• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.1118-1124
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• 2001

Fifteen lactating crossbred cows were randomly allotted to three groups of 5 each, and fed three isoproteinous concentrate mixture varying in RDP and UDP ratios, viz. 71: 29 (T1) and 58: 42 (T2) and 44: 56 (T3), along with green maize and wheat straw given as 2/3 and 1/3 of total roughage respectively, for a period of 120 days. The DM intake (kg/d) differed significantly (p<0.01) among the treatments as well as among the fortnights over a period of 120 days. DMI (kg/d) progressively increased from first to eighth fortnight in all the treatments. The daily DMI (% BW) was significantly (p<0.01) lower in T1 (2.37) than those of T2 (2.82) and T3 (2.67). The body weights of cows decreased up to 4th fortnight in T1 and up to 3rd fortnight in T2 and T3, then it showed an increasing trend till the end of the experiment in all the treatments. Cows in T1 lost 10 kg body weight but cows in T2 and T3 gained 23 and 12 kg the body weight, respectively. Both the milk and FCM yield differed significantly (p<0.01) among the fortnights. The FCM yield increased up to 2nd fortnight in all the treatments and thereafter, the FCM yield declined gradually as the lactation advanced. The FCM yield (kg/d) was significantly (p<0.05) higher in T3 (10.47) than in T2 (9.81) and T1 (9.68), however, milk yield, SCM yield and milk energy yield did not differ among the treatments as well as among the fortnights. Fat and protein % in milk increased as the lactation advanced. However, fortnightly SNF % in milk showed an irregular trend. The % fat, protein, SNF and total solids in milk differed significantly (p<0.01) among the fortnights. The % fat and protein in milk varied significantly (p<0.01) among the treatments, being lowest in T1 and highest in T3. The feed efficiency for milk production showed a non-significant variation among the treatments as well as among the fortnights, but increased with the increase in UDP level. It is concluded that by increasing the UDP level from 29 to 56 per cent of CP in the diet of medium producing cows, the milk production increases and cost of milk production reduces.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1536-1545
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• 2023

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the effects of UV-B irradiated vitamin D-enriched yeast supplementation on milk yield, milk composition, vitamin D in milk, milk fatty acids, blood chemistry, and 25(OH)D status in dairy cows. Methods: Six Thai Friesian cows (milk production, 11.2±2.0 kg/d; body weight, 415.0±20.0 kg; and days in milk, 90.0±6.0) were allocated to each treatment in a 3×3 Latin square design, with three treatments and three periods. Each period of the Latin square lasted 49 days consisting of 14 days for diet adaptation and 35 days for sample collection. Dairy cows were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: i) feeding a basal diet without yeast (CON); ii) basal diet + 5 g of live yeast (75 IU/head/d of vitamin D₂; LY); and iii) basal diet + 5 g of UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast (150,000 IU/head/d of vitamin D₂; VDY). Feed intake and milk production were recorded daily, milk sample collection occurred on days 14 and 35 of each collection period, and blood plasma was collected on days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 of each collection period. Results: The results show that after a trial period of 14 and 35 days, the VDY group had significantly higher vitamin D content in milk than the LY and CON groups (376.41 vs 305.15, 302.14 ng/L and 413.46 vs 306.76, 301.12 ng/L, respectively). At days 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 of the experiment, cows fed the VDY group had significantly higher 25(OH)D₂ status in blood than the CON and LY groups (51.07 vs 47.16, 48.05 ng/mL; 54.96 vs 45.43, 46.91 ng/mL; 56.16 vs 46.87, 47.16 ng/mL; 60.67 vs 44.39, 46.17 ng/mL and 63.91 vs 45.88, 46.88 ng/mL), respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, UV-B irradiated vitamin D-enriched yeast supplementation could improve vitamin D content in the milk and 25(OH)D status in dairy cows during the lactation period.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.435-438
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• 1992

Data were collected on productive and reproductive performance of different $F_1$ crossbred cows (Deshi cows joined by A.I. to Sindhi, Sahiwal, Jersey or Holstein-Friesian Bull semen) reared by farmers in and around the Bangladesh Agricultural University campus at Mymensingh. The traits considered were birth weight, age at first heat, age at first calving, gestation length, post-partum heat period, milk yield, lactation length, dry period and calving interval. Data were analyzed statistically using a completely randomized design and Duncan's Multiple Range Test to compare and determine the significance of between individual group means. It was observed that the Holstein $\times$ Deshi had the highest birth weight (21.4 kg) followed by Sahiwal (17.6 kg), Jersey (16.7 kg) and Sindhi (16.1 kg). Shortest age at first heat (854 and 920 days) and age at first calving (1002 and 1201 days) were found for the Jersey $\times$ Deshi and Holstein $\times$ Deshi crosses respectively. The post-partum heat period were significantly different between breeds with Jersey and Holstein sired calves having the shortest intervals. There was no difference in the gestation length of the four crosses. Holstein $\times$ Deshi and Jersey $\times$ Deshi cows gave the highest milk yields due to longer lactation periods and higher daily milk production. Similarly, Holstein $\times$ Deshi and Jersey $\times$ Deshi crosses had significantly shorter dry periods and Jersey $\times$ Deshi had a shorter calving interval. From this study it may be concluded that exotic genotypes such as Holstein-Friesian and Jersey can perform very well under rural conditions in Bangladesh.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.717-722
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• 1992

