• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.10
• /
• pp.1363-1367
• /
• 2005

A pedigree file of 4,738 records of a purebred flock of Muzaffarnagari sheep, maintained at Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), Makhdoom, for a period of 24 years (1978 to 2001) was used to calculate inbreeding coefficients. The lambtraits studied were birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months weights as well as 6 and 12 months fleece yields. The lambs' and ewes' inbreeding coefficients ranged from 0 to 26.4% and 0 to 25%, respectively. The average inbreeding coefficient of lambs was higher than that of ewes in all periods as expected in a closed flock. Fluctuations in lamb and ewe inbreeding were observed in the periods under study. The percentages of animals in the higher inbred categories varied somewhat but generally were relatively constant. The mean rate of inbreeding was 0.63% per generation. The effective population size of the flock was 79.1. On average, an increase of 1% individual inbreeding significantly (p<0.05) reduced weights at birth by 0.010 kg, at 3 month by 0.048 kg, at 6 month by 0.075 kg, at 9 month by 0.129 kg and at 12 month by 0.112 kg. Ewes' inbreeding had non-significant effects on body weight at all ages. Effects of both lambs' and ewes' inbreeding had negative but non-significant effects on fleece weights at 6 and 12 months of age. Thus, inbreeding depression in lambs significantly reduced body weights from birth to 12 months of age but had a negligible effect on fleece yields.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.945-949
• /
• 2012

Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis), a tea known for its high antioxidant content, was supplemented to 30 of 60 ewes for 13 wks to assess its effect on their productive performance. A 2.5% inclusion rate of Yerba Mate (YM) in a pelleted concentrate diet decreased feed intake and live weight (LW) during the first few weeks post partum (p<0.001). Overall, the YM group ate less ($2,092{\pm}78g/d$) pellet than the control (CTRL) one ($2,434{\pm}83g/d$); similarly, LW was lower in the YM group compared to the CTRL one, $64.9{\pm}1.6kg$ and $67.3{\pm}1.4kg$, respectively. Lambs' birth weight and growth rates were not affected. At birth, lambs' LW were similar between the Yerba Mate and control groups ($4.2{\pm}0.5kg$ and $4.1{\pm}0.4kg$, respectively. At the end of the trial, Yerba Mate lambs weighed $15.7{\pm}0.4kg$ while CTRL lambs weighed $16.1{\pm}0.4kg$. Average daily growth rate was similar between the two groups and ranged from $176{\pm}19$ to $234{\pm}24g/d$. The inclusion of Yerba Mate in a pelleted diet increased milk fat, protein and total solids content while it decreased milk lactose content. Further work is required to investigate the mechanisms by which Yerba Mate supplementation affects feed intake and milk composition.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.24 no.10
• /
• pp.1399-1406
• /
• 2011

This study aimed to establish the optimum level of palm kernel meal in the diet of Santa Ines lambs based on the sensorial characteristics and fatty acid profile of the meat. We used 32 lambs with a starting age of 4 to 6 months and mean weight of $22{\pm}2.75kg$, kept in individual stalls. The animals were fed with Tifton-85 hay and a concentrate mixed with 0.0, 6.5, 13.0 or 19.5% of palm kernel meal based on the dry mass of the complete diet. These levels formed the treatments. Confinement lasted 80 days and on the last day the animals were fasted and slaughtered. After slaughter, carcasses were weighed and sectioned longitudinally, along the median line, into two antimeres. Half-carcasses were then sliced between the 12th and 13th ribs to collect the loin (longissimus dorsi), which was used to determine the sensorial characteristics and fatty acid profile of the meat. For sensorial evaluation, samples of meat were given to 54 judges who evaluated the tenderness, juiciness, appearance, aroma and flavor of the meat using a hedonic scale. Fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography. The addition of palm kernel meal to the diet had no effect on the sensorial characteristics of meat juiciness, appearance, aroma or flavor. However, tenderness showed a quadratic relationship with the addition of the meal to the diet. The concentration of fatty acids C12:0, C14:0 and C16:0 increased with the addition of palm kernel meal, as did the sum of medium-chain fatty acids and the atherogenicity index. Up to of 19.5% of the diet of Santa Ines lambs can be made up of palm kernel meal without causing significant changes in sensorial characteristics. However, the fatty acid profile of the meat was altered.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.60 no.5
• /
• pp.12.1-12.5
• /
• 2018

