Estimation of Breeding Values by WOMBAT Method for Selection of Sires in Crossbred Cattle

Mastitis, a global endemic disease in dairy cattle, not only adversely impact milk production/quality leading to increased economic loss to farmers, it poses a consumer health issue as the milk may be unfit for human consumption due to pathogen contamination. Use of Somatic Cell Count (SCC) as an indicator of mastitis may be insufficient for effective diagnosis of disease. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are increasingly recognised as promising alternative indicators of mastitis. In this study, we identified circulating miRNAs differentially expressed in milk of mastitic cows after ‘natural levels of exposures’ and in response to different causative agents ‘on farm’. Using a miRNA microarray based approach we found at least 26 miRNAs as generic indicators of clinical mastitis; 7 of which may also be early mastitis indicators. We further identified 27 miRNAs unique to S Uberispositive (SU) mastitis, including miR-320a/b which has been linked to modulation of trained immune activity. Three differentially expressed miRNAs were unique to mastitis positive for Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CNS), and a further 5 miRNAs were unique to SU and CNS mastitis group comparison. Our study design differs from the existing literature which reports the effects of either exogenous dosing with a singular agent or of dosed exposures in the context of single cell types (which individually contribute in only very minor ways to SCC) in an empirical ex vivo setting. Collectively, the differentially expressed miRNAs we have identified are high confidence biomarkers for detection of mastitis (even when asymptomatic), assessment of clinical status and identification of causative agent.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2009 to April 2010 in Dale Wabera district, western Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and to assess the apparent densities of vectors of the trypanosomosis. A parasitological study using convectional Buffy coat technique was employed for the determination of prevalence of trypanosomosis while baited traps were used for the vector survey. A total of 479 tsetse flies were collected and the density of Glossina species was 11.98 fly/trap/ day. Three species of tsetse fly including Glossina morsistans submorsistans, G. pallidipes and G. tachnoides were recorded from the area. The result of parasitological study revealed that the overall prevalence of trypanosomosis was found to be 12.28%, 95% CI.The prevalence for trypanosome species was 1.53%, 3.32% and 7.42% for Trypanosoma brucei, T. vivax and T. congolense, respectively. Highest trypanosome prevalence (16.42%) was seen in animals with poor condition than that of those with medium (10.27%) and good (9.91%) body condition for the concerned parasite, but no significant difference was observed among the body conditions of cattle considered and infection with trypanosomes (P>0.05). Higher infection rate without significant difference was occurred in male (13.02%) than female (10.77%) cattle. Infection rate was higher in adult (13.25%) than young cattle (8.11%), although the difference is not significant. The mean PCV values of parasitologically negative (26.80%) animals were higher than that of positive ones (20.00%). With 12.28% the highest prevalence in the present study revealed that trypanosomosis is causes significant loss of economy due to reduced production, cost of treatment and death of the animals is supposed to be significant. Therefore, trypanosomosis and its vector control and prevention strategies should be implemented in the area.

Depression as one of the most prevalent and life-threatening forms of mental illness affects more than 1/5 of the world’s population.

The increasing availability and capabilities of mobile phones make them a feasible means of data collection. Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) systems have been used widely for public health monitoring and surveillance activities, collecting survey data, clinical studies but documentation of their use in complicated research studies requiring multiple systems is limited. This paper shares our experiences of designing and implementing a complex multi-component system for a technical livestock community to help other researchers planning to use PDA for collecting technical data related to livestock studies. We designed and implemented different versions of mobile phone data collection systems to collect information related to bovine insemination through Cattle Development Centers (CDC) operated by BAIF.

There was improvement in collecting field data by updating data logger’s versions year by year. Following two to three days of training and piloting, data were collected from 170 field technicians over 5 years period from June 2010 to December 2015. Data logger was the one of easy solution for getting the technical, social and economic information of rural small farmer. Up to year 2015 project had collected the information enrolling of about 0.25 million families, out of that 95,000 families information about poverty index was collected and 0.67 million bovine insemination data, 0.46 insemination follow up records and information about 0.13 million female progeny born through the Project had collected. The PDAs were well accepted by technicians. The use of PDAs eliminated the usual time-consuming and error-prone process of data entry and validation. PDAs are a promising tool for field research in India.