An experiment was conducted to examine the feasibility of producing multiple calves using embryo transfer in Japanese Black cattle. Milk yield of cows and forage intake of calves were measured for 11 cows with single calves, 14 cows with twins and one cow with triplets. The means of 26 weeks cumulative milk yield were 854, 1028 and 1271 kg for cows having singles, twins and triplets, respectively. Male birth weights for single calves, twins and triplet were 34.9, 26.6 and 19.9 kg, and female ones were 31.7, 24.1 and 22.1 kg, respectively. Weight and daily gain of calves were affected by weeks (W), sex (S), the number of calves (N), parity, birth season, $W{\times}N$, $S{\times}N$ and regression on milk yield. Growth rate was higher for single calves than for twins until about 9 weeks of age, then weights increased at a similar rate. Male calf weaning weights for singles, twins and triplets were 207.0, 177.1 and 162.2 kg, and those for females were 185.4, 151.6 and 180.4 kg, respectively. Average regression coefficients of calf growth on milk yield were significant, and single calf was affected more than twin calves by increment of milk yield. As the number of calves per cow increased, hay intake of calves decreased and concentrate intake tended to increase between 6 and 13 weeks of age.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.610-615
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• 2011

We examined the correlations between lactation curve shape, including persistency and changes in body condition score (BCS) during early-stage (0 to 30 days in milk (DIM)), nadir-stage (31 to 90 DIM), and late-stage (91 to 240 DIM) lactation in 191 first-lactation cows. Data used were first-parity BCS records, scored twice every month after calving, and daily milk yields. Individual lactation curves were depicted by the Wilmink function. Lactation persistency was defined as the difference in estimated milk yields between 240 DIM and 60 DIM. Changes in BCSs in the early and late stages were defined as linear regression coefficients. There were no significant correlations between traits for lactation curve shape and change in BCS in early-stage lactation. Peak yield and total milk yield were negatively correlated with BCSs in nadir- and late-stage lactation and with BCS change in late-stage lactation, suggesting that cows with high lactation yields had low body reserves and health status in mid- to late lactation and had delayed recovery of body reserves. Lactation persistency was positively correlated with change in BCS in late-stage lactation, suggesting that cows with high lactation persistency tended to be healthy and to recover their body reserves well in late lactation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.930-934
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• 2013

The growth performance of embryo-transferred Japanese Black calves that were born from, and suckled by, Japanese Shorthorn cows in a cow-calf grazing system (BS-group, n = 5) was compared to that of Japanese Black calves from Japanese Black cows in a cowshed (BB-group, n = 5). The daily weight gain from birth to 1 month was higher in the BS-group than in the BB-group (p<0.01), and the same trend (p<0.05) was observed at 2 and 3 months of age. This resulted in body weight that was significantly higher for the BS-group between 1 and 3 months of age than what was observed for the BB-group (p<0.05). Heart girth was significantly greater in the BS-group than in the BB-group throughout the experimental period (p<0.01), and chest depth and withers height in the BS-group were significantly greater from 2 to 4 months of age (p<0.05) and at 4 months of age only (p<0.05). No difference in body length (p>0.05) was observed between the groups. These results suggest that the maternal effect of Japanese Shorthorn cows was positive for embryo-transferred Japanese Black calf growth during the early suckling stage. As Japanese Black calves are traded at a high price on the Japanese market, we conclude that this proposed production system is likely to improve the profitability of herd management in upland Japan.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.825-835
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• 2020

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dietary zinc supplementation of Friesian cows on chemical-nutritional and aromatic properties of Caciocavallo cheese after 7 days (C₇) and 120 days (C₁₂₀) of ripening. Methods: Twenty eight Friesian cows, balanced for parity, milk production and days in milk, were randomly assigned to 2 groups. The control group (CG) was fed with a conventional complete diet, while the experimental group (zinc group, ZG) received a daily zinc supplementation of 60 mg for kg of dry complete feed. During the experimental period, the milk yield was monitored and samples of milk and caciocavallo cheese were collected and analyzed for chemical-nutritional composition and aromatic profile. Results: The enrichment of dairy cows diet with zinc, did not influence milk yield and composition, however a marked reduction of somatic cell count was evidenced. Both in milk and cheese the ZG samples were characterized by a lower concentration of satured fatty acids and an increase in oleic, vaccenic and rumenic acids. The aromatic profile of dairy products was also positively affected by dietary zinc intake, with an increase in concentration of carboxylic acids, esters and lactones. Conclusion: The present results suggest a positive role of dietary zinc intake in improving the quality of bovine milk and related cheese, in particular for the increase in concentration of bioactive fatty acids such as rumenic acid. The changes evidenced in cheese through the analysis of the volatile profile, would be consistent with the development of interesting organoleptic properties, although further evaluations should be performed to confirm the consumer acceptability of these changes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1061-1065
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• 2005

