Blood hematology and biochemistry in iberian cattle breeds

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Zootécnica/Produção AnimalThe evaluation of certain biochemical variables such as blood concentrations are useful not only for the early detection of diseases, but also to study animal metabolism and related with animal performance. Information on blood metabolite concentrations in autochthonous and endangered breeds are thus of particular relevance. In some Iberian breeds the basic values of these concentrations are not defined. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation was to establish standard values for plasma metabolites in Iberian cattle breeds farmed in extensive systems. For this, selected hematological and biochemical parameters of a total of 311 animals of different breeds (Avileña, Lidia and Morucha), ages and sexes were analyzed. Regarding the results, we could verify that the Morucha breed had the highest red blood cells count and hematocrit percentage while Lidia had the highest values of glucose and ALP. In sex terms, males presented higher values of white blood cells and total proteins and females the highest values of albumin and glucose. In the matter of age, older animals had significantly higher creatinine concentrations.RESUMO - O estudo de certas variáveis bioquímicas no sangue é importante não só para a deteção precoce de doenças, mas também para estudar o metabolismo e relacioná-lo com a performance dos animais. Esse estudo assume ainda maior importância quando falamos de raças autóctones, muitas em perigo de extinção. Em algumas raças ibéricas os valores base dessas concentrações não se encontram bem definidos. Perante isto, o principal objetivo desta dissertação visou estabelecer valores padrão para os metabolitos plasmáticos em raças bovinas do tronco ibérico exploradas em sistemas extensivos. Para isso, foram analisados alguns parâmetros hematológicos e bioquímicos de um total de 311 animais de diferentes raças (Avileña, Lidia e Morucha), idades e sexos. Pudemos verificar que a raça Morucha obteve o maior número de glóbulos vermelhos bem como a maior percentagem de hematócrito, enquanto a raça de Lide teve os maiores valores de glucose e ALP. Em termos de sexo, os machos apresentaram valores mais elevados de glóbulos brancos e proteínas totais e as fêmeas valores superiores de albumina e glucose. Em relação à idade, os animais mais velhos apresentaram concentrações significativamente superiores de creatinina.N/

Animal Nutrition and Welfare in Sustainable Production Systems

Today, food animal production systems demand high energy, land, chemicals, and water—all of which are increasingly becoming scarce. Thus, change and innovation are required in many animal production systems to meet the present and future demands for animal products sustainably. Over the last four decades, inexpensive grain, energy, and protein have enabled the economic development of intensive meat, eggs, and milk production systems based on feeding grains and other ingredients sourced from far-off places. The poultry and pig intensive production systems have become highly capital intensive, and they have resulted in many environmental challenges.Food animal feed, nutrition, and welfare are the foundation of successful animal systems. They directly or indirectly affect the entire animal production sector, associated services, public goods, and services, including animal productivity, health and welfare, product quality and safety, land use and land-use change, and greenhouse gas emissions. The sustainability of food animal nutrition and welfare is crucial in developing animal production across production systems. The sustainable increase in animal productivity, which is key to meeting the large current and future demands for animal origin products, cannot be achieved without sustainable animal nutrition and welfare

Preclinical Study of Siddha Drug Pavalaveerachunnam for it’s Hepatoprotective, Hypolipidemic, Diuretic and Lithotriptic Activities.

The study of the drug “PAVALAVEERACHUNNAM” is taken from The Pharmacopoeia of Siddha Research Medicines” Authored by Shanmugavelu.M. In siddha system of medicine many formulations are available for the management of Liver disease,Jaundice (Kamalai), Gallstones, Billiarystones, Hepatic stones. Chunnam is a specialized medicine in siddha system. In current research an attempt is made to investigate, “PAVALAVEERACHUNNAM” for its Hepatoprotective, Hypolipidemic, Diuretic, Lithotriptic activities.Scientific studies reveal that higher order medicines of Siddha like Parpam ,Chenduram, Kattu, Pathangam ,Kalangu and Chunnam contain nano particle. They have high therapeutic value in treating challenging diseases.The aim of this study is to do a scientific review to validate the safety and efficacy of ‘PAVALAVEERACHUNNAM’ for Hepatoprotective by pre-clinical studies.The trial drug PavalaveeraChunnam is a mineral, animal formulation, selected from the text book of THE PHARMACOPEIA OF SIDDHA RESEARCH MEDICINES for Hepatoprotective, Hypolipidemic, Diuretic, Lithotriptic activities and the results supported the study. From the literature review, Physico-chemical analysis, Chemical analysis, Pharmacological studies, Anti Microbiology activities, Instrumental analysis and toxicological studies it is concluded that the test drug of PVC is safe and effective for Liver Diseases and in safer to continue even for a long duration

