Emad Mohammed Samara

Subsequent influences of feeding intact green seaweed Ulva lactuca to growing lambs on the seminal and testicular characteristics in rams1

The present experiment was designed to investigate the subsequent influences of supplementing different levels of intact green seaweed Ulva lactuca (0%, 3%, and 5% DM) to growing sexually immature lambs during the growth period (74 d) on the seminal and testicular characteristics of sexually mature rams. Ulva lactuca was manually collected, adequately prepared, and then incorporated into lambs diets. Eighteen male 3-mo-old lambs of the Awassi breed with a mean BW of 22.57 kg (SD = 1.08) were randomly assigned into treatments. The obtained results indicate that offering Ulva lactuca at the level of 3% or 5% DM to lambs during the growth period had no subsequent impacts (P > 0.05) on liver and kidney functions as well as blood water balance in rams, thereby suggesting that Ulva lactuca can be safely supplemented to lambs during growing. However, our findings point out that feeding a lamb diet supplemented with intact Ulva lactuca failed to demonstrate any subsequent benefit (P > 0.05) on the growth performance, thermoregulatory responses, and plasma oxidative status in rams. Above all, it was clearly evident that supplementing intact Ulva lactuca to lambs had demonstrated subsequent negative influences (P < 0.05) on seminal and testicular characteristics of rams, more noticeably observed at the 5% DM inclusion rate than at 3%. These results were manifested by the inferior (P < 0.05) seminal quality, reduced (P < 0.05) testicular morphometry, changes (P < 0.05) in testicular histopathology, defective (P < 0.05) endocrine signaling, and increased (P < 0.05) seminal oxidative stress in rams fed diets supplemented with Ulva lactuca during the growth period compared to control rams. The deleterious impacts of feeding intact Ulva lactuca on spermatogenesis and germ cell loss were proven to be attributed to the dysfunction of Sertoli cells. Collectively, these results provide novel insights on the subsequent influences of dietary supplementation of intact Ulva lactuca to lambs. The consistent evidence of profound negative impacts on seminal and testicular characteristics as well as the resulting data of no improvement of subsequent growth, thermoregulation, and plasma oxidative status in rams prompts us to tentatively recommend the avoidance of feeding intact Ulva lactuca to lambs.

A proposal of linear assessment scheme for the udder of dairy camels (Camelus dromedarius L.).

Digital images from the left side of the mammary gland of 146 multiparous lactating dromedary camels in mid lactation and managed under intensive conditions were obtained immediately before milking and used to build up a reference scheme for the morphological evaluation of camel mammary glands. A 5-point linear scoring scheme (with 0.5-point accuracy) was subsequently generated based on five mammary traits (udder, depth and floor inclination, teats, shape, length, and width). Results showed that Arabian dairy camels had voluminous udders with large-sized teats. Most common udder shape was globular (47.3xa0%), followed by the pear (34.3xa0%) and pendulous (18.4xa0%) shapes. Conical- or funnel-shaped teats (60.9xa0%) were the most frequent, followed by cylindrical- (29.5xa0%) and blew-up (9.6xa0%)-shaped teats. The observed variation in the udder and teat measurements, as well as in typology, attested that dromedary camels need especially large milking clusters to improve their machine milkability. Assessment of the previously indicated digital images according to the proposed linear scoring scheme, performed by 3 independent operators showed that the overall means were close to 3.00 points (values between 2.45 and 3.62), and the standard deviations were close to 0.76 points (values between 0.58 and 0.94). Moderate repeatability between operators (ru2009>u20090.69) was obtained for udder depth and floor inclination, indicating that training of operators, as well as improvements in the definition of traits should be considered in future studies. Further research is needed to validate the proposed linear scoring system in different stages of lactation and parities using a large number of camels.

