Abstracts volume 52 (2009) 1, 1-110
Total protein, selected protein fractions andchemical elements in the colostrum and milk of mares (Short Communication)
Angelika Cieśla, Robert Palacz, Jolanta Janiszewska and Dorota Skórka
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 1-6 PDF
The study material consisted of the colostrum and milk of five noble half-blood mares housed under the same environmental conditions. Colostrum samples were collected 24 h after foaling, whereas milk samples were taken five times, every 30 days, with the first sampling on lactation day 30 (1st month). In the samples were determined the concentrations of total protein, pre-albumins, albumins, α- and β-globulins, immuno¬globulins and calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and zinc (Zn). The presence of pre-albumins was observed only in mare colostrum. Total protein concentration was at the same level in the colostrum and in the milk in the 1st lactation month, whereas protein fraction concentrations underwent dynamic changes during the 1st month of lactation. When compared to the values determined in the colostrum, the level of α-globulins increased 8 times during lactation, whereas that of immunoglobulins decreased almost 4 times. The highest concentrations of Ca, Mg and Zn were found in mare colostrum, with a decrease in the concentration of all chemical elements in the 1st month of lactation, confirmed statistically in case of Mg and Zn.
Effect of first lactation milk yield on efficiency of cows in herds with different production levels
Anna Sawa and Sylwia Krężel-Czopek
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 7-14 PDF
Lifetime performance was analysed in 6 981 Black and White cows with different proportion of Holstein Friesian inheritance from the active population in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province according to first lactation yield. It was shown that from the viewpoint of lifetime efficiency, the optimum milk yield of first calvers depends on the milk yield level of the herd. In herds with ≤5 000 kg milk production, the best efficiency was shown by the cows that produced 6 001-7 000 kg milk as first calvers. A decrease in lifetime milk yield, reduced life span and length of productive life, and lower fertility should be taken into account for more efficient first calvers. In herds with 5 000-6 500 and >6 500 kg milk production, lifetime milk yield and milk yield per day of (productive) life increased with increased first lactation milk yield, while fertility deteriorated.
Estimation of animal × environment interactionin Czech beef cattle
Luboš Vostrý, Josef Přibyl, Werner Schlote, Zdeňka Veselá, Václav Jakubec, Ivan Majzlík and Karel Mach
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 15-22 PDF
The objective was the estimation of animal × environment interaction for weaning weight (WWT) of the most frequent breeds of beef cattle in the Czech Republic. The environment was represented by 3 areas: Mountain (1), Foothills (2) and Lowland (3). A pairwise analysis was carried out between the areas: 1 vs 2 (n=5 149) and 2 vs 3 (n=4 971) for the estimation of (co)variance components and genetic correlations between the environments. A multiple-trait animal model was used where weaning weights in different areas were considered as different traits. The direct and maternal heritability estimates of WWT were for area (1): 0.12 (direct) and 0.05 (maternal); for (2): 0.26 and 0.11 (direct), 0.10 and 0.11 (maternal) and for (3): 0.26 (direct) 0.03 (maternal). Direct and maternal genetic correlations were between: 1 and 2 0.98 and 0.65 respectively, with standard deviations 0.03 and 0.37 respectively, and between 2 and 3: 0.82 and 0.50 respectively, with standard deviations 0.12 and 0.31 respectivly. The magnitude of the across-areas genetic correlation indicates that the animal by environment interaction was not biologically important and can be ignored in the evaluation of beef cattle in the Czech Republic.
Correlation of ultrasonic measured ribeye areaand fat thickness to the certain traits measuredon slaughtered bulls (Short Communication)
Márton Török, J. Péter Polgár, Gyula Kocsi, Valéria Farkas and Ferenc Szabó
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 23-27 PDF
The aim of this study was to test accuracy of measurements done by Falco 100 (Pie Medical) ultrasonic equipment. 10 Angus, 10 Hungarian Simmental, 10 Limousin and 10 Charolais fattening bulls were measured at the feedlot just before slaughtering. Fat thickness at the rump (P8) and ribeye area (REA) were realized from each animal. After slaughtering, the data of slaughter and carcass weights were collected and carcasses were judged on the base of EUROP system. The database was examined by SPSS 9.0 for Windows. Average liveweight of Angus was 645 ± 41.5 kg, of Hungarian Simmental was 676 ± 41.8 kg, of Limousin was 655 ± 50.8 kg and of Charolais was 694 ± 42.3 kg at the measurement. REA measured with ultrasound was 102.9 ± 8.9 cm2, 102.7 ± 10.4 cm2, 111.2 ± 9.6 cm2 and 106.4 ± 9.5 cm2, respectively. P8 was 1.05 ± 0.28 cm, 0.62 ± 0.13 cm, 0.62 ± 0.09 and 0.61 ± 0.18 cm, respectively. Correlation between ultrasonic and carcass REA in case of mentioned breeds was 0.74, 0.74, 0.94 and 0.80. Correlation between P8 and EUROP fat score was 0.51, 0.73, 0.56 and 0.28, respectively. Overall correlation between ultrasonic and carcass REA was 0.83 (P≤0.01), and between P8 and EUROP fat score was 0.69 (P≤0.01).
