The use of cryoprotectants in vitrification would reduce the critical damages to the embryos, thus increase the survival rates. This research was conducted in the laboratory of reproductive biotechnology at the faculty of Agriculture of Aleppo University.  The study aimed to evaluate the viability and survivability of early Syrian Awassi embryos under the influence of dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and ethylene glycol (EG) following vitrification. Embryos were vitrified in three solutions of cryoprotectants (A: DMSO (3 ml), B: EG (3 ml), and C which was composed of a combination of DMSO (1.5 ml) and EG (1.5 ml)). After thawing, embryos that had been vitrified in C solution achieved the highest rates of cleavage (P< 0.01) comparing with A and B solutions for 2-16 cell stage (50.00% Vs 30.77% and 36.36%), morula (9.00% Vs 44.44% and 40.00%) and blastocyst stage embryos (92.86% Vs 58.33% and 50.00%) respectively. Down to the hatching blastocyst stage, 2-16 cell stage vitrified embryos in C solution achieved an encouraging rate comparing with A and B solutions (39.20% Vs23.08% and 22.73% respectively). The rates of arrested embryos decreased significantly (P< 0.05) after thawing across the three solutions especially the morula and blastocyst stage (0.00 and 3.70% respectively) (C solution). No significant differences were observed in the three types of embryos across all stages and solutions despite the large range among these rates. Given the apparent benefit of the participatory effect of cytoprotectants, it is advised to use a mixture of DMSO and EG (1:1) in vitrification of ovine embryos.

In this study, two experiments were conducted to study the effect of both the follicle size and the cryoprotectants dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethylene glycol (EG) on the main phases of nuclear maturation (Experiment I), cleavage stages and embryo quality (Experiment II) of Awassi sheep oocytes. Follicles were classified into two groups: small follicles (SF) (1-2 mm) and large follicles (LF) (> 2 mm). Oocytes were vitrified in three solutions: A (30% DMSO), B (30% EG) and C (15% DMSO and 15% EG). In Experiment I, the resulting vitrified-thawed oocytes in solution C achieved the best rates after the control group (fresh), respectively as the rates of maturation, germinal vesicle (GV), metaphase II(M-II), arrest, and lyses were 85.71% (P = 0.04), 8.33% (P = 0.02), 72.92% (P = 0.04); LF group, 15.25% (P = 0.04), and 5.08% (P = 0.04); SF group, respectively. In Experiment II, the same group of oocytes achieved the best rates after the control group, as the rates of fertilization, cleavage, 2-16 cell, Type3, blastocyst, and Type1 embryos were 63.28% (P = 0.001), 57.46% (P = 0.001), 40.38% (P = 0.04), 38.46% (P = 0.04); LF group, 30.00% (P = 0.01), and SF group 36.67% (P = 0.001), respectively, while the vitrified-thawed oocytes in A solution (SF group) reached the highest rate of Type 2 embryo quality (58.06%; P = 0.01). No significant differences were noticed in the germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), metaphase I (M-I) and morula stage. Vitrification of oocytes obtained from follicles with a diameter of more than 2 mm in a cocktail solution of DMSO (15%) and EG (15%) led to a significant increase in the yield and quality of the resulting sheep embryos.

In the current study, the hypothesis of the effects of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicular fluid (FF) derived from follicles of varying size on in vitro embryo production of the Shami goat breed were tested. The caprine follicular fluid (cFF) was obtained from healthy female’s ovaries by aspiration method and classified into two main classes (follicles with a diameter of ≤ 2mm and ≥3mm). The resulting cFF was added to the culture medium TCM-199 through six Treatments (A, B and C with a source of follicle size of ≤ 2mm; D, E and F with a source of size of ≥3mm). LH was added only to four of the previous Treatments with the levels of 50 µg ml-1 (B and E) and100 µg ml-1 (C and F). Results of the study showed that the oocytes incubated in Treatment F achieved a clear superiority (p=0.001) in the rates of maturation (87.0%), fertilization (80.0%) and cleavage (82.3%). The oocytes incubated in the same Treatment (F) continued to outperform (p= 0.006) by achieving the best rates across cleavage stages at 2-16 cell (16%; the lower value of arrest) and blastocyst (42%). Significant differences (P=0.03) were observed among the rates of Type 1embryos (the highest rate: 45.3%; Treatment F) and Type 3 embryos (the highest rate: 45.1%; Treatment A). No significant differences were observed in the rates of morula and Type 2 embryos. It is advised to add 15% of the cFF derived from follicles with a diameter of ≥3mm and 100 µg of LH ml-1 in the maturation media to obtain higher rates of maturation and cleavage of goat oocytes.

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of adding waterly extract of black seeds(Nigella Sativa ), chamomile and fenugreek seeds individually with drinking water on the productive performance of broilers, the addition started from the age of 8 days. It used 180 unsexed chicks from the Ross 308 strain and randomly distributed the chicks to 4 treatments. The Control treatment where drinking water was provided to the birds free of any addition.T1-Treatment of addition of watery extract of Nigella Sativa with bird drinking water T2-Treatment of adding watery extract of chamomile with bird drinking water. T3-Treatment of adding watery extract of fenugreek with bird drinking . The results of the statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant improvement in the rate of final live body weight, the rate of weight gain and feed consumed for T1 and T2 treatments . There were no significant differences among treatments in the feed conversion ratio, there was no mortality of chicks during duration of the experiment.

Air pollution in the environment in which poultry is raised is one of the most serious problems facing the poultry sector across various aspects of production. Perhaps the most dangerous gas emitted from poultry houses is ammonia. The high concentrations of this gas in the air above the permissible limits (15 ppm) will have disastrous consequences. Ammonia directly affects the health and safety of birds, as it is a cause of ammonia blindness in birds accompanied by many respiratory diseases that destroy production and increase breeding costs. In addition, high concentrations of ammonia (above 20 ppm) contribute to enhancing the infection of birds with Newcastle and the bronchitis virus. In general, the greenhouse gases emitted from poultry houses included four main gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and hydrogen sulphide). Studies regarding their direct effects on the health and productivity of birds have been insufficient. In the direct form, as the concentrations of greenhouse gases rise to very high limits, they cause suffocation and death., the behaviour of the greenhouse gases in the indirect effect is reflected being a source of nutritional stress and a group of diseases and parasites which lead to a decrease in productivity levels. The intensity and concentrations of gas emissions are directly related to many factors such as geographic location, the season of the year, ventilation technologies, humidity, litter quality, nutritional status and stocking density. The advances in ventilation technologies have played a key role in expelling all harmful gases, especially those that depend on negative pressure. However, greenhouse gases remain a real threat to the poultry industry in particular and to the planet’s environment in general.