فهرست مطالب ارسلان برازنده

Tryptophan is 3 th essential amino acid for the body. Also an important substrate for essential hormones such as serotonin and melatonin. This amino acid is metabolized in two ways in the body 1- Kynurunine pathway and 2- serotonin pathway. Tryptophan entry to These metabolizing pathways is five percent for serotonin production and ninety and five percent for kynurenine production. This experiment was performed to evaluate the Effect of intraperitoneal injection of the L-tryptophan on feed intake, rectal temperature, and some blood biochemical metabolites of the Kermani sheep breed. 20 eight-month-old lambs grouped in 10 males and 10 females in a factorial design. Lambs were divided into control groups (saline intraperitoneal injection) and treatment groups (intraperitoneal injection with 50 mg tryptophan amino acid/kg body weight ). The Control group of each gender was injected only with physiological serum intraperitoneally .immediately after injection, the feed was offered to them and cumulative feed intake was measured in 2 hours intervals for a four-hour duration. Feed was a total mixed ration consisting of 40 % concentrated and 60 % roughage. Heartbeat, respiration rate, and rectal temperature were measured every hour after amino acid or saline injection. This experiment showed that feed intake in tryptophan treatment was reduced compared to the control group, also female lambs had significantly lower cumulative feed intake (P<0.05). Heart rate decreased in males and tryptophan treatment (P<0.05). Tryptophan injection significantly reduced rectal temperature (P<0.05). Tryptophan injection did not show a significant effect on the serum concentrations of T3 and T4 hormones of lambs (P>0.05) but reduced the ratio of T3 to T4 (P<0.05). this means thyroxin converted to triiodothyronine more effectively in the group that received tryptophan amino acid. Levels of cortisol, total protein, cholesterol, triglyceride, creatine, and urea were not significantly different in the tryptophan-receiving lamb compared to the control group (P>0.05). Serum albumin concentration decreased in tryptophan-receiving lambs compared to the control group (P<0.05).blood Albumin level was decreased in tryptophan-injected lamb compared with the control group (P<0.05). According to the results of this experiment, reduction of heart rate and rectal temperature in tryptophan treatment, it could be concluded that tryptophan improves the condition of livestock under heat stress by affecting the mechanisms of coping with high ambient temperature. These mechanisms are related to heartbeat and respiration rate control centers that were affected by intraperitoneal injection of tryptophan amino acid. Tryptophan in route of intraperitoneal injection significantly reduced cumulative feed intake but this was compensated for some hours of post-injection.

By aggregating the previous studies, the present study aimed to perform a meta-analysis to estimate the weighted average of the genetic parameters of fiber length, fiber diameter and percentage yield of fiber in cashmere goats to increase the accuracy of estimations. The data of 14 related published papers between 1989 and 2021 were used. A model with random effects was used to estimate the genetic parameters, standard error and 95% confidence range of traits by using Metafor package in R environment. The weighted average of heritability estimates for length, diameter and percentage yield were 0.24 ± 0.047, 0.42 ± 0.053 and 0.60 ± 0.103, respectively. The obtained results indicated that the studied traits have high heritability estimates and therefore the direct genetic selection can lead to the improvement of the performance of these traits. The highest estimate of genetic and phenotypic correlations were obtained between the percentage yield and the fiber length as 0.84 and 0.54, respectively. The lowest genetic and phenotypic correlations were obtained between the percentage yield and the fiber diameter as 0.38 and 0.35, respectively. Sharp reductions in the standard errors of the heritability estimates due to aggregating the results and increasing the sample size, improve accuracy of the corresponding estimates. The genetic parameters estimated in the present study may be used for developing the breeding programs to improve the fiber traits in Cashmere goats. Therefore, the results of meta-analysis study can improve the breeding programs, especially in breeds with insufficient records.

