Chiara Cannizzo

Subacute ruminal acidosis and evaluation of blood gas analysis in dairy cow.

Subacute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) corresponds to an imbalance between lactate-producing bacteria and lactate-using bacteria, which results in a change in ruminal pH associated with a prevalent consumption of rapidly fermentable carbohydrates. In our study, 216 primiparus and multiparus dairy cows were selected from 20 Italian intensive dairy herds and were divided into three groups based on the risk of SARA. All the dairy cows had high average milk production. After blood sampling, a complete blood gas analysis was performed. One-way ANOVA was performed to compare the three groups. O(2) Cont, PCO(2), blood pH, O(2)Hb, urinary pH, and rumen pH were significantly lower in cows with rumen pH < 5.5. These results indicate that blood gas analysis is a valuable tool to diagnose acidosis in dairy cows because it provides good assessment of acidosis while being less invasive than rumen pH analysis.

Short-term adaptive response in strongly versus weakly lateralized dairy ewes

Abstract The effects of lambs separation and manual milking, which are stressors usually associated with the productive cycle of dairy sheep farm, were investigated by comparing short-term (24 h) adaptive responses in strongly versus weakly lateralized dairy ewes. Functional lateralization was scored with a series of behavioural tests (direction of free turning, direction of obstacle turning, preferential leg use in front of an obstacle) followed by a daily period of hormonal, biochemical and clinical parameters assayed on two groups of 6 strongly (SLS) and two groups of 6 weakly (WLS) lateralized ewes divided for lamb presence or separation. Differences were observed for several parameters as a function of the degree of lateralization score and stressors application. The results suggest that behavioural lateralization parameters should be taken into consideration as a crucial variable to understand stress responses and their modulation in relation to animal welfare.

Serum acute phase proteins in cows with SARA (Subacute Ruminal Acidosis) suspect

The aim of this study was to evaluate the variations of Acute Phase Proteins (APPs) and other blood constituents during the onset of the sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) pathological status. A total of 108 cows from 12 dairy herds were randomly selected and divided into three Groups of 36 animals each. All animals were subjected to a rumenocentesis. Group A was composed by subjects with a rumen pH>5.8, Group B was composed by subjects with a rumen pH ≤5.5≤5.8 and Group C was composed by subjects with a rumen pH<5.5. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture and Haptoglobin (Hp), Serum Amyloid A (SAA), Total Proteins, Albumin and White Blood Cells (WBC) were determined. Oneway ANOVA showed a statistical significance on Rumen pH, Hp, SAA. SARA seems not stimulate the APPs production from liver.

Preliminary study on metabolic profile of pregnant and non‐pregnant ewes with high or low degree of behavioral lateralization

To evaluate the metabolic profile of pregnant and non-pregnant ewes with high or low degree of behavioral lateralization, we used 57 clinically healthy Sardinian ewes. They were divided into three groups: Group A (nonpregnant ewes), Group B (pregnant ewes with one fetus) and Group C (pregnant ewes with twin fetuses). Using behavioral tests, in all groups lateralization was established and ewes were distinguished into ewes with high and low level of lateralization. Every 30 days for 4 months (at 35, 76, 103 and 145 days of gestation), blood samples were collected and total cholesterol, triglycerides, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), glucose, insulin, creatinine, urea, uric acid, total protein, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), γ-glutamine transferase (γ-GT), β-hydroxybutyrate (β-OHB), chloride (Cl), potassium (K), sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) were assessed. The repeated measures multifactor analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed statistical differences of time, pregnancy and degree of lateralization on some studied parameters. These results confirm that pregnancy represents a very important metabolic moment and show the effect of the degree of behavioral lateralization on the assessment of metabolic parameters in non-pregnant and pregnant ewes. Further studies are necessary to value the influence of these factors on other parameters such as hematological parameters and hormones.

Effect of a Glucose Load on Some Biochemical Parameters in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Ewes

Abstract Morgante, M., Gianesella, M., Casella, S., Stelletta, C., Cannizzo, C., Giudice, E. and Piccione, G. 2010. Effect of a glucose load on some biochemical parameters in pregnant and non pregnant ewes. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 37: 109–112. To evaluate the effect of a glucose load on some biochemical parameters 5 each of pregnant (with single or twin foetus) and nonpregnant clinically healthy and well-fed Sardinian ewes were used. The concentration of glucose, total protein, total cholesterol, triglycerides and urea was assessed 15 min before and 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 240 min after glucose infusion. There was significant effect of time after glucose infusion on glucose and triglycerides and a significant effect of pregnancy after glucose infusion on all parameters studied. In conclusion, these results showed glucose as an important direct controller of metabolic interactions in normal subjects and of metabolic responses in pregnant ewes.

Influence of lamb presence on daily rhythm in lactating ewes

Abstract To determine the influence of lamb presence on the dairy ewes circadian system we monitored simultaneously 16 different parameters (insulin, glucose, total protein, urea, cholesterol, triglycerides, total bilirubine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, rectal temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate). Sixteen clinically healthy Sarda breed dairy ewes, divided into two groups, group A with their lambs and group B without their lambs, were used. Data collection was done at 3 hourly intervals over a 24-h period. Our results indicate that lamb presence influences ewes metabolism, inducing modifications of the acrophase and robustness of the rhythm of some physiological variables. Most variables lost the rhythmicity that they show in not pregnant and not lactating ewes. Lamb presence also influenced urea circadian rhythm: the time of urea peak was shifted from 16:00 to 12:24±00:35 when ewes were housed with lambs, and on triglycerides circadian rhythm.