No abstract

Subacute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) corresponds to an imbalance between lactate-producing bacteria and lactate-using bacteria, which results in a change in ruminal pH associated with a prevalent consumption of rapidly fermentable carbohydrates. In our study, 216 primiparus and multiparus dairy cows were selected from 20 Italian intensive dairy herds and were divided into three groups based on the risk of SARA. All the dairy cows had high average milk production. After blood sampling, a complete blood gas analysis was performed. One-way ANOVA was performed to compare the three groups. O2 Cont, PCO2, blood pH, O2Hb, urinary pH, and rumen pH were significantly lower in cows with rumen pH < 5.5. These results indicate that blood gas analysis is a valuable tool to diagnose acidosis in dairy cows because it provides good assessment of acidosis while being less invasive than rumen pH analysis.

The left and right hams of forty heavy pig carcasses were thermographed to evaluate whether surface temperature differences were related to meat and ham quality. Thermal imaging analysis showed no differences in average surface temperature among classes of pH or of L* colour co-ordinate nor among classes of ham defects such as veining and red skin. However, hams with a lower fat cover displayed a significantly warmer average temperature surface. Infrared thermography seems to be a practical and non-invasive method to detect hams with a fat cover below the minimum requested to be submitted to the dry-curing process

The aim of this study was to evaluate the variations of Acute Phase Proteins (APPs) and other blood constituents during the onset of the sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) pathological status. A total of 108 cows from 12 dairy herds were randomly selected and divided into three Groups of 36 animals each. All animals were subjected to a rumenocentesis. Group A was composed by subjects with a rumen pH>5.8, Group B was composed by subjects with a rumen pH ≤5.5≤5.8 and Group C was composed by subjects with a rumen pH<5.5. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture and Haptoglobin (Hp), Serum Amyloid A (SAA), Total Proteins, Albumin and White Blood Cells (WBC) were determined. Oneway ANOVA showed a statistical significance on Rumen pH, Hp, SAA. SARA seems not stimulate the APPs production from liver.Keywords: acute phase protein, dairy cow, haptoglobin, serum amyloid A, SARA RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar as variações de Proteínas de Fase Aguda (APPs) e outros constituintes sanguíneos durante o início do status patológico de sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a glucose load in pregnant and nonpregnant Sardinia ewes. After ultrasound diagnostic exam, 15 ewes were divided into 3 groups of 5 subjects each: group A (nonpregnant ewes), group B (pregnant ewes with one fetus), and group C (pregnant ewes with twin fetuses). On all blood samples collected through jugular venipuncture, plasma glucose concentration was assessed by means of a UV spectrophotometer and plasma insulin concentration was assessed by means of a radioimmu- noassay kit. All measurements were taken 15 min before glucose infusion, 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 min after glucose infusion. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance followed by the Tukey’s test showed statistical differences (P < 0.05) on glucose and insulin concentrations. These results showed the influence of the glucose load on metabolism of ruminants and indentified the glucose as an important direct controller of metabolic interactions in normal subjects and of metabolic responses in pregnant ewes

The effects of lambs separation and manual milking, which are stressors usually associated with the productive cycle of dairy sheep farm, were investigated by comparing short-term (24 h) adaptive responses in strongly versus weakly lateralized dairy ewes. Functional lateralization was scored with a series of behavioural tests (direction of free turning, direction of obstacle turning, preferential leg use in front of an obstacle) followed by a daily period of hormonal, biochemical and clinical parameters assayed on two groups of 6 strongly (SLS) and two groups of 6 weakly (WLS) lateralized ewes divided for lamb presence or separation. Differences were observed for several parameters as a function of the degree of lateralization score and stressors application. The results suggest that behavioural lateralization parameters should be taken into consideration as a crucial variable to understand stress responses and their modulation in relation to animal welfare

To evaluate the metabolic profile of pregnant and non-pregnant ewes with high or low degree of behavioral lateralization, we used 57 clinically healthy Sardinian ewes. They were divided into three groups: Group A (nonpregnant ewes), Group B (pregnant ewes with one fetus) and Group C (pregnant ewes with twin fetuses). Using behavioral tests, in all groups lateralization was established and ewes were distinguished into ewes with high and low level of lateralization. Every 30 days for 4 months (at 35, 76, 103 and 145 days of gestation), blood samples were collected and total cholesterol, triglycerides, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), glucose, insulin, creatinine, urea, uric acid, total protein, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), γ-glutamine transferase (γ-GT), β-hydroxybutyrate (β-OHB), chloride (Cl), potassium (K), sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) were assessed. The repeated measures multifactor analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed statistical differences of time, pregnancy and degree of lateralization on some studied parameters. These results confirm that pregnancy represents a very important metabolic moment and show the effect of the degree of behavioral lateralization on the assessment of metabolic parameters in non-pregnant and pregnant ewes. Further studies are necessary to value the influence of these factors on other parameters such as hematological parameters and hormones.

The aim of this study was to investigate the variations of vitamin B12 and homocysteine in blood of dairy cows during subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA). On 228 subjects ruminal liquid was collected through rumenocentesis technique and rumen pH was immediately measured by a portable pH-meter. On the basis of pH values all cows were classified (bovine class) in Group A (animals with rumen pH>5.7), Group B (animals with rumen pH between 5.6 and 5.7) and Group C (animals with rumen pH<5.6). In relation to the acidosis risk depending on the rumen pH (herd class), the herds were classified in Group 1 (normal herds: less than 33 % cows with rumen pH<5.8), Group 2 (critical herds: more than 33 % cows with rumen pH between 5.5 and 5.8) and Group 3 (acidosis herds: more than 33 % cows with rumen pH<5.5). On blood samples, collected by jugular venipuncture, vitamin B12 and homocysteine were measured by chemiluminescent immunological tests. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Bonferroni test, showed significant differences (P<0.05) for vitamin B12 in bovine class and significant differences (P<0.05) for homocysteine in herd class. The influence of rumen pH values resulted in adequate vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels to meet microbial and cow requirements and fatty acids modifications in dairy cows affected by SARA. Moreover, the increase of vitamin B12 could be due to the presence of analogues which interfere with the transport of the vitamin. These findings provide more information on blood modifications during SARA.