g-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid synthesized by decarboxylation of glutamate by the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase. The central nervous system (CNS) contains uniquely high concentrations of GABA, and GABA serves as a major inhibitory neurotransmitter. The biological effects of the amino acid neurotransmitter GABA are mediated by ionotropic GABA-A receptors, a family of ion channels, and by the metabotropic GABA-B receptor, a receptor coupled to the inhibitory G-protein. Gene expression Status of GABAergic circuit is changed under different physiological conditions. Broodiness is one of those conditions. Investigation on high broodiness occurrence breed and breed without broodiness would be able to declare this discrepancy of different in egg lying and broodiness condition.

available dataset of hypothalamus gene expression were downloaded from NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.- nih.gov/sra/SRP082125). The transcriptional profiling of hypothalamus samples from leghorn and local hen in non-broodiness and broodiness condition respectively was carried out at 2 samples for treated and 2 samples for control group. The quality control of sequencing reads was carried out by FastQC software. Filtered reads were evaluated with FastQC. String database was used for the retrieval of interacting genes and Cytoscape software was used to visualize the network. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis.

In hypothalamus of non-broodiness and broodiness hens 2943 genes was expressed. After searching gene ID and analyzing 7 genes was identified as a GABAergic pathway. two enzymes involved in converting Glutamat to GABA, including GAD1 and GAD2. Both of them had down-regulation of expression in local hen compared to Leghorn hens. Gene reduction of GABAA, G and B receptors, gene increase expression of GABAA subunit of Pi and GABAC subunit of R1 was observed in local hen compared to Leghorn hens.

with investigation on transcription of GABAergic pathway of local and Leghorn hens, both GABA synthetic enzymes and GABA receptors showed significant difference. This showed more GABA receptor and GABA synthetic enzymes gene expression in lying hen and probably with survey of GABAergic pathway during different phase of egg production, more noticeable result would be declared.

Heat stress is one of the stressors in livestock. Vitamin C has antioxidant properties and can help reduce heat stress ether. This study aimed to investigate the effect of intraperitoneal injection of vitamin V during acute heat stress on feed intake and some blood metabolites of Kermani sheep. This study was performed in Shahid Beheshti Research Station of Jiroft University under super-acute heat stress for three days. Treatments included male and female sheep divided into four treatments and five replications, so the treatments differed in sex and drug intake. The drug was injected at zero hours, and feed intake was measured at two and four hours after injection. Finally, blood samples were taken from the venous vein in the fourth hour after the drug injection. Serum samples were sent to the laboratory for analysis of blood metabolites. The results showed that intraperitoneal vitamin C injection significantly reduced feed intake (P <0.01). Albumin, cholesterol, and triglyceride metabolites were reduced (P <0.01) by vitamin C injection. However, vitamin C was reduced. There was no effect on total protein, glucose, creatine, and blood urea at the level of (P <0.05). The results showed that vitamin C reduced heat stress in sheep and improved physiological status and hormonal and blood parameters.

The importance of wool has led to extensive research on its structure and genetic since decades ago. Identifying genes affecting economic traits is one of the most important goals of breeding in sheep. The genetic and functional potential of genes can be used to obtain animal products with the best quality and quantity. For the analysis of large data, sequencing software is cost-effective, which has greatly helped to understand the mechanisms and genetic background of various phenotypic traits in sheep. Identifying different characteristics of candidate genes and types of genotypes related to important phenotypic traits is essential in animal breeding. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to identify the genes affecting the production of wool fibers in sheep based on the functional analysis of those genes.

In order to identify genes affecting wool fibers in sheep, the data used in this research were downloaded from the GEO database with access number GSE85844. In the current study, the criterion for selecting genes is the expression difference in the range 0.3 < LogFC <-0.3 and P-value at the 5% level. After identifying and specifying the genes with significant difference (increased and decreased expression), DAVID database was used to analyze the ontology of genes. In order to investigate the interaction and relationship between the genes, the STRING database was used and the Cytoscape software package was utilized to analyze the created network.

