Camel’s milk is an important part of staple diet in several parts of the world, particularly in the arid and semi-arid zones. Camel’s milk is rich in health-beneficial substances, such as bioactive peptides, lactoferrin, zinc, and mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. These substances could help in the treatment of some important human diseases like tuberculosis, asthma, gastrointestinal diseases, and jaundice. Camel’s milk composition is more variable compared to cow’s milk. The effects of feed, breed, age, and lactation stage on milk composition are more significant in camel. Region and season significantly change the ratio of compounds in camel’s milk. Camel’s whey protein is not only composed of numerous soluble proteins, but also has indigenous proteases such as chymotrypsin A and cathepsin D. In addition to their high nutritional value, these whey proteins have unique characteristics, including physical, chemical, physiological, functional, and technological features that are useful in the food application. The hydrolysis of camel’s milk proteins leads to the formation of bioactive peptides, which affect major organ systems of the body and impart physiological functions to these systems. The camel’s milk has antioxidant, antimicrobial, angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides, antidiabetic as well as anticholesterol activities.

A total of 120 growing rabbits (7-weeks old) reared under high ambient temperature were divided into four equal groups, 30 rabbits each. The first group was received a basal diet without Phycocyanin (PC) (0 g/kg diet) and served as a control (PC0). The other three groups were received diets containing PC (50 (PC50), 100 (PC100), 150 (PC150) mg/kg diet, respectively). Live body weight (LBW) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were enhanced significantly by 11.83% (p ¼ .028) and 18.23% (p ¼ .002) in PC50 group, and; respectively, compared with the PC0 group. Red blood cells, platelet, and haemoglobin values were significantly increased, while white blood cells were reduced (p ¼ .033) in rabbits received diets containing PC (50, 100 and 150 mg/ kg) compared to the PC0 group. Plasma urea, total bilirubin, and the gamma gamma-glutamyl transferase in the group PC100 were significantly higher than those in the PC group. Compared with the PC150 and control groups, treatment with 50 or 100 mg/kg decreased plasma interleukin-4 (p < .0001) and interferon c (p < .0001) levels, but increased the levels of nitric oxide (p < .0001). Activities of antioxidants indices were improved (p < .0001) in the group treated with PC (50 and 100 mg/kg). However, lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde) was decreased (p ¼ .001) in PC50 compared with the other groups. The caecal bacterial populations were lowered in the groups treated with (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg) compared with those in the PC0 group. Conclusively, dietary inclusion of PC (100 mg/kg) could be effectively used to enhance the performance, antioxidants indices, decrease inflammatory responses and intestinal pathogens and hence enhance the health status of growing rabbits during the summer season. HIGHLIGHTSPhycocyanin (PC) is one of the most bioactive compounds of spirulina platensis. PC improved rabbit's growth, immune, and antioxidants under heat stress.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This research was aimed at estimating the effect of oral supplementation of Tamoxifen on productive efficiency, carcass characteristics, hormonal profile and gonadal structure of two broiler breeds. One hundred and eighty chicks of each breed of Avian48 and Arbor Acres were divided into three groups: control group; TAM10 group, supplied with 10 mg Tamoxifen/kg of body weight at 3, 5, 7 and 9 days of life; and TAM20 group, supplied at the same intervals with 20 mg Tamoxifen/kg of body weight. Both levels of Tamoxifen improved productive performance at early ages, but Arbor Acres produced better results with TAM20 levels than TAM10, while Avian48 breeds reacted adversely. On the contrary, Tamoxifen supplementation significantly decreased feed intake and feed conversion (after the first two weeks of life) compared to control with a higher level of decrease reported for TAM20 treatments than TAM10 and for Arbor Acres compared to Avian48 breed. Carcass traits were not affected significantly with Tamoxifen supplementation compared to control although Arbor Acres responded better to TAM20 and Avian48 for TAM10. With regard to the effect of Tamoxifen (TAM) on sex hormones, it could be concluded that TAM10 treatments showed a stimulating effect on the level of such hormones as compared with the TAM20 group with the most favourable results being clearly detectable in 42-day-old birds although both concentrations of Tamoxifen did not differ significantly from control. However, treatment of broiler chickens with Tamoxifen in different doses caused a gradual decrease in follicle production rate and eventually led to an increase of the atretic follicles in different stages of atresia. Finally, we can conclude that Tamoxifen supplementation can improve performance and carcass efficiency of broilers without changing the hormonal profile, however much research is required to estimate the best concentration required for each breed.