Use of alternative protein sources in poultry and fish nutrition

The global increase of the world population started during the ‘60s and the most credited FAO estimates predicted that by the mid-twentieth century the human population will still grow to reach about 9 billion. Likewise, in order to satisfy the nutritional needs of both humans and livestock and pet animals, the demand of raw materials and in particular protein sources will increase. It is estimated that in the near future the production of meat will increase of 50%, and the demand of fish, milk and eggs of 75%. The most important protein sources used in animal nutrition are the soybean meal and the fish meal; however, the production of these two raw materials are linked to several environmental problems. Recently, the researchers are studying the use of innovative protein sources alternative to the soybean and fish meal presenting the best possible characteristics such as: environmental sustainability, low production costs, high nutritional value and no antinutritional factor content. The insects and the processed animal proteins (PAPs) could be suitable protein sources in poultry and fish nutrition. The present thesis includes 6 experimental trials conducted along the three years of my PhD in Italy and in Greece in order to evaluate the possible utilization of innovative and alternative protein sources in poultry and in fish species. Regarding poultry, the studies has been conducted in Italy. The first step was to investigate the in vitro crude protein digestibility of different insect meals from Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens and their correlation with chemical composition traits. The results showed that chitin is the main constituent of insect body able to affect the crude protein digestibility of Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens larvae meals. Based on these results two in vivo trials were carried out on the use of the insect meals in the poultry diets. The first in vivo study was carried out on 80 broilers (from 30 to 62 days of age) equally divided into two groups fed, respectively, a corn-soybean meal based diet and a diet in which Tenebrio molitor larvae meal totally replaced the soybean meal. The diets were isoproteic and isoenergetic. No differences were observed on growth parameters, physical and chemical properties of the meat between the groups. The presence of the chitin in the insect meal increased the length and the weight of the full intestine, the weight of the spleen, the production of the caecal volatile fatty acids; and it affected negatively the apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients and in particular of the proteins. In addition, broilers fed the insects had a lower albumin to globulin ratio in the blood samples than the group fed soybean meal and this suggests a better disease resistance and immune response of birds linked to the prebiotic activity of the chitin. The second in vivo study was carried out on 108 laying hens (from 24 to 45 weeks of age). Following a scheme similar to that of the previous trial, the hens were equally dived into two groups fed two isoproteic and isoenergetic diets. The control group fed a corn-soybean meal based diet and the other group fed a diet in which an Hermetia illucens larvae meal was included as total replacement of the soybean meal. The use of the insect meal did not show negative effects on the health status of the animals and on the feed conversion ratio. However, the complete replacement of soybean meal showed negative effects on the feed intake and, as a consequence, on the laying performance. The chitin content of the the Hermetia illucens diet negatively affected the ileal apparent digestibility of the nutrients and, in particular, of the proteins. The eggs quality was positively affected by the insect meal based diet, in particular the yolk resulted richer in PUFA, n-6 and n-3 and showed lower cholesterol content than the hens fed on the soybean meal based diet. The three studies on fish species were carried out in Greece. The first step was to evaluate the suitability of some processed animal proteins carrying out a preliminary in vivo digestibility trial; a control diet (with only fish meal) was compared to six isoproteic and isoenergetic diets including, respectively, poultry feather meal (FeM) alone (4 diets with 15, 25, 50 and 75% of fish meal substitution) and a mix of processed animal proteins meals (2 diets including feather meal, offal meal and blood meal (BOF) added to the diet in equal amounts to replace 50 and 75 % of the fish meal). The trial evidenced a decrease of nutrients digestibility for feather meal containing diets starting from the 15% fish meal substitution rate diet. The diets containing a mix of processed animal proteins, instead, showed better results, with the 50% fish meal substitution rate diet presenting values comparable to the control diet. A worsening of digestibility was registered, instead for the 75% substitution rate diet. After this preliminary trial two growth trials were carried out in order to evaluate the growth performance of the European sea bass fed on the only feather meal based diets (360 European sea bass juveniles) and the mix of ingredients previously described (225 juveniles European sea bass). The diets with the only inclusion of feather meal put in evidence that the only suitable diet was the 15% FM. The experimental diet with the mix of the ingredient showed promising results, because the inclusion of 50% BOF showed growth performance results comparable to the control diet

Effect of Spirulina on Productive and Reproductive Traits as well as Hematological Parameters and the Meat Quality Characteristics in Local Omani Goats

Spirulina platensis (SP) is a type of blue-green algae that has been extensively used as a dietary supplement for livestock in recent decades. It is a rich source of protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and essential amino acids, making it a highly nutritious feed supplement for animals. Additionally, SP is a good source of pigments such as phycocyanin and chlorophyll, which can be used as natural colourants in animal feed. The use of SP in livestock feed has several benefits, including improved growth, health of animals and a reduced environmental impact of animal agriculture due to its advantages regarding to haematological and biochemical parameters which play a major role in improving biological functions. Supplementation of SP in the diet of animals such as fish, poultry, pigs, and ruminants has been shown to have positive effects on growth performance, body confirmation, and meat quality. Additionally, SP supplementation can also improve animal welfare by reducing stress and disease. Despite the many benefits of SP as a feed supplement, there has been limited research on its effects on Omani goats under Omani conditions. This thesis aims to fill this gap by examining the effect of SP supplementation on the growth performance, body confirmation, meat quality, fatty acid profile, reproductive performance, and blood haematological and biochemical parameters of Omani goat bucks. The aim of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind the use of SP as a feed supplement for Omani goats and to provide valuable insights for future livestock management practices in Oman

Histopathology of Aquatic Animals

Histopathological studies of aquatic animals refer to the microscopic examination of tissues and organs in order to detect deviations from the expected microscopic or macroscopic structure. Information obtained from the study of histomorphological lesions in aquatic animals can be a useful addition when determining the general state of health of aquatic animals, especially if chronic stressors and/or pathogens are present. Compared to mammals, postmortem autolysis progresses very rapidly in most aquatic organisms. This fact makes histopathological examination quite complex and demanding, not only in a histotechnical sense. A prerequisite for a successful study is the baseline knowledge of physiological processes and histological architecture of the studied species. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to the current state of knowledge on the histopathology of aquatic animals and to provide a professional and encyclopedic tool for biologists and veterinarians