivated pastures (15.71%) n=11. Respondents provided winter and summer supplementary feed (46%) and supplementary lick (83%). A total of 17 farmers (24.29%) had a specific breeding season. Breeding management activities were done by farmers, and 5.71% of respondents tested bucks for fertility, while 18.57% provided flush feeding, and 11.43% performed pregnancy diagnosis. Most farmers who applied sound management practices reported elevated production levels.

Social Behaviour and Circadian Variations in Different Activities of Captive Hog Deer (Axis porcinus)

Management practices/strategies to re-modulate the wild behaviour of animal species could increase their number in natural areas. The captive herd of hog deer showed slight changes from wild behaviour due to captive stress with no alteration in wild behaviour pattern except captive stress. Adult males (6), adult females (6) and fawns (6) were selected and observed round the clock for thirty days across season after one-hour interval on each activity. All subjects in hotter part of the day spent more time in sitting and rest. While, few hours of night in sleeping, resting and rumination. Fawn spent more time in sitting, resting, and hiding compared to adults. During wandering, they also spent some time in standing. It was noticed that all hog deer in herd not slept together but few of them remain active. Only male fighting was observed and maximum was noticed in August and September during breeding season. Hog deer were mainly crepuscular in feeding with irregular short intakes, and grazing on grasses present in enclosure. This study provides guideline to rehabilitate wild hog deer for better breeding management, conservation and raising practices.

Interactions between Parasitic Infections and Reproductive Efficiency in Horses

Parasites remain a significant threat to horses’ health and welfare. The present paper reviews and discusses interactions between parasitic infections and reproductive efficiency in horses. The manuscript describes the interactions in a structured way, presenting the infecting parasites and the respective effects in the reproductive activity of horses. The following stages of the reproductive cycle are covered: ovarian activity and relevant body condition, breeding management (including effects in mares and stallions), pregnancy and neonatal period. A separate section covers the topic of transmission of pathogens to horses through parasites. Finally, parasite control strategies in relation to reproductive activity (strategies for breeding mares and foals) are discussed. Understanding the causality of impaired reproductive performance is essential in terms of maintaining productivity and efficient stud breeding strategies. Further collaboration of parasitologists, stud managers and veterinarians is necessary in order to implement novel control strategies with a greater emphasis on the emerging challenges.

The interaction between Tu-Izumo1 and Tu-JUNO is involved in turtles hybridization

The specificity of sperm-egg recognition is crucial to species independence, and two proteins (Izumo1 and JUNO) are essential for gamete adhesion/fusion in mammals. However, hybridization, which is very common in turtles, also requires specific recognition of sperm-egg binding proteins. In this study, we discovered that natural selection plays an important role in the codon usage bias of Tu-Izumo1 and Tu-JUNO. Positively selected sites and co-evolutionary analyses between Tu-Izumo1 and Tu-JUNO has been previously reported, and we confirm these results in a larger analysis containing 25 turtle species. We also showed that Tu-JUNO is expressed on the oocyte surface and that Tu-Izumo1 and Tu-JUNO interact with each other directly in different species hybridization combinations. Co-immunization assays revealed that this interaction is evolutionarily conserved in turtles. The results of avidity-based extracellular interaction screening between Tu-Izumo1 and Tu-JUNO for sperm-oocyte binding pairs (both within and across species) likely suggest that the interaction force between Izumo1 and JUNO has a certain correlation in whether the turtles can hybridize. Our results lay a theoretical foundation for the subsequent development of techniques to detect whether different turtle species can interbreed, which would provide the molecular basis for breeding management and species protection of turtles.