1008 genes with different and significant expression were identified (p<0.05). Genes with Log FC <-0.3, have low expression and their number was 431, and genes with Log FC > 0.3 have high expression and their number is 577. The ontology results for CHRD, PLOD1, BMP4 and ITGA5 genes showed that these genes are effective in the pathways related to hair morphogenesis and construction, hair follicle regeneration and development and density of skin.

selecting to improve the quality of wool produced in sheep by using these findings will accelerate the genetic progress of related breeding programs.

In order to identify the risk factors affecting abortion in sheep and goat population in southern of Kerman, two questionnaires were prepared, the first was related to individual and environmental risk factors related to mother and fetus and the second questionnaire was related to risk factors related to livestock and herds. Data analysis was performed using Minitab software and regression method and the correlation coefficient and significance for the predictor variables were presented. The results showed that the mean age of mothers was 33.4 months and the mean age of aborted fetuses was 3.5 months. Data analysis also showed that the highest rate of aborted fetuses occurred at the age of 3 to 4 months with about 57% and the lowest rate of abortions occurred in fetuses less than one month old with about 6%.80% of abortions on the farm, 34% of abortions were twins and 81% of abortions occurred in hot weather. The results of this study showed that the maintenance system and the region had a significant effect on the incidence of abortion and in animals that kept in the open system and animals kept in warm areas had significantly higher abortion rates. With increasing the age of livestock and the number of livestock, the rate of abortion increased significantly. Manual feeding and use of disinfectants significantly reduced the rate of abortion. With decreasing ratio of manger to livestock Abortion increased significantly.

 Arabi sheep population includes almost 55% of the local sheep population in Khuzestan province. Lamb mortality is a universal problem in sheep breeding that may be reached to 20-40% of total lambs born and could impact the genetic improvement, animal welfare and economic viability of sheep breeding, adversely. Research on improving survival of lambs is likely to have a higher pay-off than research on improving the number of lambs conceived. Lamb survival is a compound trait affected by many various factors related to climate, management, lamb and ewe behavior and genetic effects. Lamb survivability is controlled by genetics of the animal, contributed by direct genetic and maternal effects and also by environmental effects. There are disagreements among researchers about using a suitable model to analyze the survival traits, and each researcher has suggested the use of specific models. In general, the use of linear and threshold models has been suggested for survival trait analysis. Although survival has great economic importance, in the studies conducted on Iranian livestock, less attention has been paid to it. The aim of this study was to analyze the genetic parameters for the survival of Arabi lambs from birth to one year of age using linear and Weibull models.

 in this study, 5452 lamb survival records collected by the Jahad Agricultural Organization of Ahvaz from 1993 to 2005 were used. Traits included were cumulative survival from birth to the end of one year and on a monthly basis. In order to estimate genetic parameters using linear models, the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) method was used in Wombat software based on a univariate analysis. The Weibull model and Matvec software were also used for estimating variance component and genetic parameters of Survival rate.

 Different models compared using the likelihood ratio test. For survival traits until 1, 4, 5, and 10 months, the model 4 was suitable, which include the direct additive genetic effect, maternal additive genetic effect and their covariance. In the case of until 2 months, the best model was the model 3, which include the direct and maternal additive genetic effects. For until 3, 8, 9, and 12 months, model 1 including direct additive genetic effect was selected. And for other traits Model 5 (direct additive genetic, maternal additive genetic, and maternal permanent environmental effects) was chosen as the best model. The direct heritability of survival rate estimated from different linear models was in the range of 0.025 to 0.061. In general, despite the high economic importance of survival in the breeds until one year of age, due to low estimates of the inheritance of these traits using linear models, it cannot be expected that genetic selection alone can make significant genetic progress. The genetic variance component among sires, heritability on the logarithmic scale, heritability on the original scale, and effective heritability obtained from Weibull sire model were increased to a peak point at 4 months. After that, a decline occurred until 5 months, and then a fluctuation was observed until 9 months. A limited increase was found in the 11 and 12 months. The heritability of sire model, in the logarithmic scale, had a low to medium range (0.13-0.25), and in the original scale had a medium to high range (0.39-0.75). The effective heritability was estimated in the medium range. Estimated values of the survival heritability using the Weibull model was greater than the value obtained from the linear animal model. Although heritability estimations for survival and mortality is low, it is possible that genetic progress may be enhanced by selecting lambs with higher breeding value for survival.

