No abstract

A 49-day trial was conducted to determine the impact of dietary amino acid ( AA ) density and stocking density ( SD ) on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and white striping ( WS ) occurrence in broiler chickens. Two hundred eighty-eight Ross 308 male broilers consisting of 6 replicate cages with 8 broilers per replicate were used. Treatments were arranged in a 3 × 2 factorial and consisted of 3 AA densities (normal, 10, or 20% lower than normal) and 2 different SD (high 35 kg/m 2 or low 26 kg/m 2 ). Breasts were classified as normal, moderate, and severe for WS. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using the GLM procedure. Decreasing AA density decreased overall growth performance, carcass, breast yields, and fillet dimensions linearly, while leg and rib cage yields increased linearly ( P < 0.01). High SD decreased hot carcass, breast, wings, and rib cage weights in birds fed normal AA diets ( P < 0.05). High SD increased the length of breast fillet ( P < 0.05). Cooking loss, breast lightness (L∗), and redness (a∗) at 48 h postmortem increased linearly with decreasing AA density, while ultimate breast pH ( pH u ) and nitrogen content decreased linearly ( P < 0.05). The occurrence of normal, moderate, and severe WS fillets was 45.3, 49.1, and 5.6%, respectively. As the dietary AA density decreased, the occurrence of no WS breast fillets increased linearly, whereas the occurrence of moderate WS fillets and mean WS score decreased linearly ( P < 0.05). SD did not affect the occurrence of WS. Severe WS fillets were heavier and had higher cranial thickness, pH u , and fat content and lower yellowness ( P < 0.05), but water-holding capacity, nitrogen content, L∗, and a∗ value did not differ among different WS scores. Taken together, WS occurrence and severity increased with higher growth rate. Growth depression created by lowering dietary AA density regardless of SD resulted in a decrease in mean WS score, but it also compromised the growth and meat quality.

The objective of the study is to investigate the effects of ketamine and propofol on cytokines, antioxidant defense system, and neutrophil functions in dogs. A total of 24 dogs were used. Dogs were divided into two groups as ketamine and propofol. The ketamine group received ketamine (5 mg/kg) intravenously while the propofol group received propofol (4 mg/kg) intravenously. Blood samples were collected before sedation and 30 minutes after induction. Serum antioxidant and cytokine levels were analyzed and neutrophil functions were determined. Respiration rate, serum malondialdehyde, IL-4, IL-6 levels, and phagocytic and chemotaxic activity of neutrophils were decreased (P=0.001, P=0.010, P=0.014, P=0.039, P=0.008, and P=0.037, respectively), oxygen saturation were increased (P=0.025) in the ketamine group. Serum IL-6 and IFN-γ level were decreased (P=0.015 and P=0.032 respectively), chemotactic activity of neutrophils were increased (P=0.049) in propofol group. The administration of ketamine was found to have a positive effect both on the antioxidant system and the neutrophil. On the other hand, positive and negative effects of propofol on different parts of the immune system were observed. Therefore, the results should should be taken into account when designing an anesthesia protocol for dogs to predict possible defense system reactions during the postoperative period.

Fatty acids are very important biological substances due to their metabolic, structural and signaling functions. Omega-3 has different beneficial, harmful and neutral effects on adipokines. Adipokines have autocrine, paracrine and endocrine effects on metabolism. In the study 54 German Fawn x Hair crossbred goats were synchronized using intravaginal sponges. During the first period (mating-75 days), all animals were fed a diet supplemented with protected fat and during the second period of pregnancy (76 days-kidding), one of the groups was fed a diet supplemented with fish oil and other was fed a diet supplemented with protected fat. Serum leptin, ghrelin, adiponektin and omentin levels were measured by ELISA system. Distributed fed (roughage and concentrate) were sampled and dry matter, crude protein, fat, and ash were determined by AOAC (1988) analysis methods. The Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) analysis were conducted using heat stable α-amylase and sodium sulphite. Fat source (fish oil or protected fat) affected feed consumption and the highest feed consumption was found in the group fed with protected oil first half of the pregnancy and with fish oil in the second half of the pregnancy and in the fish oil group during the pregnancy. It was determined that the use of fish oil during pregnancy did not affect ghrelin, leptin and omentin concentrations in serum. Adipokine levels of fish oil fed animals during any period of pregnancy were found to be high and it was also found that serum adiponectin levels in goats fed with diet containing fish oil in the first half of pregnancy and protected fat in the second half were statistically significantly high in adipokines.

Growth and meat production traits are very important in sheep breeding. Cyp19 gene has a major role in reproductive activity and growth due to its function in estrogen synthesis. Another gene affecting growth traits is  Myostatin (MSTN) gene, which mainly regulates skeletal muscle growth. In this study allele frequencies of genetic polymorphism in Cyp19 and Myostatin genes were identified by PCR-RFLP method in five indigenous Turkish sheep breeds, Chiose, Imroz, Kivircik, Zom and Morkaraman. Digestion of Cyp19 gene with HaeIII only revealed uncut AA genotype and digestion of MSTN with DraI also revealed only uncut AA genotype. Both loci analyzed in this study were found to be monomorphic in five Turkish indigenous sheep breeds. These highly conserved parts of the two genes can be useful for molecular evolutionary studies in sheep. Further studies regarding association analysis of Cyp19 and MSTN in sheep should be conducted.

Canine mammary tumours (CMT) are among the most common canine cancer types in female dogs. Dogs provide an adaptable model system for human breast cancer studies. It is important to identify the underlying genetic basis to improve knowledge of pathways related to cancer pathogenesis in both species. In this study, we investigated CMT associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in target regions of ESR1 and CDK5RAP2 genes. Partial sequencing of two genes in 25 cases with mammary tumours and 10 dogs with healthy mammary glands was performed. Two previously reported SNPs in ESR1 gene and one previously reported SNP and two novel SNPs were genotyped downstream CDK5RAP2 gene. According to the association analysis performed in cases and controls, no statistically significant association was found between these SNPs and CMTs. Comparison of the results from other studies revealed the genetic heterogeneity of ESR1 and CDK5RAP2 between different dog breeds. Larger datasets of different breeds should be analyzed in further studies to identify the possible effects of the two genes in mammary tumour development.