Journal of Animal Health and Behavioural Science

The current experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects replacing dietary corn/barley mixture with molasses at levels of 0, 50 and 100 g/kg dietary Dry Matter (DM) as a ruminal fermentable carbohydrate source, in the ration containing Corn Steep Liquor (CSL, 130 g/kg DM), as a ruminal degradable protein source. Twenty four male Lori lambs were randomly assigned into three groups of eight lambs each in a balanced completely randomised design. Nutrients digestibility, ruminal parameters, blood metabolites, feed intake and growth performance were determined. Results indicated that supplementing dietary CSL with increasing levels of molasses up to 100 g/kg of DM linearly increased organic matter (L, p=0.05) and ash-free neutral detergent fibre (L, p<0.05) digestibility, while DM, crude protein and ash-free acid detergent fibre digestibility remained unchanged (p>0.05). Increasing the level of molasses in the CSL containing diets had no effect on ruminal pH (p>0.05), but linearly decreased rumen concentration of NH3-N (L, p<0.05). Except for total Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) and molar proportion of butyrate which were increased linearly (L, p<0.05) with increasing dietary molasses level, other individual VFAs were similar (p>0.05) among the experimental rations. Increasing the level of molasses in the diet up to 100 g/kg of DM linearly increased (L, p=0.05) plasma total protein concentration, while linearly reduced blood urea nitrogen concentration (L, p<0.05). Total weight gain and average daily gain were improved (L, p<0.05), while feed conversion ratio was decreased linearly (L, p<0.05) with increasing dietary level of molasses. However, final body weight and feed intake remained unchanged (p>0.05) by feeding the experimental diets. In conclusion, results of present study indicated that supplementing CSL with molasses at levels of 100 g/kg dietary DM increased nutrients digestibility and production performance of fattening lambs.

Acute Phase Proteins (APPs) are those produced by the liver following stimulation by stress, such as trauma, infection or inflammation. Changes in their concentration in blood have been used as important indicators of disease, and widely used in the diagnosis of diseases in humans and pets, such as cats and dogs. Donkeys and horses have a clinical response to disease that is distinct, in many cases, such as having more tolerance to pain and displaying fewer obvious clinical symptoms. The principal APP varies by species and remains unknown for donkeys. 33 donkeys with the clinical disease (8 young, 25 adult) and 37 clinically healthy donkeys (10 young, 27 adult) were included in the current study, for evaluating for clinically important APPs in donkeys. Blood was collected from the jugular vein of all donkeys and a Complete Blood Count (CBC) and standard blood biochemistry report conducted. Serum Amyloid A (SAA), Haptoglobin (HP), C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and α1-Acidic Glycol Protein (α1-AGP) in the blood samples were quantified by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The results indicated that SAA and α1-AGP in the young, clinically-ill donkeys were significantly higher in concentration than in young healthy donkeys (P<0.05). The difference in SAA (P<0.01) and HP concentrations (P<0.05) were also significantly higher in adult clinically-ill donkeys than in adult healthy donkeys. Conversely, there was no difference in CRP concentrations in healthy and clinically ill donkeys (P>0.05). The young clinically ill donkeys had significantly higher numbers of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and had a Higher Hematocrit (HCT) and higher levels of Hemoglobin (HG) than young healthy donkeys (P<0.01), as were levels of Aspartate Transaminase (AST), urea and Phosphate (P<0.05). The adult clinically ill donkeys had significantly higher numbers of White Blood Cells (WBC), neutrophils and monocytes than adult healthy donkeys (P<0.01), while conversely, numbers of eosinophils (P<0.01) and platelets (P<0.05), hematocrit (P<0.01) and levels of hemoglobin (P<0.01) were higher in the adult healthy donkeys. Total Protein (TP), urea, creatinine and glucose concentrations were higher in adult clinically ill donkeys than in adult healthy donkeys (P<0.05). Taken together, the results of this study indicate that a significant difference in SAA blood concentration was observed in healthy donkeys compared to those that were clinically ill and thus is responsive to the health of donkeys. Therefore, SAA can be considered the principal APP of donkeys for the early diagnosis of clinical disease in donkeys.

The Newcastle disease outbreak in chickens is a continuing threat to the poultry industry. Infection with Newcastle disease is greatly influenced by the immune status of the birds. The mucosal immunity plays a major role in the local immune response in the protection of chickens against diseases. This study was undertaken to find the efficacy of thermo stable live oral pellet vaccine in developing the mucosal immunity in chickens. Samples were collected from Harderian gland, lachrymal fluid, Tracheal fluid, Intestinal washings, Bile and Serum of chickens after administration of oral pellet vaccine to detect presence of NDV specific IgA antibodies. Results showed that there is significant increase in the immune response after one week post vaccination with no significant difference between 14 and 21 days after vaccine. There exists significant difference in Mean OD values between samples of Harderian, Lachrymal, Trachea, Intestine, Bile and serum with bile found to have increased IgA response. Challenge experiment results showed that oral pellet vaccine was able to protect chickens against virus challenge by increasing the mucosal immunity against Newcastle disease.

The purpose of this study was to supplement linseed oil and fish oil in the sows' diets to explore the effects of different types of oil sources for production, which expected to further investigate microbial mechanistic insight into the different type of oil sources. In this research, Landrace sows were selected and randomly divided into 3 groups: Control group (Ctrl), Linseed Group (LO), Fish Oil (FO). Results showed that there were no obvious changes in the sow's reproductive traits and the ingredients of colostrum. However, the content of Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) were improved by LO and FO. Besides, in the absence of changes in the dominant bacteria, the relative abundances of microbial flora presented no significant differences at phylum level and genus level, and our study indicated that the discrepancy in the metabolic pathways of microorganisms in each treatment group further revealed the different adaptive mechanism of microorganisms between different oils sources. In summary, LO and FO had no effect on the sow's reproductive traits and the ingredients of colostrum, but increased the content of SCFAs, and differences in metabolic pathways suggest the adaptive mechanism of microorganisms due to the changes of diets.