Comparison of Tympanic and Tail Temperatures in Angus and Brahman Steers

In cattle, core body temperature can be used as an important indicator of heat stress level. However, accurately recording core body temperature can be difficult and labor intensive. The objectives of the current study were 1) to compare the recorded tympanic and tail body temperature measurements in steers and 2) to determine the body temperature change of Angus and Brahman steers in a hot and humid environment. Data was analyzed using a repeated measure model where repeated measures were hourly tympanic and tail temperatures and their difference for individual steers during the day of the experiment. There was a significant breed effect (P=0.01), hour (P<0.0001) and breed by hour interaction (P<0.0001) for the tympanic temperature. Brahman steers, which are known to have superior thermotolerance, maintained a lower body temperature than the Angus steers during the afternoon under grazing conditions. In the Brahman steers there was only a minimal increase in the body temperature throughout the day, an evidence of the thermotolerance ability of the breed. In the Angus steers, which experienced an increase in their body temperature from hour to hour with a peak around 1600 hour; there was a significant difference between the tympanic and tail temperature during the times when the body temperature as measured by the tympanic recordings was the highest (1300 to 1700 hour). Our results indicate that the tympanic temperature can be used to accurately and continuously monitor core body temperature in a natural environment for up to several days and without disturbing the animal.

Canine Carboxyl- and Hydroxyl-Containing Metabolites Altered after a Three-Week Supplementation of Cannabidiol (CBD)-Containing Treats in an Exploratory Study

Untargeted metabolomics has been increasingly used to evaluate metabolic alterations caused by diet, disease, or other factors in animals. The purpose of this exploratory study was to evaluate the impact of Cannabidiol (CBD) supplementation on the canine carboxyl and hydroxyl submetabolomes. Sixteen dogs (18.2 ± 3.4 kg BW) were utilized in a completely randomized design with treatments consisting of control and 4 mg CBD/kg BW/d. After 21 d of treatment, blood was collected approximately 2 h after morning treat consumption. Plasma collected from samples was analyzed using CIL/LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics to analyze carboxyl- and hydroxyl-containing metabolites. Metabolites that differed (fold change (FC) ≥ 1.2 or ≤ 0.83 and FDR ≤ 0.05) between the two treatments were identified using a volcano plot. Biomarker analysis based on Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves was performed to identify biomarker candidates (area under ROC ≥ 0.90) of the effects of CBD supplementation. Volcano plot analysis revealed that 42 carboxyl-containing metabolites and 32 hydroxyl-containing metabolites were differentially altered (FC ≥ 1.2 or ≤ 0.83, FDR ≤ 0.05) by CBD; these metabolites were involved in the metabolism of lipids, amino acids, carbohydrates, and more. Biomarker analysis identified 23 carboxyl-containing metabolites and 15 hydroxyl-containing metabolites as candidate biomarkers of the effects of CBD (area under ROC ≥ 0.90; P<0.01). Results of this study indicate that 4 mg CBD/kg BW/d supplemented for 3-weeks altered the canine carboxyl and hydroxyl submetabolomes and may indicate potential mechanisms by which CBD exerts some of its effects. Future work is warranted to investigate these potential mechanisms.

Differentiation of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Serotypes in Animals in High-Risk Zones of Georgia

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is the most important economic threat to the livestock industry. Outbreaks of FMD can have a devastating impact on livestock production and trade, resulting in significant economic losses in the agricultural sector. As a result, vaccination and containment programs have been implemented internationally to minimize the spread of FMDV. The national vaccination program has been implemented in Georgia since 2012, vaccinating Large Ruminants (LR) and Small Ruminants (SR) with trivalent (A, O, Asia1) vaccine twice annually. However, active seromonitoring surveillance still shows a high seroprevalence of the disease, indicating virus circulation. In this study we attempted to estimate the prevalence of different FMDV serotypes in various risk zones within Georgia. A total of 4991 small and large ruminants were tested for the presence of FMDV nonstructural proteins (NSP) in the blood, and the exact serotypes of positive animals were further investigated through structural protein (SP) based assays. The results show that significant percentages (6.6%) of vaccinated animals were affected by FMD, and those positive animals are usually affected by more than one FMDV serotype. As such, our data call upon a stricter vaccination and monitoring program for FMDV in Georgia, especially considering that due to the geographic location of Georgia, the presence of FMD can have significant impact on transit and can be a threat for other countries as well.

