Determination of Rhythmicity and Gestational Stage-Related Distribution of Blood Plasma Melatonin Concentrations in Donkey Mares.

The aim of this study is to obtain a more complete picture of blood plasma melatonin concentrations in the donkey mares. To this purpose, sampling and statistical processing were carried out in such a way that allowed the researchers to establish the annual and daily rhythms. Based on human observations, according to the hypothesis of the authors, the blood plasma melatonin concentration of pregnant individuals rises during the late gestational period, before parturition.

The Effect of Supplemental Lighting during the Late Gestation Period on Post-Partum Mechanical Properties of Mare and Foal Guard Hair.

This study investigates Thoroughbred mares exposed or not to supplemental blue light at the end of the gestation. Sixty mares and their 60 foals were selected for the investigation. Guard hair samples were collected from the shoulder just after (within 12 h) the parturition or birth.

Plasma melatonin concentration during the early post-partum period in Thoroughbred mares and their foals.

The authors aimed to determine the plasma melatonin concentration in mares and their new-born foals in the early post-partum period. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein of 53 mare-foal pairs within twelve hours after parturition. Plasma melatonin levels were measured by ELISA.

Infectious Bronchitis Hatchery Vaccination: Comparison between Traditional Spray Administration and a Newly Developed Gel Delivery System in Field Conditions.

The control of infectious bronchitis (IB) is essential in intensive broiler production and is pursued through strict biosecurity and mass vaccination. Despite effective and routinely adopted, hatchery spray vaccination has been hypothesized to affect chicks' body temperature and wellbeing. Recently, gel administration has been proposed as an alternative and proved feasible in experimental settings.

Comparison of mtDNA control region among descendant breeds of the extinct Zaupel sheep revealed haplogroup C and D in Central Europe.

The consideration of the descendance is indispensable in the preservation of endangered animal breeds. The authors compared mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequence in three descendant breeds of the extinct Zaupel sheep, firstly. Their investigation was carried out in order to prove the common origin of Waldschaf (Austria), Bovec sheep (Slovenia) and Cikta (Hungary).

Effects of heat stress on the immune responses of chickens subjected to thermal manipulation in the pre-hatch period.

Heat stress affects the performance of poultry species and also induces immunosuppression. Chickens can be treated by thermal conditioning to have better heat stress tolerance. Our purpose was to determine the effect of acute heat stress on the immune response, i.

Linseed oil supplementation affects fatty acid desaturase 2, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma, and insulin-like growth factor 1 gene expression in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo).

Objective: Effects of linseed oil (LO) supplementation on the fat content and fatty acid profile of breast meat, and the expression of three genes in the liver, breast muscle and fat tissues of commercial 154-day-old hybrid male turkeys were investigated.

Methods: The animals in the control group were fed a commercially available feed and received no LO supplementation (n = 70), whereas animals in the LO group (n = 70) were fed the same basic diet supplemented with LO (day 15 to 21, 0.5%; day 22 to 112, 1%).

Evaluation of a commercial intravaginal thermometer to predict calving in a Hungarian Holstein-Friesian dairy farm.

In this study, the utility of a commercial intravaginal thermometer was evaluated as an automated method for the prediction of calving in a total of 257 healthy pregnant Holstein-Friesian female cattle. The accuracy and the sensitivity of predicting calving within 48 hr before calving were also evaluated. The intravaginal temperature changes from 72 hr before and up to calving were significantly (p ≤ .

Practical experience with artificial insemination (AI) using fresh chilled and frozen semen in mares.

The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of artificial insemination (AI) carried out with frozen and fresh, diluted and chilled semen under field conditions. One hundred and twenty-nine mares of different breeds were included in the study. Eighty-one out of the 107 mares inseminated with fresh, chilled semen got pregnant.

Sex determination using circulating cell-free fetal DNA in small volume of maternal plasma in elephants.

The genetic sexing of animals having long gestation periods offers significant benefits in regard to breeding management among their populations living in captivity. In our study, a new increased-sensitivity PCR method for fetal sexing was developed and tested successfully on elephants, from only a small volume of maternal plasma. Suitable sensitivity was obtained by using short, reduced amplicon lengths with fluorescent labelling for capillary electrophoresis detection.

Merle allele variations in the Mudi dog breed and their effects on phenotypes.

A retrotransposon insertion in the SILV gene is associated with a peculiar phenotype of dog, known as a merle. It is characterised by various areas of their coat colour becoming diluted due to a malfunction in the eumelanin-producing pigment cells. Recent studies have shown that the exact size of the short interspersed element (SINE) insertion is in correlation with specific phenotypic attributes, but was not able to absolutely confine dogs to a certain colour pattern.

Secretagogin expression in the vertebrate brainstem with focus on the noradrenergic system and implications for Alzheimer's disease.

Calcium-binding proteins are widely used to distinguish neuronal subsets in the brain. This study focuses on secretagogin, an EF-hand calcium sensor, to identify distinct neuronal populations in the brainstem of several vertebrate species. By using neural tube whole mounts of mouse embryos, we show that secretagogin is already expressed during the early ontogeny of brainstem noradrenaline cells.

The response of prion genic variation to selection for scrapie resistance in Hungarian indigenous sheep breeds.

