A trial was conducted to determine the effect of low-protein diets with constant ME:CP ratio on performance and carcass characteristics of broilers from 1 to 35 d of age. Four experimental diets were formulated to have 4 levels of CP and ME, respectively, in each phase: 23, 22, 21, and 20% CP with 3,036, 2,904, 2,772, and 2,640 kcal/kg in the starter phase (1 to 10 d); 22, 21, 20, and 19% CP with 3,146, 3,003, 2,860, and 2,717 kcal/kg in the grower phase (11 to 26 d); and 20, 19, 18, and 17% CP with 3,100, 2,945, 2,790, and 2,635 kcal/kg in the finisher phase (27 to 35 d). Digestible Lys was maintained at 1.10, 1.02, and 0.90% of the diet in the starter, grower, and finisher periods, respectively. A total of 1,760 one-day-old Hubbard broiler chickens were randomly divided into 16 experimental pens, 110 chickens in each pen, and each diet was offered to 4 replicates at random. Weight gain was linearly decreased (P < 0.001), whereas feed intake and feed conversion ratio were increased (P < 0.001) linearly as dietary protein and energy decreased during grower, finisher, and overall experimental periods. Protein efficiency ratio and energy efficiency ratio were decreased (P < 0.05) with low-CP and low-ME diets during the grower, finisher, and overall experimental period. However, carcass yield, breast meat yield, thigh yield, abdominal fat, and relative liver and heart weights were not affected by the treatments. Feeding broiler chickens low-CP diets with constant ME:CP ratio has adversely affected the growth performance, but carcass parameters were unaffected without any increase in abdominal fat content.

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Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections are a common constraint to small ruminant industry throughout the world, and among those, haemonchosis has its own significance. Control of GIN primarily relies on the use of anthelmintics, but this approach has become less reliable due to the development of resistance in GINs against commonly used anthelmintics and an increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly animal products. These issues have stimulated investigations to find alternative sustainable control strategies, which are less reliant on anthelmintic input. One of such strategies is breeding of small ruminants for their resistance to the GINs. The susceptibility and resistance of animals to GIN infections varies within and between breeds. Various parasitological, biochemical and immunological parameters are employed to evaluate natural resistance status of animals both in natural pasture and artificial infections. The immune mechanisms responsible for resistance are not completely understood, but it has a significant effect in inherited resistance. Relatively resistant or tolerant animals show better local and generalised immune response as compared to susceptible. Immune response against GINs is influenced by many physiological factors. Determination of specific genes linked with host resistance will provide a valuable approach to find out the molecular mechanism of host resistance to GINs. Resistance has been reported to reduce pasture contamination, which in turn reduces re-infection and thus the requirement of the frequent anthelmintic treatments. The efficiency of control can be increased through objective and accurate identification of genetically tolerant individuals by natural and artificial infections with GINs. Complete resistance is the ultimate solution, but this has generally been ignored as a commercial reality. This paper reviews the published reports on natural resistance in small ruminants and discusses the prospects of developing small ruminants, which could be resistant to GINs.

The present work aimed to find out the effect of different levels of hydrolysable tannin (HT) on serum hormonal profile, biochemical indices, lipid profile, apparent digestibility of nutrients and body weight gain in healthy female rats. Forty five adult healthy female rats of 8 weeks old were randomly divided into five equal groups. Different doses of HT 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% were administered daily to each rats group on the body weight basis for 6 weeks. The results had shown the reduction trend (p < 0.05) in the blood glucose, serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, testosterone, prolactin, ghrelin, total oxidative stress and serum iron levels; while an improvement (p < 0.05) was seen in serum follicle stimulating hormone, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, high density lipoprotein, IgM and total antioxidant capacity. However, no effect (p > 0.05) was noticed in serum IgG, protein, estrogen and calcium levels. A significant reduction (p < 0.05) was seen in the apparent nutrient digestibility and body weight gain. The results had shown improvement in the feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05) but non-significant decrease (p > 0.05) in the feed intake. The findings showed that HT had healthy effects on the serum biochemical indices and reproductive hormonal profile but had a negative impact on the nutrient digestibility. Thus, the study concluded that HT could be used as an herbal medicine for the treatment of leading metabolic and infertility diseases like obesity and polycystic ovarian syndrome in females.

