Small ruminant studies have shown that a reduction in protein scarcity, through either an increase in protein supply or reduction in protein demand, results in reduced nematode egg excretion and worm burdens during the periparturient period (Houdijk and Athanasiadou, 2003). Whilst this reduced degree of parasitism indirectly suggests that such nutritional effects are mediated through changes in host immune responses, there is only limited direct evidence for this. A rodent model may be used for directly assessing immune responses that underlie nutritional control of nematode parasites. There is indirect evidence that lactating rats undergo a breakdown of immunity to the intestinal nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Houdijk et al., 2003). Provided that this breakdown is sensitive to protein nutrition, this model may be used for elucidating interactions between nutrition and immunity to parasites. Therefore, we assessed whether breakdown of immunity to N. brasiliensis in the lactating rat is sensitive to host protein nutrition.

Animal Science is, by convention, both applied and limited in scope. It is applied because it is directed towards the ‘better’ use of animals to serve man, usually in the form of a meal. Most Animal Science is limited because it focuses on what happens within the animal, a fascinating but rather inflexible link in the food chain, or detail on the broad environmental canvas. The success, failure (or complete irrelevance) of applied Animal Science is defined by what society understands as ‘better’ and by the extent to which animal scientists have contributed to this good.

Traditionally goats are indeed important in Iran especially for milk and fibers. This country has nearly 5000000 cashmere producing goat, which produce approximately 1500 metric ton of raw cashmere. So research on environmental factors which have effect on cashmere production, is very vital to economy of the country. Raeini breed is the most productive Cashmere goat in Iran. However, There are no detailed descriptions of the effects of nutrition on cashmere characteristics in Raeini goat. There is some debate on the effects of nutrition on cashmere growth. In some studies cashmere growth does not respond to increased feed intake above maintenance. While some reviewers have concluded that nutrition does influence cashmere growth (McGregor, 1998). The objective of this study was to describe the effects of feeding level on the cashmere growth of Raeini female goats at two different ages.

There is substantial evidence that the increased consumption of fat by dairy cattle can result in an increase in the number ovarian follicles, and the number and size of corpora lutea; it also stimulates post-partum ovarian activity and improve pregnancy rate. Increased dietary lipid also increases plasma cholesterol and progesterone, and the supply of lipoproteins which play significant roles in regulating ovarian steroidogenesis (Willimas, 1996). In contrast to cattle, there are few observations on the effects of dietary lipid on reproductive function in sheep. Intravascular infusion of lipid into ewes stimulated progesterone and prostaglandin synthesis (Burke et al., 1996), and dietary supplementation of calcium soaps of fatty acids enhanced luteal function (Kuran et al., 1999). Calcium soaps of fatty acids have been manufactured in Iran in recent years and sold under the trade name of Megalac. The aim of the present experiment was to study the effects of this protected fat on follicular number and luteal activity in two fat-tailed sheep breeds.

Following on from the previous paper, this paper could be subtitled 'The welfare of the sow, her litter, the stockperson, the farmer and the bank manager'. There are many different considerations involved in assessing a farrowing system and, in some cases, these can lead to conflicting conclusions.

As reviewed in the previous paper, the animals have a set of requirements for optimal welfare. For the sow, these include the ability to exhibit certain hormonally regulated behaviour patterns including pre-farrowing ambulation and nest building. For the piglet, although longer term issues of behavioural development exist, the immediate welfare challenge is to stay alive and healthy in a situation fraught with dangers (Fraser, 1990). This requires environmental measures which reduce the likelihood of crushing, hypothermia, starvation and infection. Increasingly, as sow prolificacy has become a goal of genetic selection, it is also dependant on inputs of skilled stockpeople (English, 1993).

It is well documented that grower and finisher pigs do not utilise raw soyabean protein well (Crenshaw and Danielson 1985), whereas processed soyabean meals contain high quality protein that is well digested by the pig (true ileal lysine digestibility 86% - NRC 1998). Laboratory studies showed significant (p<0.001) increases in in vitro nitrogen digestibility of raw soyabean meal (RSB) and micronized soyabean meal (MSB) after protease treatment (Beal et al.1998). Indicating that there is potential for improving the nutritional value of these protein sources with exogenous proteases. The objective of this study was to determine if these increases were reflected in the pig.