The overall objective of this study is to determine the effect of hydrocolloid additives in reformed fish products and to compare the performances by testing chemical and physical properties of the restructured samples. There are nine treatments in this study including control samples. The eight types of meat binders include cornstarch, commercial meat-binder, carrageen an, methylcellulose, Activa® RM, plasma powder FG+, plasma powder FG and sodium alginate. The results showed that Activa® RM and FG+ and FG could provide satisfactory binding properties in fish balls. There was no significant difference among all cooked samples moisture (p<0.05). Raw treatments had slightly higher moisture than cooked treatments. Samples treated with Activa® RM had the highest WHC for cooked samples, while methylcellulose had the lowest WHC and cooking yield. All other binder treatments samples had higher cooking yield than that of the control. Samples treated with sodium alginate had the lowest pH values for both cooked and raw samples. There were no significant differences detected for water activity for both raw and cooked samples. Samples treated with Activa® RM, FG+ and FG treated samples had the best puncture, texture, hardness, springiness. In summary, Activa® RM, FG+ and FG treatments performed well for all parameters, and sodium alginate, methylcellulose, and meat binder treatment did not show advantages when compared with the control.

Previous data indicates that placentation in the caviomorph rodent O. degus is similar to that in humans, regarding the migration of the Extra Sub Placental-Trophoblast (EST) to the uterine arteries to be remodeling. The aim of this paper was to determine the ultra structural morphological organization of the degu´s placental barrier, as part of a wider effort to understand their reproductive biology.

Four pregnant female Degus at 86 days of gestation, and their placentas were processed for histological analysis at electron microscopy levels. Our results demonstrate that at the pregnancy term, the placental barrier shows zone with presence of syncytial knots (defined as clusters of syncytiotrophoblast nuclei) in the fine syncytium or syncytiotrophoblast, zone with apoptotic knots evidenced by the accumulation of fragmented nuclei or apoptotic bodies with condensed chromatin, and the presence of zones with Syncytiovascular membranes (alpha zone). These Syncytiovascular membranes facilitate the exchange of metabolites between mother and fetus, and are exclusively observed in thin placental barrier zones where the syncytiotrophoblast nuclei are excluded. The presence of these Syncytiovascular membranes allowed us to conclude that they were formed as a consequence of the deportation of apoptotic bodies to the maternal blood, such as occurs in chinchilla, other caviomorph rodent. On the other hand, in human placental barrier several investigators have found that the syncytial apoptotic cascade is complete when apoptotic nuclei are deported to the maternal blood circulation and subsequently removed in the mother´s lung. Therefore, we concluded that the degu and human placentas share a number of structural and functional characteristics and this fact allows us to consider the degu as a potential animal model for studies related to human placental pathologies.

Dairy farming operations with small animal numbers producing low volumes of around three litres per animal per day predominate in Pakistan’s dairy industry. Although much of this is consumed domestically, many farmers sell small volumes into traditional milk marketing chains which feed the product into urban retail outlets. Analysis of these marketing chains show that these farmers make a loss on every litre sold, while at the other end milk available to the consumer is of poor quality and often diluted as much as 1:2 with water. Small incremental profit margins are achieved by dilution and the use of distorted volume measures as the product is passed from small dealers to larger distributors and then to retail outlets. It is important that farmers are able to improve the efficiency of production by boosting the productivity of animals. This can be achieved through the adoption of better nutrition and animal husbandry practices. At the same time small scale local marketing chains require refinement to ensure profits generated from milk production stay with local communities. This paper reports on the development of effective extension strategies involving the whole family including the farmer, his wife and children. They have led to significant improvements in the profitability of small-holder dairy farming and a growing awareness of farmers of the commercial potential for their household cows and buffalo. The sustainability of these small-holder production systems in the face of changing consumer demands for higher quality products and world dairy product trade remains to be seen.

