Translation of N.B.K. Sänger’s (1871) “Peripatus capensis Gr. and Peripatus leuckartii n. sp.” (Onychophora), along with remarks about the author and significance of his work

ABSTRACT The basic biology of onychophorans was revealed slowly and controversially during much of the 19th century. Communications were in Latin, French, Spanish, German and English. This information was synthesised in the monumental monographs of Bouvier in 1905 and 1907. However, amongst this multicultural endeavour is a significant Russian contribution by Nikolai Sänger, a student of Professor Leuckart of the Zoological Institute in Leipzig, Germany. Sänger requested a specimen of Onychophora from the Institute’s collection for serial sectioning. This resulted in a detailed account of the anatomy of Peripatopsis capensis. Sänger’s description of the extensive slime glands was the first to recognise them as the hallmark of onychophorans for defence and prey capture, and not the male reproductive system as previously claimed. Based on these morphological observations, he correctly concluded that onychophorans are not hermaphrodites and, furthermore, are “predominantly predaceous” animals. He further appropriately assigned the slime glands and salivary glands to the slime papilla segment, despite the lack of embryological data at that time. Sänger also identified the excretory organs (nephridia) and their openings, although he erroneously assigned them to a dual role of excretion and respiration. Moreover, he highlighted the importance of the position of the genital opening as a diagnostic character, described the ventral/preventral organs as “subcutaneous glandules”, identified the neurilemma enclosing the central nervous system, and recognised “oval holes of different sizes” in each nerve cord that were subsequently demonstrated to represent giant fibres. Of interest to parasitologists, he discovered a larval acanthocephalan encysted within the cutaneous muscles of his specimen of P. capensis, suggesting that onychophorans act as a secondary host for this parasite. Sänger’s memoir concludes with a brief but important description of the first species of Onychophora recorded from Australia, “northwest of Sydney, New Holland”. This species is now known as Euperipatoides leuckartii with a neotype designated from a specific location northwest of Sydney.

Effect of “Wooden Breast” appearance on poultry meat quality, histological traits, and lesions characterization

The purposes of the study were to investigate the effects of Wooden Breast (WB) myodegeneration on poultry meat quality and to give a contribution in typing lesions morphology. At a poultry meat cutting facility, 474 carcasses of a high-breast-yield hybrid chickens were inspected for WB condition, and 30 normal (N) and 30 affected (WB) breast fillets (Pectoralis major) were randomly selected. The WB condition represented 53.2% of the examined carcasses. Weight, cross sectional area (CSA), pH, L*, a*, b* colour values, water-holding capacity, and Warner-Bratzler shear force were determined. Samples were also visually and histologically evaluated. Affected samples were heavier, thicker, paler (P < 0.001), and characterized by palpatory hardness and lower water holding capacity (P < 0.05). Macroscopically, abnormalities were primarily localized in the cranial portion of the fillet and defined by the presence of bulges, petechiae, fluid and clear exudate, and higher pH. Microscopically, the WB condition was characterized by muscle fibres with greater CSA (P < 0.001) and higher giant fibres prevalence (P < 0.01). Data suggest a relationship between breast weight and WB condition.

Effect of Commercial Crossbreeding and Growth Intensity on Slaughter Indicators, Microstructure and The Quality Characteristics of Biceps Brachii Muscle in Bulls

The commercial crossbreds with various genotypes and different growth rates in terms of the fattening and slaughter value as well as the microstructure and the quality characteristics of musculus biceps brachii were investigated. The experiment involved 38 bulls: 20 crossbreds obtained from Polish Black-and-White Lowland dams (BW) sired by Limousin bulls (LIM) – group I, and 18 crossbreds obtained from BW cows and Simmental bulls (SIM) – group II. The animals of both groups were divided into low growth rate (LG I and LG II; daily weight gain ≤900 g/day) and high growth rate category (HG I and HG II; >900 g/day). The results show that significantly better dressing percentage and carcass conformation (based on the EUROP carcass classification system) were attained by BW × LIM hybrids. The genotype of bulls did not influence the content of valuable cuts in carcass and meat content of cuts, as well as most characteristics of the meat quality. The differences (P<0.05) in anaerobic index were noticed in both genetic groups of bulls in the two growth rate categories. The findings presented in the experiment also show that the number of bulls with giant fibres (GF) and the size of GF was greater in more intensively growing bulls (P<0.05) and it probably determined the higher values of tenderness and acidity of biceps brachii muscle. It should be noticed that the increased growth rate of bulls may result in poorer quality of meat.