Within 15 years after introduction, the application of enzymes in the feed industry has gained general acceptance. Even though the range of feed enzymes has not really been extended in this period, a lot of progress has been made, particularly in a better understanding of the mode of action of these enzymes. The main enzymes used are those able to hydrolyse non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and phytase.

One method of reducing feed cost is to restrict the feed in the early life of broilers. In this regard, Fontana et al. (1992) reported that early feed restriction programs in their experiments proportionally reduced the consumption of the starter diets by an average of 22% in restricted broilers when compared with controls. Energy restriction has also been shown to result in a reduction in metabolic energy loss leading to a reduced requirement for maintenance. If during refeeding, this low requirement is maintained and if growth resumed at a normal or above normal rate (compensatory growth), feed efficiency would be substantially improved, leading to an economical advantage. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of severity of diet dilution (energy and protein) and duration of early feed restriction on feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of male broiler chickens.

Pedigree beef cattle breeders who record with the Signet Beefbreeder service have their records analysed by a Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP). BLUP uses the records (weights and measurements) that have been recorded, for the individual and related animals, to determine the likely performance of an individual’s progeny. The analysis calculates Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for several traits of economic value, which are the assessments of genetic merit of the animal. EBVs are calculated for 200 day weight, 400 day weight, fat depth, muscle depth and muscle score. An economic assessment, or index, is calculated using this data, called the Beef Value. The objective of this experiment was to compare the performance of dairy-bred beef calves sired by bulls with either a high (top 10% of breed) or below average (bottom 25%) Beef Value.

Phosphorus (P) is a key mineral in energy metabolism and is essential in nearly every biochemical aspect of dairy cow metabolism. Therefore, P needs to be supplied in sufficient quantity to optimize animal performance. However, dairy cows only use 30 – 45% of their dietary P intake and the rest is excreted mainly in faeces. Excess faecal excretion can lead to P accumulation and saturation in the soil and filter into groundwater or remain in surface water (Tamminga, 1996), which is known to cause eutrophication. It is therefore desirable to formulate P rations according to the requirement of the animals and thereby reduce P pollution. The objective of the present study was to develop a dynamic model of P metabolism in dairy cows and use that to identify and quantify trends of P excretion as a function of P intake and investigate effects of energy supplementation on P utilisation.

The characterisation of muscle fibres has become increasingly important as the proportion of slow and fast fibre types are known to influence the biochemical and physiological properties of muscle during postmortem tenderisation (Ouali and Talmant, 1990). Current histochemical methods are labour intensive, time consuming and hazardous, requiring rapid freezing of samples in isopentane cooled in liquid nitrogen. The purpose of this study was to investigate an alternative immunochemical approach for identifying fibre types by examining the expression of slow myosin heavy chain (MHC-s) and fast myosin heavy chain (MHC-f) and comparing the data with classical histochemical techniques. Five different ovine skeletal muscles with known differences in fibre types distribution were studied.

High concentrations of skatole in adipose tissue are a major factor in boar taint - the offensive odor and taste in cooked pork from some intact male pigs. Skatole is produced by bacterial fermentation of tryptophan in the large intestine, absorbed into the blood and transported into the liver, where it can be metabolised via the cytochrome P450 system. One reason for high skatole levels in pig adipose tissues could be low expression of hepatic cytochrome P450IIE1 in liver and hence a reduced rate of skatole clearance, but no correlation was found between the rate of skatole metabolism and the P450IIE1 content of isolated liver microsomes. The present study re-investigates the relationship between backfat skatole, liver P450IIE1 expression and the rate of microsomal skatole metabolism in two breeds of pigs.

High levels of dietary concentrates are often used to support milk production and it is important to investigate ways to feed them efficiently. Fats have the greatest energy density of any feed ingredient and the inclusion of protected fats in the dairy cow ration enables a high energy but balanced ration to be fed. The aim of this trial was to investigate the effect of feeding different levels of Megalac (Volac International Ltd, Herts) to dairy cows and to compare milk yield, milk composition, fertility and body condition score (BCS).

