نشریه پژوهش های علوم دامی
سال بیست و ششم شماره 3 (پاییز 1395)

Silymarin is a polyphenol, which has scavenging ability of reactive oxygen species, and it can improve spermatozoa storage.
Experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of silymarin on rooster sperm storage at 4 C.
Semen collection was performed twice a week in 5 times by using 15 mature roosters. In each session, ejaculates were pooled and split into five parts. The amount of 0 (S0), 50 (S50), 100 (S100), 150 (S150) and 200 (S200) µg/mL silymarin were added to each part. After that, samples were chilled to 4 OC and kept until 72 h. Sperm viability (by staining Hoechst 33258), motility and functional membrane integrity were evaluated at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. To assay lipid peroxidation, the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) was determined by 300106 spermatozoa at 48 h.
There was interaction between silymarin and storage time on sperm motility, viability and functional membrane integrity (P The addition of 100 µg/mL silymarin to semen improves longevity of rooster spermatozoa at 4C.

Detecting major genes affecting internal egg quality traits.
Evaluation of maternal effects and detecting major genes affecting internal egg quality traits of Azerbaijan native fowls.
After data collection of internal egg quality traits from Azerbaijan native fowls, the probabilities of major genes segregation were separately studied in all traits with a univariate animal model using Bayesian analysis and major gene index (MGI) procedure.
The major gene index calculated using outputs from univariate animal model and segregation of major genes was confirmed for internal egg quality traits including yolk weight, yolk width, albumen pH, yolk pH, yolk to albumen weight ratio, yolk index, yolk and albumen percentages and finally for yolk and albumen dry matter values in Azerbaijan native fowls.
Given that major gene segregation was confirmed using MGI and for internal egg quality traits, it is concluded that probability of major gene segregation is confirmed for traits such as yolk weight, yolk width, albumen pH, albumen weight, yolk index and spot when is considered all population. Therefore, by using an accurate major gene detecting design slike half -sib family design in West Azerbaijan’s native fowl breeding center and using molecular markers, it is possible to accurately detect the major genes for these traits and also determine the effect sof these genesand their location on fowl chromosome, accurately.

Mineral elements are effective on male reproductive function.
This experiment was carried out to evaluate thelevels of some minerals in blood serum and seminal plasma and its relation ship with semen quality in breeding and non-breeding seasons for Arabian rams.
Blood and semen were collected weekly for 8 weeks from 8 Arabi anrams during breeding (autumn) and non-breeding (winter) seasons.
Semen quality in breeding season was higher than the other season. Seminal plasma values of calcium and phosphate and alsoblood serum levels of calcium, zinc and ferrous were higher in breeding season (P0.05). In non-breeding season, seminal plasma content of calcium, zinc and ferrous were higher than serum (PIn general, the levels of some minerals in seminal plasma and blood serum and their relation with semen quality parameters were affected by breeding and non-breeding seasons in Arabian ram.

One of the reasons for reduction of fertility in sperm is extra production of free radicals during various stages including cryopreservation, storage and freeze-thawing process of sperm. Free radicals lead to changes in biochemical and ultrastructure of the sperm membrane, decreasing survival rate after thawing of sperm. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is a synthetic analogue of vitamin E that controls the auto-oxidation reaction by converting peroxy radicals to hydroperoxides.
OBGECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different levels of Butylated hydroxytoluen (BHT) to improve the quality of ram semen in the process of freezing/thawing.
In this study, five rams were used for semen collection twice a week. Different levels of BHT (1, 1.5, 2, 3 mM) were added to tris-yolk based diluents. After freezingthawing of semen samples, the dynamic parameters, viability, membrane integrity‚ sperm abnormality and lipid peroxidation (MDA) were evaluated.
the addition of 1.5, 2 mM BHT significantly improved total and progressive motility, viability and plasma membrane integrity and decreased the sperm abnormality percentage compared with the control group (P Statistical analysis of data showed that the addition of BHT to semen diluent improves the majority of sperm parameters after thawing.