Relationships among dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, bioelectrical impedance and ultrasound measurements of body composition of swine
Alva D. Mitchell and Armin M. Scholz
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 28-39 PDF
In three separate studies (156 pigs total), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and ultrasound were compared as methods for measuring live body composition of pigs at 60 and 100-110 kg BWt. DXA measured total body fat and lean content, BIA measurements of resistance (Rs) and reactance (Xc) were used to calculate total body lean mass and ultrasound measurements of backfat (BF) depth and longissimus muscle area (LMA) were used to calculate total carcass lean mass. Following the 100-110 kg measurements, the pigs were slaughtered and the half-carcass analyzed chemically for fat and water content. At 110 kg both DXA and ultrasound measurements were significantly correlated with the percentages of carcass fat and water, although correlations were higher for DXA. The correlations between DXA and BF measurements were higher at 110 kg than at 60 kg, whereas they were lower for DXA and LMA. For pigs measured at 100 kg there were high correlations between the DXA values and the BIA estimates for both percentage of fat-free lean mass (FFM %) and FFM kg. Furthermore, the correlations between the BIA estimates of FFM and carcass fat and water content were similar to those for DXA and the same carcass values. This study also provided a side-by-side comparison of the BIA and ultrasound lean measurements relative to DXA and carcass composition. The BIA lean measurement correlated more highly with both DXA and carcass composition than did the ultrasound lean measurement.
Role of genetic markers in the prediction of classification of Czech Large White gilts to a hyperprolific line
Naděžda Kernerová, Václav Matoušek, Anna Čermáková and Marie Forbelská
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 40-50 PDF
The objective of statistical evaluation (discriminant analysis) was to find out whether the genetic endowment the gilt was born with is a high-quality discriminator for prediction of its future classification to a hyperprolific line (HPL). Based on the results a conclusion is drawn that the gilt with genotype CC of ESR gene will be classified to HPL in high probability – if the effect of this gene is not reduced by an interaction with other genes. The statistical analysis did not reveal a significant effect of FSHB gene in Czech Large White sows on their future classification to HPL. On the contrary, PRLR gene is a high-quality discriminator. Obviously, it is highly probable that the gilt with genotype BB will be classified to HPL. It is to state from the analysis of pairs of the studied genes that the adult gilt with genotype CC of ESR gene and genotype BB of FSHB gene and/or PRLR gene will be classified to HPL in all probability. PRLR gene has a dominant effect in the pair ESR and PRLR. Genotype BB of PRLR gene (the most beneficial of the genotypes from the aspect of future classification of gilts to HPL) markedly increases posterior probability of alleles of ESR gene. If the classification of a gilt to HPL is predicted from the analysis of all three genes, the results of partial analyses are confirmed in most cases. The results of the experiment indicate a possible prediction of gilts on the basis of their genotype for classification to HPL but it cannot be confirmed that the identified »beneficial« genotype will always be expressed in different populations by an increase in reproductive traits.
Effects of inbreeding on number of piglets born total, born alive and weaned in Austrian Large White and Landrace pigs
Astrid Köck, Birgit Fürst-Waltl and Roswitha Baumung
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 51-64 PDF
In this study records of 58 925 litters of Austrian Large White and 17 846 litters of Austrian Landrace pigs were analysed. Regression models were used to determine the effects of litter, dam and sire inbreeding on total number of born, born alive and weaned piglets in Large White and Landrace. In both populations, litter and dam inbreeding showed a negative effect on all traits. Sire inbreeding had no effect in Large White, whereas a significant positive effect was observed in Landrace. On average, inbred sires with an inbreeding coefficient of 10 % had 0.45 more piglets born total and 0.43 more piglets born alive in comparison to non-inbred sires. In a further analysis the total inbreeding coefficients of the animals were divided into two parts: »new« and »old« inbreeding. »New« inbreeding was defined as the period of the first five generations. It was shown that the observed inbreeding effects were not only caused by recent inbreeding. Reproductive performance was also affected by »old« inbreeding. Finally partial inbreeding coefficients of four important ancestors in each population were calculated to investigate if inbreeding effects are similar among these ancestors. The results revealed a varation of inbreeding effects among the four ancestors. Alleles contibuting to inbreeding depression were descendent from specific ancestors.