 Estimation of the genetic parameters for survival lambs from birth to one year of age using linear and Weibull models were low vs medium to high, respectively. Therefore, based on the results of linear models, response to  direct selection to improve the survival of lambs in this breed will be very slow, and more attention should be paid to improving non-genetic factors and indirect selection and outbreeding, but based on The results of Weibull models, it seems that the rate of response to genetic selection to improve survival trait is faster using these models compared to the linear models, suggest that lamb survival could be improved  through direct selection and could be included in the Arabi sheep selection  index.

Application of molecular biology techniques to the production of new vaccines against different strains of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) has been the subject of recent research reports. Development of improved techniques for genome sequencing has led to the recognition of protective mechanisms and the identification of possible candidate antigens. The present research aimed to design a recombinant chimeric immunogen against binding agents in Newcastle virus in birds.  

Therefore, we conducted this investigation to make a recombinant vaccine in silico in order to control and eliminate this disease using anti-leptospirosis epitopes, F, and HN antigens. To bind these epitopes, KK, as AAY linkers, were selected to bind the structure. This structure contained 309 amino acids. The important biological factors of this recombinant vaccine, such as physicochemical properties, different structures, stability, intrinsic protein disorder, solubility, and allergenicity of this vaccine structure were evaluated using immune system analysis.  

Various analyses confirmed the stability of this structure, and the epitopes predicted in the chimeric vaccine showed a high potential for inducing the immune response of B cell and T cell. Thus, immune system analysis revealed that the modeled multi-epitope vaccine could properly stimulate T and B cell immune responses and could potentially be utilized for prophylactic or control applications.  

The results of this study could be employed to control and eliminate leptospirosis in the future after confirming its effectiveness by experimental immunological assays

In most mammals, each hair follicle is a mammalian skin organ that produces hair and controls the hair growth cycle. The hair follicle is central to most economically important fiber growth in livestock. Previous studies have shown that changes in the level of genes expression play a role in the development and growth of hair follicles. With the advent of high throughput, next-generation sequencing technology measuring the level of expression of thousands of genes was possible simultaneously. As a result, many regulatory conflicts between genes can be extracted from these data. Expression profiles are generated by combining expression levels resulting from experiments in various conditions or times. Similarities and differences between expression profiles reveal many of these regulatory relationships. Despite recent advances in the identification of the molecular signaling/co-expression networks that govern the development of the skin and hair follicle, the mechanisms controlling of fiber production in Cashmere goat still remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the most important molecules controlling the growth and development of hair follicles in cashmere goats in order to decode the genes involved in the growth and development of hair follicles in cashmere goats.

 Publicly available preprocessed transcript data (accession no. SRP059481) was downloaded from the NCBI database in the SRA section. In this investigation, nine goats were selected at the same stage of gestation. Three fetuses were obtained at 55-65 days’ gestation (60-days old) and three fetuses were obtained at 105-125 days’ gestation (120 –day- old) through cesarean operation and three fetuses were also sacrificed within two hours of birth (newborn). For analysis of RNA-seq data, a random sampling from the right mid-side of the fetal skin and each time point had three replicates. The 60 days (E60) of gestation represented the initiation stage of growth, and the 120 d (E120) represented the development stage, as well as the newborn samples, represented the primary hair follicle maturation stage. The FastQC software (Version 11.7) was used to check the quality of the readings. This software check the quality of the reads, in case of low-quality sequencing, the data were edited by Trimmomatic software (Version 0.39), and filtered reads were evaluated with FastQC software, After removing low-quality reads mapping was performed on the goat reference genome (GCA_001704415.1) downloaded from the ensemble site using the Hisat2 software(Version 2.1.0). The HTSeq2 (Version 10.0) was used to create the count matrix, changes in the expression of genes between the groups (E60, E120, and newborns) was identified using the software Deseq2 (Version 1.24). In this stage, the genes between the two groups were compared to give an expression difference 1- Genes that are expressed throughout the growth process of the follicle 2. Co-Expression networks of up and down genes were created using the STRING database (Version 11) at https://string-db.org. The PPI network was constructed by Cytoscape software (Version 3.6.0). Cytoscape is commonly used for analysis and visualization of biological networks. Gene ontology analysis of effective gene related to development stage of hair follicle in Cashmere goat from fetal to birth was done using DAVID database.