Limitation of production in different societies, caused increased agricultural production with special emphasis on improving productivity production factors, policymakers considered is. The improved efficiency of productive units and their technology gap is a practical approach to improve the productivity of production factors.
Accordingly, the aim of this study is to analyze the technical efficiency and technology gap of poultry units of Sanandaj.
The required statistics and information was prepared from Agriculture Organization of Kurdistan for the time period of 2009-2012. To conduct this research, econometric approach was used to estimate the stochastic frontier production function and meta frontier production function.
Estimating a frontier production function suggests that technical efficiency for various groups is ranging from 89 to 95 percent and average technical efficiency of cross-border basis function is in the range of 44 to 76 % and groups’ technology gap ratios respectively are 0.46, 0.84 and 0.48, which the second group (units with average capacity) has the most technology gap.
Poultry units with average capacity in terms of the technological gap are in the better situation. That's why all necessary measures in order to adjust production units in order to extend the capacity of farms with a necessary average capacity are recommended.

BAKGROUND: Age and season may affect the thyroid gland, which regulates the metabolism of the body.
The experiment was conducted to study the effects of age and season on the concentration of thyroid hormones T3, T4, T3uptake, T3/T4 and free thyroxin index (FTI).
Blood samples were collected from jugular vein of 21 healthy purebred Arabian male horse in summer (July) and winter (January). The male horses were under the same management and feeding program in three age groups 2-6, 6-10 and 10-14 years. After centrifugation of blood samples and isolation of serum, the concentration of thyroid hormones were measured in serum by standard radio immunoassay (RIA) method.
Results showed that there is significant differences in mean values of serum T4, T3uptake and T4/T3 ratio between summer and winter seasons (P>0.05). The concentration of T3 and free thyroxin index (FTI) did not show a statistically significant differences between summer and winter (P>0.05). In summer, the concentration of T4 and FTI value in 2 to 6 years and the ratio of T4 to T3 in 10 to 14 years old males had significantly differences than other ages (P>0.05). In winter, there were not significantly differences for thyroid parameters among various ages of males (P>0.05).
The results of this study showed that under constant conditions, thyroid gland performance may be affected by season and ages in Arabic male horses.

In dairy cattle genetic evaluation, the use of real records as well as accurate statistical model are of great importance.
The main objective of the present research was to compare two methods of genetic evaluation of Holstein cows for milk yield. The records were unadjusted (for days in milk) and adjusted (for 305-days) milk yields.
A total of 332,160 records obtained from 332,160 first-parity Iranian Holsteins in 2,318 herds and collected from 1990 to 2010 were utilized. Animal models were used in which the effects of herd, year and month of calving, cow type (crossbred or pure), inseminated sperm (internal, external or unknown), covariables of lactation length (only for unadjusted milk trait), calving age, as well as additive genetic random effect of the cows were included. DMU software was applied to fit the models.
Heritability of unadjusted and adjusted milk traits were 0.23 (SE=0.004) and 0.25 (SE=0.004), respectively and significantly different from each other. For the bulls, correlation between breeding values obtained from two methods considerably increased as the number of their daughters increased. The magnitude of genetic trends in two methods were found to be 22.18 (for unadjusted milk) and 18.5 (for adjusted milk) kg per year which were not significantly different from each other.
With respect to the advantage of real records, it is suggested that unadjusted milk records to be used in an animal model (with covariable of lactation length) for predicting breeding value of Iranian Holstein cattle.

In this study 7363 records of birth weight, weaning weight, weight at six months and nine months of age from Lori sheep were used to estimate the genetic and phenotypic trend of growth traits under nomadic rearing system.
The records that related to the nomadic herds were collected during years of 2001 to 2010 by agricultural organization of Lorestan province.
(Co) variance components, genetic parameters and breeding values of growth traits were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood method based on univariate animal model by the DFREML software.
The highest and the lowest direct heritability estimated were birth weight (0.33) and weight in six months (0.052), respectively. The genetic and phenotypic trends were calculated using SPSS software, based on dependency of the breeding value mean and dependency of phenotypic mean on birth year, respectively. The direct genetic trend for birth weight, weaning weight, six months and nine months weight were 13±2, 73±5, 48±8 and 242±21 gr/year, respectively. Phenotypic trend for birth weight, weaning, six months and nine months weights were 38±12, 242±74, 185±98, 129±94 gr/year, respectively. Direct and maternal genetic improvement of birth, weaning, six months weights after 10 years were 161.42 and 52.40, 571.99 and 140.39, 466.14 and 140.71 gr, respectively and direct genetic progress for nine months weight was 469.59 gr.
Genetic trend of traits under study was positive and upward. Considering that the highest direct and maternal heritability estimates in this study was related to birth weight, this attribute can be considered in breeding programs.