Influence of dietary chromium yeast supplementation on apparent trace elements metabolism in growing camel (Camelus dromedarius) reared under hot summer conditions

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary chromium (Cr) supplementation on the apparent metabolism of some trace elements in camel calves reared under hot summer conditions. The study was conducted on a total of 15 male camel calves (5–6xa0months old) reared under hot summer conditions for 12xa0weeks. The animals were housed individually under shelter and divided into three dietary treatment groups (diets supplemented with 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0xa0mg Cr/kg DM), five animals each. At the end of the study, a metabolic trial was conducted on all camels for the evaluation of trace elements metabolism. Cr excretion, absorption, and retention showed an increasing trend with the increasing level of dietary Cr supplementation. Dietary Cr supplementation at 0.5xa0mg Cr/kg DM to camel calves resulted in a significant (Pxa0<xa00.05) increase in Cu and an increasing trend in Zn and Mn excretion via urine and feces. However, Fe retention increased significantly (Pxa0<xa00.05) in camel calves fed on diet supplemented with Cr. Dietary Cr supplementation to camel calves resulted in an increasing trend of plasma Cr concentration, while plasma concentration of Cu and Zn tended to decrease and without any effect on plasma Fe concentration. The results of the present study suggests that care should be taken for the negative interaction of Cr with the utilization of other trace elements, in cases where Cr is supplemented to the diet as a feed additive to promote growth and immunity under hot climatic conditions.

Can feed supplementation of the refined vegetable oils enhance the seminal quality of rabbit bucks (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Exploring new feeding strategies are a necessary aspect for improving the reproductive performance in rabbits. Twenty healthy rabbit bucks with a mean live body weight of 1.01 kg (SD = 0.12) and age of 6 months old were used for a period of 17 weeks to examine the influence of feeding soybean and sunflower oils on their reproductive performance. Rabbits were randomly assigned into 4 groups (5 bucks/group), where bucks in the 1st group, served as a control, were fed for 14 weeks on a standard ration without any oil supplementation, while bucks in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th groups received -on the basis of the inclusion ratea ration supplemented with 3% soybean oil, 3% sunflower oil, and 1.5% soybean oil plus 1.5% sunflower oil, respectively. Climatic, bio-physiological, blood and seminal measurements were all been determined. The obtained results suggested that offering rations supplemented with soybean and/or sunflower oils at the level of 3% of DM to rabbit bucks had no impacts on their health status, based on the findings that feed conversion ratio, blood hematology as well as liver and kidney functions were all not altered; thereby, indicating that the refined vegetable oils can be safely supplemented into rabbits rations. Most importantly, the collected evidences proposed that supplementing vegetable oil-enriched rations to rabbit bucks during their adulthood may demonstrate subsequent positive influences on their reproductive characteristics as early as the 3rd/4th week after feeding on such oils. This was generally manifested by the higher (P < 0.05) sperm concentration, total sperm output, percentage of motile sperms, as well as the lower (P < 0.05) percentages of dead and altered acrosomal sperms that observed in bucks compared to their control twins. Based on the obtained results herein, feeding rations supplemented with soybean and/or sunflower oils at the level of 3% of DM to rabbit bucks during their adulthood would produced an acceptable semen quality compared to the control bucks. Research dealing with such aspect may improve our understanding of the nutritional requirements and production of rabbits. However, further researches are definitely imperative because of the number of bucks per group was considerably low in the current experiment.

Assessment of heat tolerance and production performance of Aardi, Damascus, and their crossbred goats

The question of whether the adaptability and production performance in goats may be enhanced using a crossbreeding program between bucks of a native and heat-tolerant breed and does of an exotic and dual-purpose breed was approached and examined herein by comparing purebred Aardi and Damascus goats and their crossbred lines (i.e., 1/2 Aardi 1/2 Damascus (½A½D) and 1/4 Aardi 3/4 Damascus (¼A¾D)) reared in a region characterized by dry and hot bioclimatic conditions. Twenty-four male 6-month-old kids randomly segregated into four groups (six replicates/group) were used for the experiment. Climatic, thermo-physiological, biophysiological, metabolic, blood hematological, and biochemical measurements were all determined. The obtained results indicated that such a program was proven to be successful. This conclusion was demonstrated by the findings that crossbred goats (i.e., 1/2A1/2D and 1/4A3/4D) under such bioclimatic conditions were able to show (Pu2009<u20090.05) higher heat tolerance capabilities compared to purebred Damascus goats as well as manifested (Pu2009<u20090.05) higher production performance compared to the purebred Aardi goats. Accordingly, these evidences could emphasize that the crossbreeding may enable these animals to display a simultaneous improvement of both traits by the possible benefits that could arise from heterosis and breed complementarity. Researches dealing with this aspect may very well improve our understanding of goat’s production and welfare under harsh environmental conditions. Future studies should include an economic analysis of traits that have the potential to impact the overall profitability to a vertically coordinated system.