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.