Background: The use of agroindustrial by-products in ruminant nutrition to be an interesting alternative in order to reduce production costs and environmental impacts arising from the inadequate destination of residues. The initial step of beer production yields a large volume of wet brewer's grains all year around, which is available at a low cost and has a high nutritional quality, and hence a big potential for animal production. Methods: Twenty-four Suffolk non-castrated male lambs, from simple parturition were kept in individual spots and allocated to four treatments constituted by four levels of substitution of sorghum silage by WBG (i.e.0; 33.5; 66.5 and 100% of substitution). It was used roughage: concentrate rate of 50:50, based on dry matter. Results: The ether extract intake increased while the acid detergent fiber intake decreased linearly ($P{\leq}0.05$). Substituion of sorghum silage by WBG did not change lambs' feed DMI, daily weight gain and feed conversion. Conclusion: The substitution of sorghum silage by WBG as roughage showed to be a viable alternative from the productive and economic point of view for finishing of feedlot lambs.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2009

The present study surveyed the prevalence of natural infection of the sheep esphagus muscle with sarcocysts of Sarcocystis ovicanis and examined induction of protective immunity using UV-attenuated sporocysts. The overall prevalence of natural infection of the sheep was 95%. Infectivity of the collected sarcocysts was confirmed by shedding of sporulated oocysts after feeding infected esophageal tissues to dogs. To induce protective immunity, lambs were immunized 3 times (once a week) with $1.5{\times}10^4$ sporocysts exposed to UV-light for 30min (UV-30 group) or 60 (UV-60 group) min and then challenged with $1.5{\times}10^4$ normal sporocysts at the 3rd week post the 1st vaccination. These lambs showed high survival and less clinical signs of sarcocystosis than normal infected lambs. The attenuated sporocysts produced abnormal cysts; small in size and detached from the muscle fiber. These abnormalities were more obvious in UV-60 group than UV-30 group. Also, the $IFN-{\gamma}$ level and lymphocyte percentage were increased while the total leukocyte count was decreased in the UV-60 group compared with other groups. The high level of $IFN-{\gamma}$ may be an evidence for the induction of Th1 responses which may have protective effect against a challenge infection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.12
• /
• pp.1882-1888
• /
• 2019

Objective: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of crude glycerin (0%, 6%, 12%, and 18%) used as a substitute for corn in lamb feed on the quantitative characteristics of the carcass. Methods: A total of 40 crossbred Santa $In{\hat{e}}s$ lambs that were four months old with a mean initial weight of $21.0{\pm}0.8kg$ were randomly distributed in four treatments with ten replicates. The animals were slaughtered after 66 days of confinement. The effects of crude glycerin as a replacement for corn in the diet of the lambs on the carcass characteristics, commercial cut weight and yield and carcass measurements were studied. Results: There was an increasing linear effect for body weight at slaughter with the replacement of corn by crude glycerin. The dry matter and metabolizable energy intakes, weight of the empty body, hot carcass weight and cold carcass weight showed a quadratic effect, with maximum crude glycerin levels estimated at 10.9%, 9.8%, 10.83%, 11.78%, and 11.35%, respectively. The initial pH was not influenced by the replacement of corn for crude glycerin, while the final pH presented a quadratic effect. The other parameters of the carcass and the weights and yields of commercial cuts were not influenced. There was also no effect of the diets on carcass morphometric measurements, except for the thoracic perimeter and the carcass compactness index, which presented quadratic and linear effects, respectively. Conclusion: Crude glycerin can replace up to 18% of corn because it favours muscle tissue deposition without promoting changes in the main carcass characteristics of lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.9
• /
• pp.1389-1396
• /
• 2019