In the present study, the authors analysed the effects of seasonal variations on the scrotal circumference and semen characteristics in two ram breeds in Saudi Arabia, namely Naimi and Najdi. Five rams of each breed were used in this experiment. Scrotal circumference and semen characteristics were evaluated in each ram twice a month throughout the year. Significant differences were observed in the scrotal circumference between various seasons. The largest production of semen was recorded mainly in spring, whereas the lowest semen volume was produced in summer. The pH of the semen was slightly alkaline and significantly lower in autumn than in spring. Furthermore, the highest value of the total number of sperm per ejaculate was observed in spring for both breeds. The results indicated that mass motility increased significantly in autumn compared with winter, spring, and summer. Progressive motility was significantly lower during the months of summer and spring. However, no significant differences were recorded between autumn and winter. Hence, the presence of significant seasonal variations in semen quantity and quality of Naimi and Najdi rams suggests the viability of increased utilization of rams in spring and autumn for semen collection and reproductive practices. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Mass motility, progressive motility, semen volume, sperm concentration. # Corresponding author: mgalmutary@uod.edu.sa A wide variety of sheep breeds exists owing to geographical isolation, cross breeding, selection, and genetic drift. Najdi and Naimi are two native sheep breeds that are found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both are fat-tailed sheep. However, the Najdi breed is black coated, whereas the Naimi breed is white in colour with a distinguishing brown head (Ali & Naomi, 1992; Muneeb et al., 2012). In comparison with other domestic livestock species, sheep are widely known for marked seasonality of breeding activity. The phenomenon is regulated by the annual cycle of daily photoperiod. Sheep are sexually active mainly in late summer and early autumn when the day length is shorter. Moreover, physiological and sexual variations in rams are less pronounced than in ewes. For instance, rams are sexually active throughout the year. However, ovulation in ewes is limited to certain periods (Rosa & Bryant, 2003).With the introduction of artificial insemination (AI) in animals, there is growing need to acquire knowledge about the variations in semen characteristics. Semen quality in terms of sperm ejaculate is affected dramatically by the environment in temporary and permanent ways, which include ambient temperature, feeding, age, period of daylight, conditions during semen collection, and management (Foote, 1978). The reproductive activity of sheep and the effect of season on the quality of semen have been studied by many researchers. A study on the effect of seasons on the reproductive ability of rams raised in United Arab Emirates (UAE) suggest...

Introduction and aims Although, it has been success in the generation of animal clones from somatic cells in various animal species, the information related to nuclear reprogramming of cloned embryos is found to be limited. This study aims to compares the effect of both Scriptaid (SCR) and Trichostatin (A) treatments in improving cloning efficiency, and embryos developmental rate of cloned sheep embryos in vitro . Three groups were formed, i.e., one SCR group, second TSA group, with both treatment concentrations of 5 nM, 50 nM, and 500 nM, respectively, and third were control group with 0 nM. Methods : Ovaries of slaughtered sheep were collected and oocytes were recovered from antral follicles using aspiration method and in vitro maturation of oocytes were done. Then zona dissecting with micropipettes and oocyte enucleation were carried out under the micromanipulator. Later nuclear transfer, cell fusion and activation were done via cell fusion machine. Finally the embryo cultured in incubating chamber at the CO2 incubator up to 9 days. The result : In general the results showed that when the concentration increases the cleavage rate increased. The cleavage rates of the SCNT embryos treated with SCR at different concentrations are closely related to cleavage rate of embryos treated with TSA at same concentration; such as 39.47% for 500 nM TSA, 38.09% for 500 nM SCR; 18.6% for 50 nM TSA, 19.17% for 50 nM SCR, and 22.64% for 5 nM TSA, 17.18% for 5 nM SCR. As for the control group, the cleavage rate of the SCNT embryos cleavage ratewere27.47%., 30% and 30.85% respectively for bothtreatments. While there is a significant difference in TSA treatments at an eight-cell stage at the concentration (5 and 50 nM TSA) compared to the all other cleavage cell stages of (500 nM TSA and control). Also their were a differences between (50 nM of TSA) compared to the (50 nM SCR). Also there were a significant differences between the 16 cell stage at the (500 nM TSA) compared to other treatment (5 nM, 50 nM TSA and control). Regarding the SCR there were a significant difference at 8 cell stage between (5 nM SCR), compared to the other treatment (50 nM, 500 nM SCR and control). Also there were a significant difference at 16 cell stage between (50 nM, and 500 nM SCR), compared to the other treatment (5 nM SCR and control). While in the development of the embryos reach to blastocyst stage the SCR and the control group show a higher rate, in compered to TSA that did not show any development to blastocyst stage. The total SCR treatment showed (3/41 = 7.31%), and the total control showed (4/89 = 4.49%) blastula stage. It concludes that SCR improve the final development blastula stage compared to the TSA treatments that did not improved embryos reach to final developmental blastula stages may be due to spices differences or to the toxicity of TSA, especially at higher concentrations.