Growth rate is one of the economically important quantitative traits that affect carcass quantity in beef cattle. Two genes, bovine insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and myogenic factor 5 (MYF5), were chosen as candidate genes for growth traits due to their important role in growth and development of mammals. The objectives of this study were to determine gene-specific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers of the IGF-I and MYF5 positional candidate genes and to investigate their associations with growth traits in Korean cattle. Genotyping of the SNP markers in these candidate genes was carried out using the single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. The frequencies of A and B alleles were 0.72 and 0.28 for IGF-I gene and 0.39 and 0.61 for MYF5 gene, respectively, in Korean cattle population examined. The gene-specific SNP marker association analysis indicated that the SNP genotype in IGF-I gene showed a significant association (p<0.05) with weight at 3 months (W3), and cows with AB genotype had higher W3 than BB genotype cows. The SNP genotype of MYF5 gene was found to have a significant effect (p<0.05) on the weight at 12 months (W12) and average daily gain (ADG), and cows with BB and AB genotypes had higher W12 and ADG compared with cows with AA genotype, respectively. However, no significant association between the SNP genotypes and any other growth traits was detected. The gene-specific SNP markers in the IGF-I and MYF5 candidate genes may be useful for selection on growth traits in Korean cattle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1700-1713
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• 2018

Objective: The aim of this study was to verify the usefulness of artificial neural networks (ANN), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), naïve Bayes classifier (NBC), general discriminant analysis (GDA), and logistic regression (LR) for dystocia detection in Polish Holstein-Friesian Black-and-White heifers and cows and to indicate the most influential predictors of calving difficulty. Methods: A total of 1,342 and 1,699 calving records including six categorical and four continuous predictors were used. Calving category (difficult vs easy or difficult, moderate and easy) was the dependent variable. Results: The maximum sensitivity, specificity and accuracy achieved for heifers on the independent test set were 0.855 (for ANN), 0.969 (for NBC), and 0.813 (for GDA), respectively, whereas the values for cows were 0.600 (for ANN), 1.000 and 0.965 (for NBC, GDA, and LR), respectively. With the three categories of calving difficulty, the maximum overall accuracy for heifers and cows was 0.589 (for MARS) and 0.649 (for ANN), respectively. The most influential predictors for heifers were an average calving difficulty score for the dam's sire, calving age and the mean yield of the farm, where the heifer was kept, whereas for cows, these additionally included: calf sex, the difficulty of the preceding calving, and the mean daily milk yield for the preceding lactation. Conclusion: The potential application of the investigated models in dairy cattle farming requires, however, their further improvement in order to reduce the rate of dystocia misdiagnosis and to increase detection reliability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1098-1104
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• 2005

The trial was carried out on twenty-one Friesian cows at the end of eight months gestation, nine multiparous and twelve primiparous; allocated into three groups (1 control, 2 and 3 experimental). The same diet was administred to all three groups before partum (12.8 kg DM/head/day) and after partum (18.8 kg DM/head/day). The cows in groups 2 and 3 received two different daily quantities of amino-acid chelated chromium (0.6 and 1.2 mg Cr/kg DM) from 4 weeks prior to presumed parturition to 6 weeks after. The milk yield control was carried out at 15, 30, 42 and 60 days. All animals were immunised two weeks prior to the presumed parturition and two weeks after with the following antigens: ovalbumin and brucellergene. Blood samples were collected weekly to monitor humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. When analysing the results of antibody immunity (ovalbumin) in the sixth blood collection both treated groups significantly increased compared to group 1 (0.5230 and 0.4536 vs. 0.1812 OD; p<0.05). The results of the cell-mediated immune response (brucellergene) had significant differences (p<0.10) in correspondence to the third (between group 2 and control) and the fifth (between groups 3 and 2) blood collection. Significant differences in fat corrected milk were observed at 42 days between group 3 and the other two groups (31.01 vs. 26.99 and 28.66 kg/d, p<0.05) and at 60 days between group 3 and control (30.88 vs. 26.69 kg/d, p<0.05). Before partum and at partum a positive immune response was obtained with a lower dose of chromium. After partum a positive immune response, anti-OVA indicator, was obtained with the higher dose of chromium while, $\gamma$-IFN indicator, with the lower dose. A significant increase of the milk yield resulted at both 42 and 60 days with the highest level of chromium.