Journal of Livestock Science and Technology
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Jun 2020

Despite the long history of artificial insemination, its widespread use in many species, including the poultry, sheep, and goat, has been faced with many challenges especially when frozen semen is used. The freezing-thawing process results in physical and chemical insults on the sperm which subsequently decrease the fertility of the sperm. The decrease in fertility is much greater in most species compared with the species such as cattle. Many factors affect the fertility of the frozen-thawed sperm, and different procedures, including the use of various extenders, have been investigated to improve the quality of frozen-thawed sperm. Glycerol and egg yolk are traditionally used as the protective components in many extenders. Despite the positive effects of the egg yolk (mainly as a result of its low-density lipoproteins), there have been concerns with the use of animal products in semen extenders. Therefore, attempts have been made to substitute the egg yolk with other sources such as lecithin. There are reports that several additives such as disaccharides, antioxidants, and essential oils may have beneficial effects on the fertility of frozen-thawed sperm. Variable success rates were reported, and a small number of publications contained fertility data. In this paper, I shall review the most recent research findings on frozen-thawed sperm in sheep and goats, supplemented with data on other mammals when appropriate.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of in ovo injection of nanocurcumin (NC) and vitamin E (VE) on antioxidant status, intestinal histomorphology and growth performance of the hatched chicks. Fertile eggs (n=352) were allocated to 8 treatments with 4 replicates of 11 eggs each. At d 17.5 of incubation, the eggs were injected with 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05 mL/egg of NC and 0.03, 0.06 and 0.09 mL/egg VE solution into the amniotic cavity, and the rest two groups were used as sham and un-injected controls. The hatchlings from each treatment were randomly assigned to 4 replicates of 10 birds and reared until d 24 of age under heat stress (8 h daily at 35oC). The experimental design used was a completely randomized one. Results showed that superoxide dismutase activity in liver was increased (P<0.01) by IOI of 0.05 mL/egg NC in compare with control and sham groups on d 10. Total antioxidant capacity was decreased (P<0.05) by IOI of 0.03 and 0.06 mL/egg VE in compare with the control group. Liver glutathione peroxidase and malondialdehyde activities, blood heterophil (H) and lymphocyte (L) counts and H/L ratio, serum total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and VLDL levels and also crypt depth (CD) were not significantly affected by treatments on d 10. Villous height (VH) in the birds hatched from 0.01 and 0.03 mL/egg NC treatments were shorter than control group. The VH to CD ratio in NC treatments and 0.03 and 0.06 mL/egg VE were lower than controls (P<0.01). In ovo administration of NC and VE had no significant effects on growth performance of broiler chickens during 1-10 days of age; but decreased (P<0.05) feed intake during 1-24 d without affecting body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Hatchability in 0.03 and 0.05 mL/egg NC treatments were decreased (P<0.05) in compare with the control treatment. In general, in ovo administration of NC improved antioxidant status of the hatchlings. In ovo injection of NC and VE didn’t have a significant effect on posthatch growth performance of the broiler chickens.

The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition and nutritive value of whole tomato plant (WTP) as well as the effects of different inclusion levels on diet digestibility and in vitro rumen fermentation. The chemical composition and nutritive value of WTP were initially compared with wheat straw (WS) and alfalfa hay (AH). Thereafter, the effect of substituting incremental levels of WTP (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%, dry matter (DM) basis) for the dietary forage component on in vitro fermentation parameters was assessed. Crude protein (CP) content in WTP was higher than in WS, but a comparable to AH. Contents of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) in WTP were lower but lignin was higher than other experimental feeds. The higher ash content of WTP was due to its lower organic matter (OM) content compared to WS and AH. Compared to WS, WTP yielded greater gas production (GP) at 16, 24 and 48 h of incubation, total GP, potential GP (b), in vitro DM (IVDMD) and OM (IVOMD) digestibility, estimated metabolizable energy (ME), microbial protein production (MP) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration. However, all of these parameters were lower in WTP than AH (P<0.05). Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration in WTP treatment was reduced compared to AH but was similar to the WS treatment (P>0.05). The highest and lowest GP at different incubation time, b, IVDMD, IVOMD, estimated ME, SCFA and MP production were observed in the diet supplemented with 10 and 20% WTP respectively (P<0.05). However, rate of GP (c), pH and ammonia-N were similar among WTP-supplemented diets (P>0.05). Overall, results of the present study indicated that WTP improved in vitro gas production, fermentation parameters and nutrient digestibility compared to WS while some of its parameters were comparable to AH.

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate of effect of fennel seed powder (FSP) on digestibility, ruminal characteristics, and meat quality. In a completely randomized design, three diets containing zero (without FSP), 0.75% and 1.5% FSP were fed to 30 Kermani fattening male lambs (eight months old), with an average initial body weight of 27.5 ± 0.450 kg for 80 days. There was no effect of diets on apparent nutrient digestibility, but dry matter intake (DMI) was higher (P<0.05) for the diets containing FSP. The lambs fed the FSP diets had more final body weight (BW), weight of warm carcass and lean meat than lambs fed control diet (P<0.05). Ruminal pH, and NH3-N and acetic acid concentrations were higher in lambs on FSP diets than in control group (P<0.05). Ruminal protozoal population and propionic acid concentration were lower (P<0.05) in lambs fed FSP than the control diets. The meat fat content decreased but protein content increased in lambs fed on FSP diets. The malondialdehyde concentration in Longissimus dorsi of lambs fed FSP diets was lower compared with the control lambs. The results suggested that fennel seed feeding to fattening lambs, by improving the ruminal fermentation and meat quality, might be a suitable natural antioxidant for the meat production industry.

