Blood groups of pigs

At this stage in our knowledge, it is generally agreed that the blood group -characters on the erythrocytes of man and animals and the different serum proteins and groups should all be classified as gene markers, or blood groups. This view is held by Race and Sanger (1959) who-introduced a paper on the subject of 'the inheritance of blood groups with this statement "'Blood groups', in a broader sense could nowadays include not only the differences due to the antigens of red calls, white cells and platelets, but also the distinctions made by the various haemoglobias, haptoglobins and Gm serum groups."Tho knowledge and value of blood groups in man has been manifest in clinical transfusion, and in solutions to medicolegal Problems of disputed parentage, and forensic medicine. They have also been applied in anthropological studies. In domestic animals, however, the knowledge of blood groups has not found comparable bereft in application to clinical transfusion, but has in solving problems of parentage. It has also found application in the detection of heterosis in highly inbred lie b of chickens (Braes, 1953 ,1-1(1 Gilmour, 1954), and in helping to distinguish two egg from one egg twins in cattle. With the advent of progeny testing of piga on a national scale in this country, the necessity for a systematic study of heritable characters such as 'blood groups' seemed essential in this species. In this respect it could be applied as an independent check on pedigree registrations, and to other fields of interest, such as heterozygous advantage and linkage with production characters. The dissertation presented for examination describes the application of immunologioal, serological and biophysical techniques to the discovery and characterisation of 'blood groups' in the pig. The independence and interrelationship of these groups has also been investigated and is discussed

The behavioural, endocrine and leucocyte response of ewes to repeated removal of lambs before the age of natural weaning

abstract: The effect of repeated lamb removal on the blood leukocyte population of ewes was examined and the behavioural and endocrine responses to the stressor quantified. 12 ewes which had given birth to twins, were placed in separate pens with their lambs. After 13 days, the lambs (14-19 days old) from one group of 6 ewes (treatment group) were removed from the pens and placed in a pen 11 m from the nearest ewe. After 3 h the lambs were moved back to their dam. The lambs then remained with their dam for 3 h before being removed for a second period of 3 h. This procedure was repeated for 23 days. A control group of 6 ewes remained with their lambs continuously for the 24-day experimental period. The removal of lambs produced behavioural changes in the ewes. These included: orientation towards the lamb, vocalization, raised head, erect ears, and decreased lying and sleeping behaviours. Although these changes were present over the 24-day experimental period, there were signs of habituation after 3 days of the treatment. The endocrine responses to lamb removal were less marked. Some ewes showed a plasma cortisol and β-endorphin response on Day 1 of lamb removal, but the mean responses were little different from the control group. There was no obvious plasma prolactin response to the treatment. On Day 10 of lamb removal, the blood concentration of neutrophils in the treatment ewes had increased and the proportion of CD2 lymphocytes and T19 lymphocytes had decreased compared with that of control ewes. There were no significant differences between the treatment and control ewes in either the delayed type hypersensitivity skin responses to dinitrofluorobenzene or the humoral antibody responses to ovalbumin. It is suggested that ewes may show behavioural responses to repeated lamb removal but this stressor had no significant effect on the endocrine and immune measurements studied