Milk and dairy products are the major source of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in the European diet and there is evidence that replacing SFA with cis-monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) will improve risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Rapeseed in dairy cow diets simultaneously reduces milk SFA and increases cis-MUFA, but also increases milk trans MUFA. A new variety of rapeseed with higher oleic acid content (therefore less potential for increasing milk trans-MUFA) was compared with a normal oleic acid rapeseed, and both compared with a control diet.

Considerable efforts have been made regarding the use of faecal material to provide a microbial inoculum for in vitro feed evaluation systems. However total gas production, rate of gas release and the extent of degradation of feeds incubated using faecal inoculum are lower than those incubated in a rumen fluid medium. It has been suggested that this is due to lower microbial activity, a consequence of the different microflora and reduced microbial numbers (e.g. Mauricio, 1999). Microbial populations are dynamic so, as their enzyme activity profiles change rapidly, little information is obtained from examining these. However, their hydrolytic activity as reflected by their ability to degrade specific substrates can be simply measured and provides a potential method with which to assess the quality of inocula with respect to their use in in vitro systems. The data presented here are from a larger study in which the differences between the hydrolytic activity of faecal material and rumen contents as influenced by the time of sampling were assessed in vitro.

Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp genera are useful and important microbiota which affect poultry performance. These bacteria are natural inhabitants of the intestine of broilers. These bacteria have a unique hexose metabolism that occurs via the phosphoketolase pathway. Bifidobacterium spp. produces the vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, nicotinic acid and folic acid. Enzymatic hydrolysis by Bifidobacterium spp. increases bioaccessibility of lipids and proteins. Lactobacillus spp. exhibit properties which include the ability to adhere to cells, persist and multiply and produce acids, hydrogen peroxide and bacteriocidal and bacteriostatic agents. The ability of Lactobacillus to inhibit bacterial pathogens including E. coli and Salmonella species and to influence parasitic infection including Cryptosporidium parvum, Eimeria acervulina, and Giardia intestinalis (Seidavi et al. 2008). The aim of this study was to develop a method for the direct and simultaneous detection of Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp.in the intestine by multiplex PCR.

The duration of ovulation in pigs may contribute to embryo mortality, as later ovulated ova, which become the least mature embryos, are unable to contend with the changing uterine environment (Pope, 1992). The shorter ovulation of spontaneously ovulating sows, which were mated, compared to induced sows, which were not mated (Soede et al, 1992), suggested that the mating itself may reduce the length of ovulation. The current study determined the effect of mating in the early oestrus period on both the timing and duration in recendy weaned, spontaneously ovulating sows.

Behaviours such as weaving, box-walking and wind-sucking have traditionally been regarded as undesirable behaviours or ‘vices’ by horse owners, which has led to ‘treatment’ regimes that aimed to physically prevent the performance of the behaviour rather than understand the underlying causes for it. In recent years, however, a number of studies have shed light on the epidemiology of these behaviours (e.g. Luescher et al 1998), leading to the development of more welfare compatible treatment options. In this study, a clinical population of horses presented with stereotypical behaviours is examined for relationships between presenting signs and historical and observational findings.

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, is amongst the few animal food production sectors that has continued to show strong growth over the last 30 years and over the last decade achieved a annual increase of 7.5% compared with 2.5% for meat production. This blue revolution perhaps marks the last phase in animal domestication and the prognosis for sustainable growth of the global sector is good. In 2000 around 45.7 million tonnes of aquatic produce valued at US$ 56.5 billion was produced.

With the advent of the stall and tether ban in the UK it is now a requirement to house dry sows in groups throughout their pregnancy which necessitates their being mixed with other sows at some point after service. It is generally recommended that mixing sows during the embryo implantation period should be avoided as this is thought to effect embryo survival rates. The object of this experiment was to demonstrate the aggression that occurs between sows after mixing and determine the effect on reproductive performance when mixing sows at different times during the 42 days post-service.

294 sows were mixed at six different times during early pregnancy: 0 to 7(T1), 8 to 14,(T2) 15 to 21(T3), 22 to 28(T4), 29 to 35(T5) and 36 to 42(T6) days post service. Six groups of sows from six consecutive weeks weanings were served at the first post-weaning oestrus and kept in stable weekly treatment groups until the sixth group was served.