Objective: The current study analysed the relationships between methane ($CH_4$) output from animal and dietary factors. Methods: The dataset was obtained from 159 Dorper${\times}$thin-tailed Han lambs from our seven studies, and $CH_4$ production and energy metabolism data were measured in vivo by an opencircuit respiratory method. All lambs were confined indoors and fed pelleted diet during the whole experimental period in all studies. Data from two-thirds of lambs were used to develop linear and multiple regressions to describe the relationship between $CH_4$ emission and dietary variables, and data from the remaining one third of lambs were used to validate the established models. Results: $CH_4$ emission (g/d) was positively related to dry matter intake (DMI) and gross energy intake (GEI) (p<0.001). $CH_4$ energy/GEI was negatively related to metabolizable energy/gross energy and metabolizable energy/digestible energy (p<0.001). Using DMI to predict $CH_4$ emission (g/d) resulted in a coefficient of determination ($R^2$) of 0.80. Using GEI, digestible energy intake, and metabolizable energy intake predict $CH_4$ energy/GEI resulted in a $R^2$ of 0.92. Conclusion: the prediction equations established in the current study are useful to develop appropriate feeding and management strategies to mitigate $CH_4$ emissions from sheep.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.506-515
• /
• 2021

Objective: Initial consequence of inbreeding is inbreeding depression which impairs the performance of growth, production, health, fertility and survival traits in different animal breeds and populations. The effect of inbreeding on economically important traits should be accurately estimated. The effect of inbreeding depression on growth traits in sheep has been reported in many breeds. Based on this, the main objective of the present research was to evaluate the impact of inbreeding on some growth traits of Iranian Baluchi sheep breed using quantile regression model. Methods: Pedigree and growth traits records of 13,633 Baluchi lambs born from year 1989 to 2016 were used in this research. The traits were birth weight, weaning weight, six-month weight, nine-month weight, and yearling weight. The contribution, inbreeding and co-ancestry software was used to calculate the pedigree statistics and inbreeding coefficients. To evaluate the impact of inbreeding on different quantiles of each growth trait, a series of quantile regression models were fitted using QUANTREG procedure of SAS software. Annual trend of inbreeding was also estimated fitting a simple linear regression of lamb's inbreeding coefficient on the birth year. Results: Average inbreeding coefficient of the population was 1.63 percent. Annual increase rate of inbreeding of the flock was 0.11 percent (p<0.01). The results showed that the effect of inbreeding in different quantiles of growth traits is not similar. Also, inbreeding affected differently on growth traits, considering lambs' sex and type of birth. Conclusion: Quantile regression revealed that inbreeding did not have similar effect on different quantiles of growth traits in Iranian Baluchi lambs indicating that at a given age and inbreeding coefficient, lambs with different sex and birth type were not equally influenced by inbreeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.211-217
• /
• 2013

A herd of polish lowland local sheep was divided into two equal groups: the first group was kept under an overhead shelter, and the second group was kept in a warm barn. The effect of maintenance on ewe's reproductive performance, survival as well as the growth rate of lambs, and their carcasses quality was investigated. The lack of differences in fertility and prolificacy of ewes as well as in the survival and growth rate between the groups confirmed a good adaptation of $\dot{Z}$ela$\acute{z}$nie$\acute{n}$ska sheep to low temperature. Harsh environmental conditions did not cause a significant decrease of the body weight growth; however, they brought in an (insignificant) reduction of subcutaneous fat thickness and meatiness of the loin part of a lamb's body. The fat content of carcasses obtained from lambs reared under the overhead shelter was significantly lower, with no differences of meat and bones contribution between the groups.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.573-579
• /
• 1998

The effects of supplementation with mixed fodder or concentrate were investigated on the performance of a) growth of male lambs and kids grazing extensively under oil palm trees and b) reproduction of ewes and goats stall-fed with native herbage. Supplemented kids and lambs had higher average daily weight gain than controls but the effect was only significant for those which received concentrate (p < 0.05). Final body weight was only significantly different from controls for lambs supplemented with concentrate (p < 0.05). The ages at puberty, first mating, first conception and first kidding of supplemented goats were about 110 days earlier than those for controls (p < 0.05 or better). Supplemented goats had first mating and conceived at lower body weights (p < 0.01) than those in control groups. Different feeding regimes had no effects (p > 0.05) on the reproductive performance of ewes apart from highest body weight of first lambing in animals supplemented with concentrate (p < 0.05). Native herbage available under oil palm trees of 5 years old was sufficient for growth and reproduction of sheep and goats. Concentrate was better than mixed fodder as supplement for enhancing the reproductive performance of goats but both appeared to have limited effects on the performance of reproduction in ewes and growth in male kids.