Abdulkadir Orman

Effects of calcium propionate by different numbers of applications in first week postpartum of dairy cows on hypocalcemia, milk production and reproductive disorders

Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate effects of calcium propionate on hypocalcemia, dry matter intake, body condition score, milk production and reproductive disorders in dairy cows. Twenty four multiparous Holstein cows were sorted by parity, body condition score (BCS) in close-up period and season of calving and assigned to one of the three treatments. The cows in treatment 1 (T1) received two drenches at calving and 24h after calving. The cows in treatment 2 (T2) received three drenches at calving, 24h after calving and 7 days after calving. The cows in treatment 3 (T3) were the control. Each drench contained 143g of calcium as calcium propionate (0.68kg). Parameters studied were serum calcium, glucose and nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations, dry matter intake (DMI), BCS, milk production (MP), incidence of retained placenta (RP) and metritis. Milk fever developed in 5 of 8 cows, in 3 of 8 cows and in 3 of 8 cows in T1, T2 and T3, respectively, at calving. There was no cow with milk fever in T1 and T2 at 4h after second drench (about 28h after calving) but 3 of 8 cows in T3 had still milk fever at this time. The cows receiving two drenches recovered from milk fever in a shorter term as compared to the cows in T3. There were no differences among treatments for DMI, BCS, MP, RP, serum glucose and NEFA concentrations during the experimental period. There was no difference for metritis between T1 and T3 but incidence of metritis in T2 was significantly lower as compared to T3 (P<0.05). Two drenches of calcium propionate were beneficial in treating milk fever and three drenches of calcium propionate were considered to have had a preventive effect for metritis.

The usefulness of leptin measurements and ultrasound fat thickness for assessment of body fat reserves of Awassi lambs

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of leptin measurements for predicting back fat thickness and the amount of carcase fat in lambs with varying body weights (BWs). Blood samples were taken from 20 male Awassi lambs at 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 kg BW. Tail, omental, dissected, and total fat were measured at slaughter (40 kg BW). Ultrasound fat thickness (UFT) increased with BW (p < .05) whereas leptin concentration tended to increase (p = .09). Serum leptin concentration was correlated with BW for 25, 30, 35, and 40 kg BW (r = 0.53, 0.52, 0.51 and 0.61, respectively; p < .05) and with UFT for 30, 35, and 40 kg BW (r = 0.50, 0.51 and 0.59, respectively; p < .05); therefore it appears that leptin concentration is not a suitable predictor for BW and UFT in low BW lambs. In addition, similar correlations were found for leptin concentration and hot carcase, omental, dissected, and total fat weights (r = 0.62, 0.64, 0.66 and 0.76, respectively; p < .05) but not for tail fat (p >.05 for 40 kg BW). The introduction of UFT and BW as independent variables in addition to leptin in the multiple regression equations improved the predictions for carcase fat only (57.6%, p < .05; 57.8%, p < .05 and 60.7%, p > .05 for leptin, leptin + UFT and leptin + BW, respectively). Leptin was a single predictor for omentum and dissected fat (41.4%, p < .05 and 43.5%, p < .05 respectively) whereas no improvement was observed for tail fat (p > .05). The other variables (UFT and BW) were not a predictor (p > .05) except for total fat (p > .05). These results indicate that serum leptin concentration in association with BW and UFT could be used to estimate total fat (tail, omental and dissectible carcase fat) in male Awassi lambs.

Effects of Supplemental Mannanoligosaccharides on Growth Performance, Faecal Characteristics and Health in Dairy Calves

Twenty Holstein calves were used to investigate the effects of mannanoligosaccharides (MOS) supplementation in the whole milk on growth performance, faecal score, faecal pH, selected faecal bacterial populations and health during the preweaning period. Healthy calves selected by clinical examination were allocated to one of the two groups (control [CG] and experimental [EG]) at 5 days old. Each group consisted of 5 male and 5 female calves. Each calf in EG was supplemented with 7 g/d of a MOS product (Celmanax) from 5 days to 56 days of age. MOS supplement was mixed with the whole milk once in the morning and administered to the calves in EG via nipple bottle, whereas the calves in CG were fed the whole milk without MOS. Calves were weaned at 56 days of age. The final body weight, average daily weight gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were statistically similar (p>0.05) but were higher by 3.70%, 6.66%, and 10.97%, respectively, in MOS than in control calves. Feed efficiency (ADG/ADFI) was also similar in two calves group. While faecal scores did not differ on day 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 49, and 56 between groups, EG had a higher faecal score (p = 0.05) than CG on day 35. Faecal concentration of Lactobacillus was lower (p<0.05) in EG compared with CG. No differences (p>0.05) in faecal concentrations of Bifidobacterium, Clostridium perfringens, and Escherichia coli were found between groups. Although there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the incidence of diarrhoea, treatment days for diarrhoea and the costs associated with diarrhoea treatments between groups, collectively, the observed reductions in treatment days and the cost of diarrhoea treatments accompanying increases in final body weight, ADG and ADFI for EG may indicate potential benefit of MOS in treatment of diarrhoea.

Genetic diversity of Kivircik sheep breed reared in different regions and its relationship with other sheep breeds in Turkey

In this study, animals from the Kıvırcık breed of sheep and two closely related breeds (Pırlak and Karacabey Merino) were analysed by using 15 microsatellite markers to evaluate the genetic diversity within the Kıvırcık breed and to elucidate its relationship with the other two breeds. A total of 244 alleles were detected on all of the 15 microsatellite loci studied. While the Kıvırcık population of sheep showed a significant deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) for all 15 loci, both the Pırlak and Karacabey Merino breeds showed a significant deviation from the HWE for 10 loci. The mean observed heterozygosity and FIS exhibited ranges of 0.63 to 0.72 and 0.0672 to 0.2139, respectively. The highest mean number of alleles value and the greatest number of private alleles were observed in the Kıvırcık population. While microsatellite analysis revealed high genetic diversity in breeds investigated, a high level of inbreeding was also observed between different Kıvırcık populations and other two breeds. The genetic differentiation between breeds was found to below. The Kıvırcık from Istanbul and Bursa were the most closely related genetically, while the Kıvırcık from Manisa differed from the other populations. In addition, the Karacabey Merino and Pırlak breeds grouped together.