The hop plant contains flavonoids, bitter acids and essential oils that confer antibacterial properties. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the possibility of supplementing broiler chicken diets with hop pellets. Accordingly, growth performance response of broiler chickens given hops-supplemented diets was evaluated in a 49-day floor-pen trial. Day-old (320) male broiler chicks were commercially obtained and randomly assigned to 4 treatments. Treatment 1 (CX) consisted of chicks fed unmedicated corn-Soybean Meal (SBM) diet without hops pellets added. Treatment 2 (MX) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (BMD) was added at 0.055g/kg. Treatment 3 (HL) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which hops pellets were added at 1.0 % level. Treatment 4 (HH) consisted of chicks fed corn-SBM basal into which hops pellets were added at 2.0 % level. On d 21, 42, and 49, body weight, body weight gain, and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) were evaluated. Transient benefits of hops supplementation in form of higher feed intake and body weight gain (P < 0.05) compared to other treatments were observed but were not sustained. The FCR of birds in the hops-supplemented treatments (HL and HH) were similar (P > 0.05) to those of birds in the BMD antibioticsupplemented treatment (MX) throughout the study. It was concluded that supplementation of hops pellets into broiler diets at 1% or 2% level of the diet had no detrimental effect on broiler growth performance. Therefore, future studies should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of dietary hops in mitigating the colonization of poultry intestine by economically important zoonotic and/or disease pathogens.

The aim of the study was to describe the dairy cow’s husbandry practice of farmers in Alefa and Quara districts of North Gondar Zone Amhara National Regional State Ethiopia. Three Kebeles from each district, a total of six Kebeles were selected through purposive sampling procedure. Finally, 376 households (208 households from Quara and 168 households from Alefa) who had at least one lactating cow were selected through systematic random sampling procedure. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire and the collected data were analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS Version 20). The main source of feed for Alefa district was, crop residue and private grazing land (36.7%), crop residue, communal and private grazing land (41.4%), while for Quara district, communal grazing land (49.8%) and private, communal and crop residue (39.6%)were the main feed sources. In respective order, about 70.8 and 81.3% of respondents for Alefa and Quara districts were confirmed that river water was the main source for dairy cows. Housing system in Alefa district was simple shied adjacent to farmer’s house (97.6%), but in Quara district, it was barn system (95.2%). Trypanosomiasis (58.7%), Lumpy skin disease (18.8%) and Babesiosis (8.7%) was the most challenging livestock disease in Quara district, while in Alefa district Blackleg (30.5%), Lumpy skin disease (21%) and Trypanosomiasis (20.4%) was challenging disease. The major livestock production constraint in Quara district was feed and disease with the same indices value of 0.32 and Water 0.20 were observed. Similarly, feed followed by disease was the major constraint in Alefa district with index value of 0.5 and 0.2, respectively.

The aim of this study was to identify breeding practice, production objectives, selection and culling criterias of farmers for dairy cows in Alefa and Quara districts of North Gondar Zone Amhara National Regional State Ethiopia. 376 households (208 households from Quara and 168 households from Alefa) were selected by using systematic sampling procedure. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire and the collected data were analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS Version 20). The main production objectives of farmers in Quara district were for milk production (0.43), draught purpose (0.32), and selling purpose (0.2). While in Alefa district it was 0.34, 0.36 and 0.27 for milk production, draught and selling purpose respectively. The main selection criteria for dam and sire in both districts were reproductive performance, body conformation and coat color. Most farmers in both districts were decided to cull the herd when they showed long AFS with index value of (0.38) and (0.3) for Quara and Alefa districts, respectively. About 208 (100%) of respondents in Quara were using natural breeding system. While bout 148 (88.1%), 11 (6.5%) and 9 (5.4%) of respondents in Alefa district were used natural, both natural and AI technology and AI only, respectively. About 44.4, 25, 23.2, and 7.7% of respondents in Alefa district were used breeding bull from a neighbor, communal grazing land, own and rent bull, respectively. While the majority (47.1%) of respondents in Quara district were used own bull. Under uncontrolled random mating effective population size and rate of inbreeding for Quara district was 9.0 and 0.05, respectively. While for Alefa district it was 3.2 and 0.15, respectively.