The high prevalence of anthelmintic-resistant gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) throughout the world has led to the need for alternative worm control strategies. One of the possible substitutes to reduce the problems of drug resistance and residue is the evaluation/breeding of small ruminants for greater resistance to the GINs (organically produced), which in turn would be a helpful tool to predict the performance of an animal. At present, the existing diversity in the genetic potential to resist/tolerate GINs infection both within and between breeds has been validated. Successful selection of animals to define the genotype and identified resistance is related to the employed markers. A number of phenotypic traits such as faecal egg count (FEC), worm burden, serum antibodies, peripheral eosinophilia, packed cell volume, live weight, serum protein and albumin concentrations have been used for this purpose both in natural and artificial infections. Relatively resistant/tolerant animals have also been found to have mastocytosis, globule leucocytes, high levels of histamine and immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgE concentrations. Of these traits, the principal and most practical measurement used to assess resistance status in animals undergoing similar parasite challenges is FEC. FEC has a positive/negative correlation with other biochemical, cellular and immunological parameters; however, the reliability of individual trial is often questioned and valuable information regarding the genetic makeup can be obtained from pooled data of a large number of trials and parameters. This paper covers all the aspects reported in the literature on various parameters considered to evaluate the resistance status of a range of small ruminant breeds.

The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an important contributor to milk, meat, power, fuel and leather production in many developing countries. Buffaloes can be categorized into Asian and Mediterranean buffaloes. Asian buffalo includes two subspecies known as Riverine and Swamp types. Riverine (water buffalo) and Swamp buffaloes possess different genetics (50 vs. 48 chromosomes, respectively), morphology (body frame, body weight, horn shape and skin color) and behavior (wallowing in mud or water) and thus, are reared and used for different purposes. Low per head milk yield, poor reproductive performance (seasonal breeding behavior, anestrous, and longer calving interval) and low growth rate in buffaloes have been attributed to insufficient supply of nutrients. In many parts of Asia, where the buffalo is an integral part of the food chain and rural economy, irregular and inadequate availability of quality feedstuffs and their utilization are hampering the performance of this unique animal. Balanced nutrition and better management can enhance buffalo productivity. Many efforts have been made in the last few decades to improve nutrient supply and utilization in buffaloes. Recent research on locally available feed resources such as crop residues, and industrial by-products, dietary addition of micronutrients, use of performance modifiers and use of ruminally protected fat and protein sources have shown significant potential to improve growth, milk yield and reproductive performance of buffaloes. However, a number of issues, including establishment of nutrient requirements for dairy and beef, development of buffalo calf feeding systems, nutritional management of metabolic and reproductive anomalies, and understanding and exploitation of the buffalo gut ecosystem, need to be addressed. Extensive coordinated research and extension efforts are required for improved buffalo nutrition in developing countries.

Background Omega-3 fatty acids (Ω-3 PUFAs) may help to improve health status in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) by reducing numerous metabolic disorders (insulin sensitivity, hyperinsulinemia, lipid profile, obesity and inflammation). To evaluate the current objective, 16 weeks (6 weeks of adjustment period followed by 10 weeks of collection period) research trial was planned to check the impact of different sources of Ω-3 PUFAs (synthetic Ω-3, flaxseed and fish oil) on nutrient digestibility, weight gain, productive (lipid profile, glucose and insulin), reproductive profile (progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen, luteinizing hormone (LH) and prolactin) and histological study of ovarian tissues in Wistar female rats. Methods Forty-five rats of 130 ± 10 g weight were divided into 5 groups, each having 9 rats: NC (negative control without PCOS), PC (positive control with PCOS), SO (synthetic omega-3 containing ALA, EPA and DHA), FO (flaxseed oil) and F (fish oil) fed at 300 mg/kg/orally/daily of these sources were added in the basal diets while PC and NC received only the basal diet. Food and water were offered ad libitum. PCOS was induced in the rats fed of PC, SO, FO and F diets group by single intramuscular injection of estradiol-valerate (4 mg/rat/IM). Body weight and blood glucose was recorded weekly. At 16th week of trial, blood samples were collected for lipid and hormonal analysis. Ovarian tissues were removed for pathological evaluation. Digestibility was measured by total collection method. Results Cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins were reduced in SO, FO and F groups when compared with rats of PC group. However, increasing trend of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was found in same groups. The highest HDL (36.83 ± 0.72 mg/dL) was observed in rats fed F diet. In case of a hormonal profile, testosterone, LH and insulin levels showed a significant reduction after treatments. Blood glucose results showed significantly reducing trend in all the rats fed with Ω-3 PUFAs sources than PC from 5 to 10th week of trial. However, similar trend was noticed in rat’s body weight at the end of 6th week. In ovarian morphology, different stages of follicles were observed in groups fed SO, FO and F diets. Nutrient digestibility in PCOS induced rats was remained non-significant. Conclusions The three sources of Ω-3 PUFAs had effective role in improving lipid and hormonal profile, reducing blood glucose, weight gain and histopathological damages in PCOS rats. However, fish oil source might be an innovative approach to cure PCOS via reducing the weight and metabolic anomalies due to EPA and DHA.

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