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Graphical abstract Abstract Colostrum is essential to guarantee normal and healthy feeding in newborn ruminants during the first hours. In the present work, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), as a spectrochemical analytical technique, and principal component analysis (PCA) as a multivariate analysis method were used to evaluate colostrum compared to mature milk of sheep to plan the nutritional strategies for newly born lambs. Samples of colostrum have been collected from thirty-three Barki ewes. The sheep were milked every 12 h three times after birth, the fourth sample of mature milk is taken from milking in the 7th day postpartum. The spectrochemical analytical results depicted that the intensities of CN and C 2 spectral bands, and C 247.86 nm atomic line (as an indicator for protein content in LIBS spectra) are higher in colostrum than that in milk. This relationship has been confirmed by measuring the total protein in the same samples conventionally. The relation between calcium and protein percentage has also been demonstrated. Moreover, it has been shown that the higher is the CN bands' intensity the lower is the bacteria count in colostrum samples, owing to the high levels of lactoferrin with its antibacterial effect. The qualitative analysis of LIBS data using PCA led to a pronounced discrimination between colostrum and mature milk. The present study demonstrates that it is, in principle, possible to make use of the analytical and chemometric results in dairy farms to evaluate sheep colostrum to manage the nutritional strategies for the lambs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work sheep colostrum and milk at different milking times postpartum were qualitatively evaluated using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). First and second milking samples showed higher fluorescence intensity compared with the subsequent milking samples. Such increase in the fluorescence intensity in first and second milking samples can be interpreted in view of the presence of high levels of immunoglobulins (IgG) and lactoferrin in the colostrum. The LIF results have been confirmed by the quantitative evaluation of the IgG in the same samples adopting the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as validation technique and a very good agreement has been obtained. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the obtained data led to the conclusion that the fluorescence band from 475 nm to 560 nm is strongly connected to changes during milking time from colostrum to milk. The fluorescence band is linked to changes in the concentration of proteins (IgG, lactoferrin) from colostrum to milk. According to the presented results, LIF spectroscopy can be used as a reliable, accurate, and fast method for real time and in situ evaluation of sheep colostrum. LIF coupled with the chemometric analysis of the data can be utilized in designing feeding strategies for newly born lambs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The overall objective of this paper is to develop a more sensitive and less costly technique of laser irradiation of spermatozoa at certain wavelengths and exposure times suitable for improvement of buffalo semen quality. A 532 nm continuous wave (CW) DPSS laser light has been used to irradiate buffalo semen for different time intervals. Three semen pools from three different bulls (Bubalus bubalis) were used in the experiment, each pool was divided into six groups : control (not irradiated), and the other five were exposed to laser light for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 minutes with fluencies of 0.076, 0.15, 0.23, 0.31, and 0.38 Joule/cm2 respectively at an output power 1mW. The results show that the semen quality parameters increase under the effect of laser irradiation. Maximum improvement in the semen quality has been reached after 4 minutes of exposure. Such results indicate the possibility of adopting laser irradiation as an easy and straightforward technique for in situ improvement of the semen quality to optimize the artificial insemination conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]