The sheep artificial insemination with frozen-thawed semen have a low fertility rate because cryopreservation of ram semen is difficult.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementation of diluent with different trehalose concentrations on during of storage cryopreservation of different rams’ semen in reproductive season.
Ejaculate samples were collected from six adult rams. Samples immediately were transported to the laboratory. After a primary evaluation, semen samples were diluted, with a Tris-based extender complemented with 50, 75, 100 mM trehalose and an extender containing no sugar as a control group. Semen samples were aspirated into 0.25 ml straws, cooled to 5°C and after frozen finally stored in liquid nitrogen. The frozen straws were evaluated for motility, progressive motility, percentage of live sperm and morphology for 15 days.
Achieved results showed that the highest percentage of alive sperms belonged to 75 mM trehalose and control group had the lowest percantage of alive sperms. The highest percentage of motility and progressive motility were recorded in concentrations of 75 mM and 100 mM, while the control group had the lowest percentage of motile sperm and progressive motility, on the other hand, no significant differences were observed in the percentages of abnormality the extender containing of trehalose and control group.
The highest percentage of alive sperms recorded for the Ghezel rams. Percentage of motility, progressive motility and abnormality in Ghezel-Merinos rams were better than other groups. The results of this study showed trehalozse improved cryopreservation of ram semen.

The application of medicinal herbs has a meaningful importance in human health because of their compounds have the minimal side effects on human body. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of peppermint powdered extract, orange flower extract and neomycin on Heat Shock Protein (HSP70) gene expression and some blood parameters of broilers chickens under heat stress conditions.
In this study, 120 one – day old Ross 308 broiler chicks have been used. The research has been performed during 6 weeks in a completely randomized design (CRD) with and 4 treatments 3 replicates and 10 chicks per each replicate. The experimental treatments include: control treatment, peppermint powdered extract )2 % of feed(, orange blossom extract ) 2% of the consumed water( and neomycin antibiotic (0.2 g/kg of feed). The relative gene expression of heat shock protein 70 )HSP70( and some blood parameters have been examined in the blood.
The highest concentration of triglyceride was observed in orange blossom extract treatment (P The findings of this research suggested that the medicinal herbs namely peppermint and orange blossom extract are capable to control the negative effect of heat stress on chicken performance.

Chemical composition can affect fermentability of grains in the gastrointestinal tract .
This study was carried out to determine the chemical composition and gas production parameters of grain of Vicia sativa, Lathyrus sativus and Vicia ervilia cultivated in tabriz province.
Data obtained in a completely randomized design were used for statistical analysis.
Vicia sativa, Lathyrus sativus and Vicia ervilia were in terms of crude protein 30.06, 28.56 and 23.29%DM, NDF 34.55, 31.77 and 30.65%DM and ash 3.68, 4.32 and 3.05%DM respectively. Among the tested grains, the grain of Vicia ervilia had the highest fermentation parameters, potential gas production, rate of gas production, short chain fatty acids and metabolizable energy that estimated as 278.19 mL, 0.106 mL h-1, 11.22 mmol and 9.24 MJ/kg respectively and Vicia sativa grain had the lowest potential gas production 263.22 ML, Short Chain Fatty Acid 10.48 mmol, and metabolizable energy 8.79 MJ/kg content. The grain of Vicia ervilia, had higher nutritive value than other tested feeds due to its in vitro fermentation characteristics as well as chemical composition.
The results of this study indicated that tested grains are appropriate source of the protein for ruminant nutrition.

Despite the passage of more than half a century of introducing modern systems of dairy farms in the livestock sector, few economic studies have been done on these systems.
Due to the industrialization of dairy farming, study of the competitiveness and the stability of the Semi-industrial farms, as a link between traditional and industrialized farms, is essential. The objective of this study is to investigate the comparative advantage of the semiindustrial system.
In this study, after defining the representative semi-industrial farms in the Zanjan province, and collection of inputs and outputs price and quantity data, domestic resource cost, DRC, social costs-benefits, SCB, and net social profitability, NSP, was calculated and analyzed.
The results indicated that the province has a comparative advantage in semi-industrial dairy farms.
CONCLUSINS: Analysis showed that the high daily milk yield is the main reason for this advantage. So that even if milk per cow per day will be reduced to 18 kg, the system still has a comparative advantage. Also, even if the exchange rate falls to 9390 rials per dollar, the production still has a comparative advantage.

