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Awassi dairy sheep farmers in the Middle East are facing high feed costs, particularly during the milk production season, along with large fluctuation in grain and straw prices. Incorporating agro-industrial byproducts into the diet of Awassi dairy sheep can help to balance diets and decrease costs. But it may affect milk quality through changes in the fatty acid profile. Six experimental diets were compared to a control diet in the research station of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Tal Hadya, Syria. Milking Awassi ewes (n = 56) were used to test six experimental diets, in which supplements comprised molasses, sugar beet pulp, or cotton seed cake to a traditional control diet contained barley, wheat bran, and barley straw. Milk samples were collected on a weekly basis from April to June. The daily milk production and fat content were enhanced in diets containing urea-treated wheat straw (P

The objective of the study was to assess the effect of fresh bergamot pulp in lactating goat diets to determine its effects on milk and suckling kid fatty acid composition. Eighteen pregnant does were randomly assigned to two groups of two different diets: alfalfa hay (1 kg/head/day), supplemented with commercial concentrate (1 kg/head/day–Control diet) or the same concetrate (700 g/head/day) supplemented with fresh bergamot pulp (2 kg/head/day–FBP diet). Kids were reared in individual pens and fed on their mother’s milk. At 45 days of age, kids were slaughtered. Rumenic acid was higher in milk and in meat from animals from FBP group than Control one (P

Productive performance, rumen fermentation and oxidative status of sheep fed diets supplemented with coffee pulp ensiled with 5% molasses were evaluated. Thirty-four Blackbelly cross-breed sheep, 6 months old, mean weight 21.2 ± 0.63 kg, were assigned to three treatments T0: control treatment ( n = 11), T1: treatment with 8% coffee pulp in the diet ( n = 12), and T2: treatment with 16% coffee pulp in the diet ( n = 11). Coffee pulp at the levels evaluated did not affect daily weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ( P > 0.05). However, water intake, acetic acid, butyric acid, and total volatile fatty acids significantly increased ( P P > 0.05) were observed in the antioxidant capacity of the sheep's plasma; however, lipid peroxidation was lower for sheep fed with 16% coffee pulp. The present study concluded that a supplemented sheep diet with coffee pulp up to 16% coffee pulp did not affect their productive parameters but reduced oxidative stress.

The objective of this paper was to assess the plasma antioxidant status ewes under high ambient temperature fed seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum (AG), flaxseed (FS) and their combination (FS + AG) measured by the Antioxidant/Oxidant Balance (AOB). The experiment lasted 30 day and involved thirty-two late-lactation Comisana ewes, divided into four balanced groups of eight each, and exposed to high ambient temperature. The ewes in each group were individually fed twice daily and received 1.8 kg per day of oat hay. Results showed that ewes fed the combination of flaxseed and A. nodosum displayed the highest AOB value at day 30 of high ambient temperature exposure; moreover, they displayed lower rectal temperature than ewes fed A. nodosum alone, and lower concentrations of heat shock protein 70. These data demonstrated that supplementation of diet with A. nodosum in combination with flaxseed can protect ewes from the excessive oxidative imbalance caused by high ambient temperature.

The present paper outlines ways of non-surgical collection and semi-laparoscopic transfer of caprine embryos. Two different ways of embryo cryo-preservation by way of vitrification are described; the open pulled straw (OPS) procedure, known to be well suited and the solid surface procedure called for in situations where contact between embryos and non-sterile liquid nitrogen is to be avoided. Based on 13 transfers of OPS-vitrified and 9 transfers of solid surface-vitrified blastocysts (2 blastocysts/recipient) it was shown that either procedure is applicable (54% vs. 56% pregnancy- and 39% vs. 44% kidding rate). Furthermore the experiment showed that warming of vitrified embryos may be accomplished by one-step procedure (88% transferable post-warming embryos), opening up the possibility to transfer vitrified embryos under field conditions.