The authors studied the present status of Hungarian indigenous sheep breeds based on the genetic background of scrapie resistance. The aim of this investigation was to estimate the relative frequency of prion haplotypes, genotypes and risk categories, as well as to reveal the efficiency of the scrapie eradication programme achieved over the last decade. A novel approach in the characterisation of prion by using its genic variation was also implemented.

Fetal metacarpal/metatarsal bone thickness as possible predictor of dystocia in Holstein cows.

Dystocia and perinatal calf mortality cause significant economic losses in the dairy cattle industry. Despite advanced ultrasound examination procedures, there is no reliable method to estimate the birth weight of calves in order to predict, prepartum, the risk of dystocia. The aim of this study was to predict calf birth weight and dystocia based on transrectal ultrasonographic (TRUS) examinations in late-term Holstein heifers and cows.

Applicability of fetal thoracic aortic diameter measurement in the prediction of birth weight in Holstein-Friesian cows - Short communication.

Transabdominal ultrasonography has been shown to be a useful and reliable method for assessing fetal well-being in horses and cattle. To test the applicability of fetal aortic diameter measurement in cattle, 44 late-term pregnant cows and heifers were examined 21 to 0 days prior to calving. Mean fetal aortic diameter was 2.

Involuntary reduction in vigour of calves born from sexed semen.

The objective of this study was to compare the reproductive traits of heifers and the development characteristics of their calves following artificial insemination (AI) with sexed and non-sexed semen. The analysed characteristics included conception rate, gestation length, calf birth weight, calf vigour, stillbirth rate, and twinning rate. Data of 530 calves produced with sexed and 1,163 calves produced with non-sexed semen were analysed.

Correlation between bull fertility and sperm cell velocity parameters generated by computer-assisted semen analysis.

Motility is one of the most important characteristics associated with the fertilising ability of spermatozoa indicating their viability and structural integrity. Therefore, the examination of motility constitutes an integral part of semen analysis. Computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) allows an accurate and objective assessment of different sperm motion characteristics with high repeatability.

Equine alpha-fetoprotein levels in Lipizzaner mares with normal pregnancies and with pregnancy loss.

Alpha-fetoprotein has proved to be a good indicator of fetal well-being in human medicine for decades. Although this molecule is present in most of the mammalian species including horses, reference values in healthy and high-risk pregnant mares have not yet been published. The aim of the present study was to determine whether equine alpha-fetoprotein (eqAFP) is a good indicator of complicated pregnancies in Lipizzaner mares.

Electronic monitoring of rumination activity as an indicator of health status and production traits in high-yielding dairy cows.

In view of the demonstrated relationship between rumination time and health status, the general welfare and metabolic condition of ruminants are often assessed by the examination of rumen function. The main goal of this study was to monitor the daily rumination activity (RA) and its connection with actual liveweight (LW), milk yield (MY) and with two diseases (subclinical hyperketonaemia - SHK, uterine disease - UD) in 96 cows on the basis of a total of 1638 observations in Israel. The studied sample gave a highly significant response, showing that the selected diseases had a diminishing impact on RA and LW and no influence on MY.

Effect of restraint stress on plasma concentrations of cortisol, progesterone and pregnancy associated-glycoprotein-1 in pregnant heifers during late embryonic development.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of restraint stress, which is commonly practised in the field, on plasma concentrations of cortisol, progesterone (P4) and bovine pregnancy-associated glycoprotein-1 (boPAG-1) in pregnant heifers between Days 30 to 40 of gestation. Twelve Holstein-Friesian heifers between Days 30 (Day 0 of experiment) and 40 (Day 10 of experiment) of pregnancy in a Hungarian dairy farm were used in the present study. The heifers were exposed to an acute stressor consisting of immobilisation (restraint stress) in a crush for 2 h (Group 1, n = 6) on Day 2 (Hour 48) and for 2 × 2 h (Group 2, n = 6) on Days 2 and 3 (Hour 72) of the experiment.

[Characterization of age dependent alterations of the cup of the incisor on the basis of data from Hungarian and German horses].

The authors give a short orientation about the age related parameters of the incisors based on the literature. They examined the question of breed differences with respect to the age determination of horses in the different counties, especially in regard to the English Thoroughbred. In this context they present a new parameter as well as a new approach in data-processing.

AluI polymorphism of the bovine growth hormone (GH) gene, resumption of ovarian cyclicity, milk production and loss of body condition at the onset of lactation in dairy cows.

Relationships among GH genotype (AluI polymorphism), parity, metritis and interval from calving to first ovulation, milk production and body condition score (BCS) loss were determined in dairy cows (n=307) on four large-scale farms in Hungary. Cows with systemic signs of puerperal metritis or mastitis were excluded. Time of the first postpartum (PP) ovulation was obtained from milk progesterone profiles.

Effects of oral L-carnitine, L-lysine administration and exercise on body composition and histological and biochemical parameters in pigeons.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether L-carnitine and its precursor L-lysine could have any beneficial effect in racing pigeons, and if so, whether this effect is influenced by the extent of exercise (short-distance flight: 135 km vs. long-distance flight: 580 km). Birds were divided into seven groups of animals.