Effects of threshold choice on the results of gene expression profiling, using microarray analysis, in a model feeding experiment with rats
Anja Hartmann, Gerd Nuernberg, Dirk Repsilber, Pawel Janczyk, Christina Walz, Siriluck Ponsuksili, Wolfgang-Bernhard Souffrant and Manfred Schwerin
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 65-78 PDF
Global gene expression studies using microarray technology are widely employed to identify biological processes which are influenced by a treatment e.g. a specific diet. Affected processes are characterized by a significant enrichment of differentially expressed genes (functional annotation analysis). However, different choices of statistical thresholds to select candidates for differential expression will alter the resulting candidates list. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of applying a False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction and different fold change thresholds in statistical analysis of microarray data on diet-affected biological processes based on a significantly increased proportion of differentially expressed genes. In a model feeding experiment with rats fed genetically modified food additives, animals received a supplement of either lyophilized inactivated recombinant VP60 baculovirus (rBV-VP60) or lyophilized inactivated wild type baculovirus (wtBV). Comparative expression profiling was done in spleen, liver and small intestine mucosa. We demonstrated the extent to which threshold choice can affect the biological processes identified as significantly regulated and thus the conclusion drawn from the microarray data. In our study, the combined application of a moderate fold change threshold (FC≥1.5) and a stringent FDR threshold (q≤0.05) exhibited high reliability of biological processes identified as differentially regulated. The application of a stringent FDR threshold of q≤0.05 seems to be an essential prerequisite to reduce considerably the number of false positives. Microarray results of selected differentially expressed molecules were validated successfully by using real-time RT-PCR.
Molecular characterization of the bovine GHRL gene(Short Communication)
Frederic G. Colinet, Daniel Portetelle and Robert Renaville
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 79-84 PDF
Bovine ghrelin, a 27 amino acid peptide, has been identified in oxyntic glands of the abomasum. It is an endogenous ligand for growth hormone secretagogue receptor and stimulates food intake and growth hormone secretion. The bovine GHRL gene was completely sequenced and consists of five exons and four introns. Like mouse and human GHRL genes, we found that the bovine GHRL gene also contains a first non-coding exon of 21 bp. The bovine GHRL gene codes for 116 amino acid peptide named preproghrelin which contains the ghrelin peptide and another peptide similar to obestatin. Sequence analysis revealed eight polymorphisms, which are located in the non-coding sequence of the gene.
Statistical modeling for growth data in linear mixed models – Implications derived from an example of a population comparison of Golden Hamsters
Joachim Spilke, Norbert Mielenz, Sabine Krause and Lutz Schüler
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 85-105 PDF
Using statistical modeling to determine the structure of expectation and covariance employed during analysis is a common feature of analytical research. This paper describes the necessary methodology for, and illustrates those techniques that are of special importance in, practical modeling and evaluation scenarios (likelihood ratio test, analytical criteria, residual analysis). Our approach is demonstrated upon a population comparison, taken on various measurement dates, that focuses on a wild population and a laboratory population of Golden Hamsters. The selected example is particularly suited due to the fact that – aside from the actual growth function of interest – additional fixed (e.g. effect of different mating periods, litter size) and random factors (e.g. maternal environment, repeated performances per animal) must be considered. The modeling shows significant efficiency regarding the improvement of the analytical criteria. The recommended evaluation model leads to a very close match of the observed ordinary least square residuals and of the variance and covariance functions, respectively, that have been derived from the estimated covariance structure.
Discovery of single nucleotide polymorphismsin FABP3 and leptin gene in pig (Brief Report)
Jaeyoung Kim, Hoyoung Chung, Suyeon Kim, Heejin Park and Dae-Huck Kewon
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 106-107 PDF
Tropomodulin 1 (TMOD1) is associated with lean meat growth and meat quality in the pig (Brief Report)
Hui Wu, Shuhong Zhao, Bang Liu, Mei Yu, Mengjin Zhu, Changchun Li and Bin Fan
Arch Tierz 52 (2009), 108-110 PDF