The Red Maasai are indigenous sheep breeds known for their adaptability in arid and semi-arid environments while the Dorper is known for its good mutton production. A field experiment cross breeding program for the two breeds was set up in 2003 to exploit these traits. In this paper, we present the genetic parameters for birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT) and weight at nine months (MWT) for pure Red Maasai (RRRR), pure Dorper (DDDD), 75% Dorper (DDDR) and 50% Dorper (DDRR) breeds. The genetic parameters were estimated by fitting four different multivariate animal models while ignoring or including maternal effects. The model with the lowest Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) was chosen as the best model for the estimation of genetic parameters. The average annual genetic gain of the studied traits for each breed group was estimated by regressing the estimated breeding values on year of birth. Records from 5442 lambs recorded over a period of 17 years (2003-2019) were used in this analysis. The breed group, sex, type of birth, season of birth and age of the dam significantly (P

Even though mohair production in Argentina is well known, data about fibre production from double-coated regional native goats—generically referred to as Patagonian Cashmere-remains scarce. The aim of this paper was to determine the production of down fibres and to assess the quality and variability of the fleece characteristics of the Northern Patagonian Creole goats. From late winter to early spring of 2005–2008, 2397 fibre samples were collected from five areas of NW Neuquen in Northern Patagonia. The average of down fibre diameter (DFD), down fibre length (DFL), down weights (DW) yields to dehairing (Y%), ratio of coarse fibre length (CFL) on down fibre length (DFL) (R:CFL/DFL), crimp/cm and the degree of curvature (C°) of the fibre were measured. For DFD an average of 20.4 ± 3.6 μm, DFL of 7.9 ± 3.2 cm and C° of 38.1 ± 5.8°/mm, a Y% of 32.5 ± 13.9% and a DW of 255.7 ± 66.0 g were obtained. In an attempt to reduce the variability of the fibre variables studied, locality, herds, age, fleece types and fineness were included as external effects in ANOVA. All the variables measured were greatly affected by style: long cashmere (LC) was the most frequent style (41.5%) followed by cashgora (CG) (22.2%). The most common grade of fineness (57.5%) was >19.0 μm, indicating that 42.5% of the fibre was below 19 μm in DFD. The other variables were significantly different within LC, short cashmere (SC) and intermediate cashmere (IC) styles when the grade of fineness was compared. The styles with lustre effect (CG and L) showed very low crimp as compared to the other styles. Taking styles as numerical, a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) was calculated with numerical grade of fineness (rs = 0.45), DFD (rs = 0.58), DFL (rs = 0.56) Y% (rs = 0.61), R: CFL/DFL (rs = −0.60); DW (rs = 0.56); C°/mm (rs = −0.27). It was concluded that the classification by styles and fineness could determine more than 42% of fleece complies with the cashmere textile industry requirements.

Suffolk breed is known to display a clear seasonal reproductive response orchestrated by the significant annual variation in photoperiod related to its latitude of origin. However, in the low latitudes of the tropical and subtropical environments the magnitude and timing of these responses in Suffolk rams has been poorly investigated. This study aimed to quantify changes on andrological parameters in Suffolk rams kept under natural light/dark cycle and climate in the south of Brazil (25°25′40′′ S, 49°16′23′′ W). Rams were monitored during 1 year for testicular size, seminal parameters and serum testosterone. From autumn to winter, under shortening daylength, rams underwent a significant gonadal involution. Testicular size increased in spring and reached a peak in summer, similar to the latitude of which this breed originates. Parallel to scrotal circumference, other parameters such as testicular volume, serum testosterone concentration, ejaculate volume and sperm concentration followed a seasonal profile. Testosterone levels followed the same seasonal pattern as testicular size. Ejaculate volume was significantly lower during autumn and winter and higher values of sperm concentration were detected in spring. Furthermore, there were no significant changes in spermatozoa defects, motility, weave motion or vigor between seasons. In this paper we analyze the impact of seasonality over testis function in Suffolk rams at lower latitudes.