On Farm Reproductive Performance and Trait Preferences of Sheep and Goat in Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Areas of Afar Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was conducted from March 2018 to January 2019 with the aim of assessing the reproductive performance and traits preferences of sheep and goats producers in pastoral and agro-pastoral area of Afar, Ethiopia. Semi-structured questionnaires and field observations were used to collect the required information from 136 from pastoral and 56 from agro-pastoral. Sheep and goats were kept for a variety of reasons including income generation, insurance (sale for cash to meet unexpected expenditures) and economic security (sale for cash to support foreseeable expenses), social/religious functions and prestige in ownership. In both production systems, next to camels, goats and sheep were ranked as the second and third most important livestock species in accordance to their relative importance. In the current study, there was a significance differences (P<0.05) in the reproductive performance of both sheep and goats between pastoral and agro-pastoral areas. Goats in agro-pastoral areas had noticeably higher average age at first kidding (12.33 ± 0.76 months), and kidding interval (8.76 ± 2.04 months) whereas they had lower age at first mating both for Doe and bucks (9.28 ± 1.85 and 7.98 ± 2.08 months, respectively). Similarly, sheep in the agro-pastoral areas had higher age at first lambing (12.30 ± 1.18 months) and lambing interval (9.16 ± 2.66 months) than sheep found in the pastoral areas. In both production systems twinning ability (0.46), fast growth (0.41) and trekking long distances were the main preferred sheep traits, whereas fast growth, milk yield and twining ability were the main goat preferred traits with an overall index value of 0.37, 0.32, and 0.32, respectively. Genetic improvement programs targeting pastoral and agro-pastoral production system need to be incorporated the traits of preference, multipurpose roles and the existing traditional herding and breeding practices.

Asymptotic Genetic Response Due to Two-Stage Genomic Index Selection Derived from Correlated or Independent Indices during Both Stages

We developed equations to predict the asymptotic response due to two-stage selection, where first-stage selection was performed by using GEBVs based solely on genotypes and second-stage selection was performed with GEBVs that combined genotypes and phenotypes. The situation that we considered involved four-path selection executed as sires to breed sons, sires to breed daughters, dams to breed sons, and dams to breed daughters. We established two procedures to predict the response. The first incorporated correlated indices during the first and second-stage selections of two-stage selection. The other procedure used independent indices during two-stage selection. The response per generation in the initial generation was greater for the correlated indices than for the independent indices. However, the asymptotic response per generation was slightly greater for the independent indices than for the correlated indices. The asymptotic response per generation was lower during two-stage selection than during single-stage selection. However, the asymptotic response per year was greater for two-stage selection than for single-stage selection. In addition, that trend was more conspicuous when the economic weight was 1:3 for the first (h2 =0.3) to second (h2 =0.05) index trait compared with economic weights of 1:1 and 3:1. However, the magnitude of the response to the aggregate genotype-relative not to single-stage selection but to absolute magnitude was greater at an economic weight of 3:1 than at those of 1:1 and 1:3. The reduction in genetic variance from the initial to an asymptotic generation was greater for a scenario where young parents selected at the first-stage accounted for 30% of all parents in two-stage selection than where they accounted for 70%. The reduction in genetic variance of the aggregate genotype over generations was smaller for independent indices than correlated indices during two-stage selection. Our new formula for predicting genetic response applies to any combination of accuracies of GEBVs and intensities of selection. Therefore, the formula presented is a general equation for predicting genetic response over generations due to two-stage genomic index selection.

Sustainable Development of Surplus By-Products of the Agri-Food Chain with the Purpose of Reducing Environmental Damage

The global food industry annually generates millions of tons of by-products derived from the processing and manufacturing of citrus fruits. Only a small part is used to obtain new products and the rest is considered as waste, with the consequent negative impact on the environment. The purpose of this research work is to use the products extracted from citrus fruits of orange, grapefruit, tangerine and lemon, being used in the diet of ruminants as a source of energy, supplement or alternative in the face of a shortage of forage. Making the use of these by-products in order to reduce the environmental impact of the waste generated.