Ration physical form is one of the most important factors on feed intake and animal feeding behavior, which can affect performance and animal health.
This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects the physical form of concentrate in Mixed rations on nutritional behaviors, production and milk composition of dairy cows.
twenty Brown Swiss dairy cattle with milk production average of 23.5± 3 kg and milk days average of 215 ± 20 under identical conditions were used in the mold of completely randomized design for 45 days. Treatments included: 1) Mixed rations with flour concentrate; 2) Total mixed rations was with the concentrate pellets. Cows fed was done the hours of 8 am, 4 pm and 12 midnights. The milking three times a day during the hours of 7 am, 3 pm and 11 pm, took place. samples were measured twice during the entire experiment, once on days 21 to 25 days and the other 41 to 45 of the experiment.
RESUALTS: The results showed that eating activities (as minutes per day) total activity of ruminating and ruminating as sleeping and standing, total activity of chewing standing time and lying down asidle, total duration of standing (as minutes per day) were not affected by the experimental diets, also amount of milk production, precedent of protein and total solids of milk were not affected by treatments. While the fat, lactose, solids-non-fat and urea of milk significantly (P It is concluded, mash diet increased milk fat percentage, caused it has forage higher particle size, therefore ruminal mat formatted.

The study on genetic and phenotypic properties of egg quality traits is of high importance in native fowl breeding.
The objective of present study was to estimate the heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of external and internal egg quality traits.
1024 eggs of 15th generation produced in Isfahan Breeding Center were collected and their internal and external quality traits were measured. Genetic and phenotypic parameters were estimated by 6 animal models using restricted maximum likelihood method.
Heritability estimates for external egg quality traits ranged from 0.14 to 0.38 and it ranged from 0.11 to 0.25 for internal egg quality traits. For external egg quality traits, the highest positive genetic correlation was obtained between specific gravity and eggshell thickness (0.93), and the highest negative genetic correlation was observed between length and shape index (-0.81). For internal egg quality, the highest positive genetic correlation was observed between albumen height and Haugh unit (0.99) and the highest negative genetic correlation was observed between yolk diameter and yolk index (-0.54). The highest genetic correlation between external and internal egg quality traits was obtained between egg weight and albumen weight (0.92).
Results showed that improvement of external egg quality traits is possible through selection for egg specific gravity because this trait is a high heritable trait, and it also has favorable genetic correlations with other external egg quality traits and is easy to measure. For the same reasons, selection for higher yolk height will improve internal egg quality traits in Isfahan native fowl. Because of negative genetic correlation between egg specific gravity and yolk height, a selection index including both of these traits will improve internal and external egg quality traits in Isfahan native fowl.

Oak acorn can be use as a cheap and a readily available feed in many countries such as Iran.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of oak acorn on rumen and small intestine morphology and gastrointestinal pH in Markhoz goat.
Twenty four Markhoz male kids with mean body weight 16±1 Kg and 4-5 months of age in completely randomized design was used. Experimental period was 105 days and experimental diets consisted of control 0%, 8%, 17% and 25% oak acorn. The kids in all 4 groups were fed alfalfa hey and concentrate (barley for control and oak acorn as replacement in experimental groups).
The results showed that the experimental diets had no significant (P> 0.05) on rumen morphology (height of papilla, width of papilla, surface of papilla, density of papilla and rumen wall thickness) and morphology of intestine (height of villi, width of villi, surface of villi, depth of crypt and ratio of villi height to crypt depth). Also, experimental diets had no significant effects (P>0.05) on pH of different parts of rumen and small intestine.
The results of this study showed that using 25% of oak acorn in Markhoz kids had no negative effects on rumen and small intestine morphology and digestive pH in the contents of gastrointestinal.

Today royal jelly production is a part of beekeeping industry.
The research was conducted in order to survey possibility of royal jelly production in Iranian beekeeping system.
20 honey bee colonies containing one year old sister queens and same contents of the hive were divided into 2 groups, randomly. Natural queen cells of control colonies removed in order to prevent swarming. Other group colonies organized using integrated usual swarm control methods and 4-hour method to produce queen. The grafted cells were introduced to these colonies in three times and in each time the organization of the hive contents was changed. At the end of each stage, number of accepted cells and amount of produced royal jelly was recorded.
The total number of accepted cells was 216.1, and amount of harvested jelly 273.67mg/cell or59.33gr/hive in 3 stages. There was no significant difference between groups from the view point of honey yields.
Generally, this trial showed that using this procedure we can produce a significant amount of royal jelly from the hives, as well as control of swarming.