After determining the level of expression of each gene at different stages of sampling, genes that increased expression in all comparisons were considered as up-regulated genes that, by increasing their expression, control the growth and development of hair follicle. On the other hand, those genes that have been shown to reduce expression in all of the follicle growth stages comparisons were considered as genes which by decreasing their expression, causes the growth and development of the hair follicle. The interaction relations were investigated between the increased and reduced genes expressed separately by STRING database. Among the up-regulated genes, the relationships between 145 genes with 203 edge were confirmed. Also, the interaction network between the down-regulated genes confirmed between 650 genes with 1302 edge. Among the genes with differential expression, the co-expression genes (genes with the most interacting) were identified based on the results of the analysis of the statistical parameters of the network using computational algorithms in Cytoscape software. These results led to the identification of seven unique genes that were SHH, KLF4, MMP9, MSX1, KRT17, COL2A1 and VEGFA, ontology analysis of these genes showed that involved the hair cycle process, hair follicle development, skin epidermis development, epidermis morphogenesis and epidermal cell differentiation that these pathways are activated in the cashmere production process. Therefore, these genes have been used as regulators of cashmere growth and development to better understand the cashmere production process and improve its quality.

The results have been able to introduce genes with major effects that regulate the expression of genes and molecular signals associated with the production of fiber that including KLF4, MMP9, MSX1, KRT17, COL2A1 and VEGFA in Cashmere goats. Based on functional analysis, these genes can play a significant role in the improvement of cashmere goats breeding. We hope that the obtained results would be beneficial toward finding the smart strategies for Cashmere production improvement.

In the present study, data collected from 1993 to 2011 in Raeini Cashmere goat breeding station were used for genetic evaluation and inferring causal relationships among reproductive traits applying structural equation models. The studied lifetime reproductive traits were included the overall number of kids born (OLSB), the overall number of kids weaned (OLSW), the overall litter weight at birth (OLWB) and the overall litter weight at weaning (OLWW). Three models including standard (SMM), recursive based on prior knowledge (PRM) and recursive based on inductive causation algorithm (ICM) multivariate models were used for genetic evaluation of animals under the Bayesian approach. The comparisons of the investigated models via deviance information criterion (DIC), mean square error (MSE) and Pearson's correlations between observed and predicted records () revealed that ICM had lower DIC and MSE and higher () for all the studied lifetime reproductive traits; implying the more plausibility of ICM over SMM and PRM. Furthermore, re-raking of the animals under SMM and ICM confirmed the importance of considering the causal relationship among the traits for ensuring accurate ranking of animals according to their breeding values.

The Kermani sheep breed is one of the most important native breeds in Iran. It is well adapted to the harsh and undesirable environmental conditions of the southeastern part of the country. Therefore, consideration to the breeding of Kermani sheep and the improvement of the environmental and genetic conditions of this breed can contributed greatly to providing a part of the livelihood needs of the people. The longevity in the ewe is a high economic trait, because increasing the longevity will lead to a reduction in the culling rate as well as replacement costs in the herd and increasing of number of lambs. Considering that the investigation and identification of the important factors influence culling of ewes from the herd, which leads to a decrease in the yield and longevity of the animal, can be used to provide and develop a suitable strategy to promote the survival and longevity of the ewes. In addition, due to the absence of genetic parameters of production life length in Kermani sheep, the aim of this study was to study changes, prediction of components of variance and genetic parameters of survival distribution function in Kermani ewes.