Effect of Breed and Age on Histopathological Changes in Pig M. Semimembranosus

Effect of Breed and Age on Histopathological Changes in Pig M. SemimembranosusThe aim of the study was to determine the type and extent of histopathological changes in m. semimembranosus of Polish Landrace (PL), Polish Large White (PLW), Duroc, Pietrain, and Puławska pigs at 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210 days of age. Changes in fibre size (atrophy, hypertrophy - giant fibres), changes in fibre shape (angular fibres), degenerative lesions (necrosis with phagocytosis) and connective tissue hypertrophy were evaluated. The presence of giant fibres was the only histopathological change observed in all age groups of PL, PLW, Duroc and Pietrain pigs, with the percentage of pigs with this type of pathology and the frequency of giant, atrophic and angular fibres increasing significantly with age. In Puławska pigs, giant fibres were only found in the oldest pigs aged 210 days. In these animals, giant fibres as well as atrophic fibres (at 180 and 210 days of age) and angular fibres (at 120, 150, 180 and 210 days of age) occurred in the smallest number of animals and were least extensive. Meanwhile, Pietrain pigs were characterized by a greater number of animals, a significantly greater proportion of giant fibres in all analysed age groups, and a greater proportion of atrophic fibres at 180 and 210 days of age compared to the other pig breeds under analysis. For connective tissue hypertrophy and necrosis with phagocytosis, the changes were not extensive. It is concluded that both the advancing age of the animals and selection of the pigs for increased leanness significantly increases the incidence of histopathological changes in muscle tissue, which may directly translate into pork quality.

Effect of growth intensity of bulls on the microstructure of musculus longissimus lumborum and meat quality

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of growth intensity of 43 bulls with different growth intensity (< 900 and ≥ 900 g/day) on the microstructure of musculus longissimus lumborum. Commercial crosses of Polish Lowland black-and-white cows with Charolais and Limousin bulls were used in this study; within the particular genetic groups the hybrids had similar slaughter weight (447.6 and 517.2 kg) and age (526 and 606 days), respectively. The share of fibres with active tetrazole dehydragenase in the more intensively growing animals was smaller. For fibres with myofibrillar ATPase activity, the intensively growing animals produced higher standard deviation values than the other groups. Further analysis of the muscular tissue in this group revealed that out of the 24 muscles, 9 had giant fibres. In comparison with the less intensively growing animals, the muscles of the bulls that gained more than 900 g/day in weight were found to contain significantly less glycogen (P ≤ 0.01) and, consequently, the meat was less acidic. The difference of the pH ranged from 0.19 in the case of pH24 (P ≤ 0.01) to 0.06 for pH48 (P ≤ 0.01). It should be noted that the intensively growing animals were found to have a relatively high pH variability (SD = 0.69 and 0.49, respectively). The pH24 and pH48 values, as well as pH variability show that the meat of this group was dark, firm and dry.

New Insights into Muscle Fibre Types in Casertana Pig

Little is known about the Casertana pig. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sex on histochemical and morphometrical characteristics of muscle fibres (myocytes) in this pure breed and to verify the presence of giant fibres as well as vascularity of the muscle. Finally, maximum shortening velocity and isometric tension were measured in single muscle fibres. Sixteen Casertana pigs (8 males, 8 females) from a farm in Campania (Italy) were slaughtered at one year of age. Muscle tissues were obtained from psoas minor, rhomboideus and longissimus dorsi. Myofibres were stained for myosin adenosine triphosphatase, succinic dehydrogenase, and α-amylase-periodic acid schiff. For all fibre types, the area and perimeter were measured. Slowtwitch oxidative fibres, fast-twitch glycolytic fibres and fast-twitch oxidative-glycolytic fibres were histochemically differentiated; an image-analyzing system was used. The results showed significant differences between the sexes in the size of all three fibre types. The psoas minor muscle had a high percentage of slow-twitch oxidative fibres and contained more capillaries per fibre and per mm2 than rhomboideus and longissimus dorsi, in which fast-twitch glycolytic fibres dominated. The cross-sectional area of all fibre types was larger in longissimus dorsi than in rhomboideus and psoas minor muscles; the giant fibres were present in the longissimus dorsi muscle only. Besides, isometric tension values were higher in fast-twitch glycolytic fibres than in the other ones. Variations in fibre type composition may contribute to meat quality.