Study on Dairy Cattle, Breeding Management Practices in Milkshed and Non-milkshed Areas of Bikaner District (Rajasthan)

Background: This investigation provides the data of breeding management practices followed by the livestock owners of milkshed and non-milkshed areas and analyze the effect of operation flood program in milkshed area of Bikaner district of Rajasthan in respect to dairy cattle breeding management practices.Methods: In order to achieve the objectives of this study a field survey was conducted. The information required to complete the study were collected from milkshed and non-milkshed villages of Bikaner district. The data was collected by using the pretested interview schedule by visit to their farm to take visual observations and actual measurements of the various desired aspects. The collected data was tabulated and subjected to various statistical methods to draw meaningful inferences. Result: Impact of operation flood programme could most appreciably be seen on the improvement of breeds and breeding methods. Significantly (P less than 0.01) higher percentage of Rathi and crossbreds (41.89% and 13.14%) were found in milkshed area with the low incidence of natural service in comparison to non-milkshed area having low percentage of pure and crossbred cattle with high incidence of natural service. A significantly higher percentage (54.11%) of dairy cattle owners in milkshed area get their cattle inseminated/crossed after 7-12 hours of detection of heat, whereas in non-milkshed area only 32.22% get their cattle inseminated/crossed after 7-12 hours of heat detection. The operation flood program had statistically significant (P less than 0.05) effect on milkshed area with respect to genetic improvement of their stock.

Technification in Dairy Farms May Reconcile Habitat Conservation in a Brazilian Savanna Region

The assessment of the relationships between farm management systems and nature conservation may help in the design of more efficient strategies to uphold economic benefits and biodiversity conservation. To our knowledge, this is the first work in Brazil to study the relationship between farm conservation status and technification level. Here, we test the hypothesis that dairy farms with higher levels of technification have a higher percentage of natural vegetation and connectivity, and that differences in environment features between farms explain their conservation status. We obtained variables related to the level of technification such as feed, milking, sanitary control and breeding management systems. We show that farmers with a higher level of technification, such as artificial insemination in cattle breeding, tended to conserve a higher percentage of natural vegetation, as well as larger farms with a higher percentage of riparian forest. The adoption of artificial insemination is associated with other technification systems such as a forage diet, milking method and frequency and sanitary control. It is also significantly related to higher milk productivity. Our novel results point to a positive effect of technification on the conservation of natural vegetation, suggesting that economic incentives and programs aimed at increasing technification in cattle breeding may increase dairy production and conservation within the study area. Our findings also show an effect of larger areas of riparian forests, which are protected by Brazilian policy, in the conservation status of dairy farms.

Comparison of a Point-of-Care Analyzer With a Chemiluminescent Immunoassay for Serum Progesterone Measurement in Breeding Management of the Bitch

Accurate serum progesterone measurements for timing bitches during breeding management is critical for reproductive practice, especially as artificial insemination has become routine to facilitate breeding of animals that are geographically or temporally separated. To measure serum progesterone, chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) has replaced radioimmunoassay as the current standard in the bitch due to its high correlation and increased practicality. In January 2019, a colorimetric point-of-care (POC) immunoassay for quantitative in-clinic canine serum progesterone measurements in <30 min was released. This study provides an independent comparison of the POC (Catalyst One, IDEXX) to the current industry standard, CLIA (Immulite-2000, Siemens). To assess inter-assay imprecision of POC and agreement of the POC and CLIA results, 100 canine serum samples were analyzed on three analyzers (POC-1, POC-2, and CLIA), of which, 74 (POC-1) and 75 (POC-2) results were within POCs' reportable range of 0.2–20 ng/mL and included in the study. To assess intra-assay imprecision, pooled canine serum samples at low (L1), intermediate (L2), and high (L3) progesterone concentrations were analyzed ten times each on POC-1 and CLIA. Relative to CLIA, POC values showed good correlation (POC-1, r2 = 0.9366; POC-2, r2 = 0.9438, P < 0.0001) and significant positive proportional bias at values >2 ng/mL. The POC inter-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) were 13.2% (0.2–2.9 ng/mL, 0.6–9.2 nmol/L, L1), 10.0% (3.0–9.9 ng/mL, 9.5–31.5 nmol/L, L2), 7.1% (10.0–20.0 ng/mL, 31.8–63.6 nmol/L, L3), and 11.2% (all samples). The intra-assay CVs for POC (L1, 15.3%; L2, 7.0%; L3, 4.7%) were higher than those for CLIA (L1, 5.89%; L2, 4.89%; L3, 3.44%). Based on the more rapid increase in serial serum progesterone concentrations in ovulating bitches and the greater imprecision of the POC, the clinical interpretations of serum progesterone measurements as they relate to canine breeding management should be made with caution.