In this research, longevity records of 772 heads of Kermani ewes (collected from 1989 to 2008) at the Kermani sheep station (Shahr Babak, Kerman province) were studied. The overall production life length was equal to the time between births to ewe culling. Frequency distribution for causes of culling and survival distribution function for ewes were estimated using R software. The Weibull model and Matvec software were also used for estimating variance component and genetic parameters of longevity traits as survival.

The results showed that the mean of ewe’s longevity was 4.72 years with average lambing of 3.4 in life time. The most important cause of culling was disease (53%), especially in the first three parity of the ewe. After disease, oldness, reproductive problems, low production, physical phenomenon, experimental slaughter, selling additional ewes and bad type (0.5%) are the accounted causes for remaining ewe culling, respectively. Considering that culling due to disease accounts for more than half of the deaths, prevention and treatment of diseases are important in this breed. Therefore, the type and timing of the prevalence should be investigated and preventive and therapeutic proceeding should be taken for diseases. The total amount of non-optional culling (illness, physical incidence, and aging) was about 83% of total casualties. It can be concluded that the deletion due to the low production was very small. At the age of two and three, the mortality rate was low, reaching its peak at the age of four, has declined since this age, with partial fluctuations between the ages of 5 and 6, and at the age of 7 and 8 years decline have happened. Therefore, most ewes were culled from the herd before reaching the age of 8. Most culling has occurred in pre-maturity ages, so it should be taken into consideration because it indicates that the ewes were eliminated before they reach the peak of production.The conditional culling probability increases with age, while cumulative survival rate decreased with age of ewe. The hazard ratio of death increased with age up to 6 years of old steadily and then increased strongly, and reached two at 7 to 8 years of old. The high hazard ratio indicated an early death or short longevity. Normally, inverse of this ratio expresses useful information. The reversal of this ratio at a certain time interval, provided that the hazard level remains constant at this interval, will indicate the time it takes to occur (death). For example, at a time interval of 3 to 4 years, the ewe's longevity will be equal to a reversal of 0.5298, equivalent to two years. But, for 7 to 8 years old, the reciprocal of two will be 0.5 years that indicating if the dangers remain constant at this interval, the ewe's life will be only 6 months, and ewes remaining in this group will be lost after 6 months. Trend of survival and hazard ratio at different ages of ewes can be provided as a model to breeders of this breed. Heritability on the logarithmic scale, the original scale and effective heritability of the risk ratio obtained from the sire model with the Weibull function was predicted at low to high (0.002-0.145). Although heritability estimates for longevity are low, but genetic improvement may be increased by selecting animals with higher inbreeding values.

The results of this study showed that the most effective factor in shortening the longevity and decreasing survival in Kermani ewes is culling due to disease, especially in pre-maturity. Therefore, in order to improve the longevity, necessary studies and necessary preventive should be taken regarding the type and timing of the disease. Genetically, if possible, it would seek to create genetic resistance to diseases and environmental conditions. On the other hand, the results of models with the Weibull function indicate that in order to improve the survival rate and longevity, in addition to improving the non-genetic factors, the selection should be considered within the breed. Also, high heritability traits with high genetic correlation with longevity traits are identified and indirect selection be done based on them.

