Anesthesia of Epinephelus marginatus with essential oil of Aloysia polystachya: an approach on blood parameters

This study investigated the anesthetic potential of the essential oil (EO) of Aloysia polystachya in juveniles of dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus). Fish were exposed to different concentrations of EO of A. polystachya to evaluate time of induction and recovery from anesthesia. In the second experiment, fish were divided into four groups: control, ethanol and 50 or 300 mu L L-1 EO of A. polystachya, and each group was submitted to induction for 3.5 min and recovery for 5 or 10 min. The blood gases and glucose levels showed alterations as a function of the recovery times, but Na+ and K+ levels did not show any alteration. In conclusion, the EO from leaves of A. polystachya is an effective anesthetic for dusky grouper, because anesthesia was reached within the recommended time at EO concentrations of 300 and 400 mu L L-1. However, most evaluated blood parameters showed compensatory responses due to EO exposure.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul/Programa de Apoio a Nucleos de Excelencia (FAPERGS/PRONEX) [10/0016-8]; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [470964/2009-0]; Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior, Brazil (CAPES)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bayesian inference on field data for genetic parameters for some reproductive and related traits of Nellore cattle (Bos indicus)

We used Gibbs sampling in single and two-trait animal models to estimate genetic parameters for some reproductive and related traits of Nellore cattle (Bos indicus). Female traits were age at first calving (AFC), cumulative productivity (CP) and adult weight (AW). For males, scrotal circumferences at 365 and 450 days of age were analyzed. Gibbs sampling using the ‘Multiple Trait using Gibbs Sampling under Animal Model’ (MTGSAM) program of Van Tassel and Van Vleck was used to estimate the (co)variance components of the traits and conduct genetic analyses. Heritabilities were AFC = 0.26, AW = 0.36 and CP = 0.25 under the single-trait animal model. The mean, mode and median estimates for genetic parameters obtained from the marginal posterior distributions were similar for all traits except AW, which presented lower values for the mode than the mean and median. However, the marginal posterior distributions for the traits studied presented a tendency toward normality. Favorable, but low, negative genetic correlations were found between male scrotal circumference and female age at first calving. The reproductive traits showed medium-magnitude heritabilities, which indicates that these traits should respond to selection and therefore should be included in genetic improvement programs