Abstract. The objective of this study was to determine the effect on goat kids of supplementation with proteinxanthophyll concentrate (PX) obtained from alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Assessments were made on carcass dressing percentage and the lipid profiles of muscle tissue. When the animals reached 30 days old (the start of the fattening period), they were allocated to two feeding groups: a control group (K), which received a standard concentrate diet, and an experimental group (D), which was fed a modified control diet where 3 % of the soybean meal was replaced with an alfalfa protein-xanthophyll preparation (PX). For the rest of the study the kids had ad libitum access to dam milk, hay and their respective diets. After 90 days of rearing (from the end of the fattening period up to when the kids were approximately 120 days of age), five (male) kids were randomly selected from each group and slaughtered. Overall, PX supplementation in goat kids does not affect any parameters of fattening, such as slaughter weight, daily weight gains or dressing percentage. However, beneficial effects of feeding with PX concentrate were found in a higher loin percentage and improved tissue composition resulting from lower fat tissue content. Moreover the PX dietary supplement improved the chemical composition of the muscle tissue by increasing the content of protein and unsaturated fatty acids. Taken together, our results suggest that supplementing the fattening diet for goat kids with the PX preparation did not affect the quantitative parameters of fattening but had a positive influence on the quality of carcass composition.
The research objective was to assess the effect of dietary supplementation with alfalfa protein-xanthophyll (PX) concentrate on haematological and biochemical parameters of the blood of goat kids. The study was conducted on 82 goat kids of the Saanen breed, reared with their dams. From 30 days of age the experimental group of kids (41 goats) received a feed mixture supplemented with 3% protein-xanthophyll PX concentrate, while the control was fed a standard, unsupplemented diet. Prior to the start of the experiment (29 days of age) and after its completion (121 days), blood was collected from the kids to determine haematological and biochemical indices. The results and their analysis indicate that inclusion of 3% alfalfa protein-xanthophyll (PX) concentrate in the kids’ diet positively affected the haematological and biochemical parameters of the blood. A higher level of erythrocytes, haemoglobin and haematocrit was noted, together with a decrease in the lymphocyte and monocyte count. The blood of goat kids receiving the PX concentrate-supplemented diet had significantly reduced content of total cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as low-density lipoproteins (LDL). The blood of the experimental kids showed a significantly higher level of total protein and urea. The alfalfa concentrate significantly diminished the activity of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases. Protein-xanthophyll (PX) concentrate of alfalfa can be used as a phytobiotic providing an excellent source of protein, vitamins and minerals essential for the proper function of the animal organism.
The polymorphism of prion protein (PrP) amino acids in codons 136 (A/V), 154 (R/H); and 171 (Q/R/H) was established. Reproductive performance of mother sheep was evaluated analysing the fertility coefficient and litter size, i.e. the number of born and reared lambs. The studies included mothers of synthetic lines BCP - 111 sheep and SCP - 104 sheep born in 2001-2007. In the examined ovine PRNP gene, the following four alleles were identified: ARR, AHQ, ARQ, and VRQ, with the absence of the ARH allele. The highest frequency was determined for the ARR (49.8%) and ARQ (45.8%) alleles. In the studied sheep population, the occurrence of seven different genotypes was reported. It was found that 71.6% of the animals had the genotypes ARR/ARR, ARR/ARQ, and ARR/AHQ, which are regarded as the most resistant to scrapie, while 7.9% of the population had ARR/VRQ-bearing genotypes (low resistance) or ARQ/VRQ ones (high susceptibility to scrapie). The analysis of the obtained results indicates that the PRNP genotype does not affect reproduction efficiency of mothers, or their offspring growth. It was concluded that flock elimination of ewes of genotypes with high and very high susceptibility to scrapie will not reduce the reproduction parameters of ewes or growth of their lambs.
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