Consideration of the residual growth hormones in the carcass of slaughtered animals in the slaughterhouse is necessary as a potential risk to the health of the community. The present study aimed at identifying biomarkers to detect the illegal use of growth stimulating hormones in slaughter houses. For this purpose, the differential expression analysis of the genes in a gene expression profile in the Arrayexpress database with the accession number E-GEOD-12179 was initially comprised of a comparison of the muscle tissue of the beef cattle receiving the growth stimulating hormone with beef cattle muscle, which did not receive any growth stimulating hormones. Among genes with different expression, target genes were identified by analyzing the statistical parameters of the network. The identified genes were MAPK1, EDN1, TGFB1, BMP4, and PPARA. Then the pathway analysis of the gene, generating and analyzing the expression network of genes based on target genes were performed using Pathvisio, Cytoscape and Pathway studio software. Analysis of pathways showed that beta-cell growth factor, growth factor receptor, and gonadotropin hormone release were significant. Also, the results of this analysis showed that these genes play a role in the regulation of cellular cell proliferation, differentiation, development, and process of muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, these genes have the potential for introduction as biomarkers of gene expression in relation to the detection of the use of growth promoters and provide new markers for detecting illegal use of growth stimulating hormones in slaughterhouses.

In order to investigate the effect of feeding zinc-methionine (Zn-Met) supplementation on growth performance, nutrients digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters and some blood metabolites, an experiment was conducted on fifteen Kermani male lambs with average initial body weight of 32.1 ± 0.88 kg as a completely randomized design with 3 treatments and 5 replicates for 8 weeks. The experimental treatments were basal diet without supplemental Zn (Control), basal diet plus 50 mg Zn/kg diet of Zn-Met, and basal diet supplemented with 100 mg Zn/kg diet of Zn-Met. The results showed that lambs fed with 100 mg/kg diet of Zn supplementation had lower feed intake than the other treatments (P<0.01). Lambs received 50 mg Zn /kg of diet had higher average daily gain than those on control diet (P<0.05). Lambs fed with Zn supplementation (50 or 100 mg/kg) had better feed conversion ratio than the control group (P<0.05). The apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was higher in lambs fed 50 mg/kg of Zn supplementation than those of the control (P<0.05). However, no difference in fat and acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibility was observed between treatments. Additionally, feeding Zn-Met supplementation diet had no significant effect on pH and ammonia nitrogen of ruminal fluidas well as serum glucose, total protein, triglyceride and urea concentrations of lambs. According to these results, feeding 50 mg/kg diet of Zn supplemented increases feed nutrients digestibility and compared with 100 mg of the supplement, has better effects on growth performance of fattening lambs.

The goat population has increased globally despite major changes in agriculture due to industrial mergers, globalization, and technological advances in the developed countries. Goat farming is one of the key elements contributing to the economy of farmers living in the arid and semi-arid regions including most areas of Iran. There are 30 million heads of cashmere goats around the world and 4.5-5 million heads of cashmere goats are bred in Iran. Raini goat is one of the most important Iranian native goats that spread in the southeast of Iran where these animals are kept for both meat and cashmere production. There are almost 3 million heads of this trait in Kerman province. Although many breeding programs were performed, but have not led to much progress in its economic profitability. One of these reasons can be lack of an economic selection index for basic traits. Survival is one of the most important economic traits and effects on income of farmers, because death or early culling of animals decreases income of breeders. Hence, considering this trait in breeding programs can improve it and increase economic performance of animals. Considering the importance of survival, and the fact that survival of Raini goats has never been studied, the aim of this study was to estimate survival distribution function in Raini kids from birth to yearling.
Data set used in this study were 3055 records of kids (from 201 male goats and 1309 female) related to the breeding station of Raini goat located in the Baft city of Kerman province, collected during the years 1992 to 2007. The frequency distribution for causes of culling and survival distribution function of kids to yearling age was estimated by R software.
The overall kids’ culling up to yearling age was 21.09 percent, which in the first, second, third and fourth triplet months was 11.2%, 5.08%, 2.17%, and 3.64%, respectively. The most causes of removing kids from the flock were extra-fattening kids and mortality due to illness, respectively. The accumulative survival from birth to yearling age of kids was 77.91 percent. The regression coefficient of survival showed that the survival rate decreased by 0.048 percent per day.
Considering the higher mortality rate in the first 3 months of life, it can be recommended to reconsider in the way of management and breeding system, improve genetic capacity and involve survival trait in breeding programs.