This study assessed the substitution effects of barley silage (BS) for corn silage (CS) on nutrient utilization, feeding behavior, and performance of dairy cows. Eight Holstein lactating cows were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design, and the cows were offered diets containing different ratios of CS to BS (22% of DM) as 1) 3:0 (CS3BS0); 2) 2:1 (CS2BS1); 3) 1:2 (CS1BS2); and 4) 0:3 (CS0BS3). The diets were iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous, but the dietary concentration of indigestible neutral detergent fiber (iNDF) and proportion of long particles (>19 mm) were increased with increasing BS proportion in the diets‎. The degradability characteristics of the silages were evaluated by in situ technique. Both silages were similar in predicted total tract NDF digestibility (TTNDFD = 35 %), 30-h undegradable NDF (uNDF30h = 32 %), NDF digestion rate (kd = 1.8 %/h), but CS was lower in iNDF and higher non fibrous carbohydrates (NFC). Intake of DM was unchanged, but NDF intake was linearly increased with increasing BS levels. Total tract NDF digestibility did not differ among treatments, but DM digestibility linearly decreased with increasing BS proportion. Feeding different ratios of CS: BS did not affect milk yield or milk fat and protein concentration. Furthermore, ruminating time was unaffected by dietary treatments but increasing BS level decreased quadratically the eating and total chewing times. The experimental treatments did not affect plasma β-hydroxybutyric acid and glucose concentrations, but BS increased linearly ruminal ammonia and blood urea nitrogen concentration. The results indicated that BS had a higher iNDF content and a negative impact on DM digestibility and N utilization. However, partial or total substitution of CS with BS led to similar DM intake and milk yield, possibly as a result of similar fiber digestion rate and uNDF30h.

Spermatozoa contained in the cauda epididymis could be recovered and used at post-mortem in the situations that the ejaculated sperm are not available such as the sudden death of genetically invaluable livestock males and in endangered wild species. To benefit from the potentials of epididymal spermatozoa, it is important to have suitable protocols for handling and storage of this type of spermatozoa, because the quality of epididymal spermatozoa is affected by the storage conditions. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate whether ram epididymal spermatozoa could be preserved in a simple extender containing egg yolk for 120 h at 5˚C. Epididymal spermatozoa were collected from the tails of the epididymides of slaughtered rams and diluted in Tris-citric acid-fructose extenders containing 0, 10, or 20% EY at 1×108 spermmL-1. Afterwards, the diluted samples were stored at 5˚C for 120 h. The motility, functional membrane integrity, and morphology of spermatozoa were assessed at 0, 2, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h of storage period. The results showed that storing ovine epididymal spermatozoa without EY was not possible. In the extender containing 20% EY, membrane integrity was similar to the fresh samples up to 72 h, normal morphology up to 96 h, and progressive motility up to 72 h.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of crossbreeding on milk yield, physical and chemical composition and fatty acid profiles of milk fat in Qazvini goats and its crosses with Saanen goats. Records of 316 lactations and 1745 test-day milk were available for Qazvini (Q), Qazvini×Saanen (QS), and QS×Saanen (QSS) goats. The least squares means and standard errors of daily milk yield in Q, QS, and QSS goats were 716±75, 1188±61, and 1373±107 g/day, during the lactation length of 163, 160 and 166 days, respectively. In Q milk, the percentages of total solids, fat, protein, lactose and ash, and the density (-1000, g L-1) and freezing point (-°C) were 15.12, 6.01, 3.39, 4.91, 0.80, 29.91 and -0.601 being higher (P<0.01) than those of crossbred goats (except for milk density). Concentration of milk saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) for Q, QS, and QSS were 68.31, 67.42, 75.34, and 2.74, 4.10 and 3.25 g/100g total fatty acids, respectively (P<0.05).   Concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) for those groups were 20.16, 19.18 and 18.43 g/100g total fatty acids, respectively (P>0.05). Despite decreased concentration of milk components, crossbreeding might be recommended in increasing the milk production and the amount of PUFA fatty acids in Qazvini goats.

Characterization of population structure and genetic diversity of Adani goats of Iran was assessed through pedigree analysis by using the pedigree data on 2535 kids (offspring of 748 does and 106 bucks), collected for a period of 12 years (2003 through 2014). The kids born during 2011 to 2014 were considered as the reference population. A small proportion of kids (4.10%) were inbred with mean inbreeding coefficients of 0.31 and 7.68 % for the whole and inbred populations, respectively. The mean of generation interval, computed from four gametic pathways including sire-son, sire-daughter, dam-son and dam-daughter, was 2.87 years, with a longer interval from dam-progeny pathway relative to the sire-progeny ones. The effective population size estimated from the individual rate in inbreeding was 45.6. Probability of gene origin measures including the effective numbers of founders (fe), ancestors (fa), founder genomes (fg) and non-founder genomes (fng) were 26, 25, 18 and 70, respectively. Approximately, 50% and 75 % of the total genetic variations were explained by the first 11 and 37 influential ancestors, with a maximum individual contribution of 11.8%. The ratio of fe to fa, as a measure of bottleneck, was 1.04. The average values for genetic conservation index (GCI) in whole, male and female individuals were 2.57, 2.85 and 2.36, respectively. The results revealed that although 3% of the total heterozygosity had been lost from the population, a considerable genetic variability still existed in the population of Adani goats.