Humate may be a valuable livestock feed additive, with potential effects on nutrient utilisation and animal performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of K Humate S 100R supplementation on the feed intake, liveweight gain, and carcass parameters of Angus steers. Within individual pens, 40 weaned steers were allocated to four treatment groups (n = 10/potassium humate K Humate S100R, Omnia Specialities Australia) for 100 days. The treatment groups included Group 1, 35 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; Group 2, 70 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; Group 3, 140 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; and Control Group, which were not supplemented with K Humate S100R (0 g K Humate S100R/animal/day). Chemical and mineral composition of the feed ingredients, dry matter intake (DMI), and average daily weight gains were recorded. The steers were slaughtered as a single group at a commercial Australian abattoir. Standard measures for hot standard carcass weight, eye muscle area, fat depth and coverage, marbling, ossification, meat and fat colour, dressing percentage and loin pH values at 24-hour postmortem were recorded. It was found that the steers allocated to Group 2 had higher DMI (P = 0.003) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.001) compared with those allocated to Group 1 and the Control Group. The MSA marbling score was lowest for steers allocated to the Control Group (P < 0.05) and comparable for those allocated to Groups 1, 2, and 3. Together, these results demonstrate that increased levels of K Humate S100R supplementation improved the carcass quality, via an increase in MSA. However, further research is warranted on the potential effects of humates supplementation on intramuscular fat associated qualities of beef.

Bovine progressive ataxia in Charolais cattle was first described in the 1970s; then, cases were reported in Charolais worldwide. A homozygous loss-of-function mutation within the KIF1C gene (c.608G>A) was found to be responsible for this neurodegenerative disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether the mutated KIF1C allele segregates in the German Charolais population and whether the estimated breeding values for growth and muscle conformation are associated with the mutated genotypes. Genetic test results of the KIF1C:c.608G>A variant were available for 1315 Charolais cattle from 35 herds located in Germany. In addition, 324 samples from eight other beef cattle breeds were tested for the mutated KIF1C allele. We were able to demonstrate that the KIF1C mutation is common, with a frequency of 11.75% in the German Charolais population. All but two of the eight (2/8 = 25%) homozygous mutated individuals showed clinical signs consistent with progressive ataxia. The estimated breeding values of muscle conformation in 200- and 365-day-old animals indicated a significant superiority for homozygous mutated animals when compared either with heterozygous or homozygous wild-type genotypes; this was also the case for heterozygous genotypes in comparison with homozygous wild-type genotypes. For the estimated breeding values of daily weight gain in 200- and 365-day-old animals, the significant differences between homozygous mutated and heterozygous or wild-type genotypes were in favour of the homozygous mutant animals. There were no differences in the estimated maternal breeding values among all three KIF1C genotypes. For the first time, two German Angus cattle carrying the KIF1C mutation heterozygous were detected. The breeders\' survey highlighted that increased awareness would facilitate increased conviction among breeders of the need for genetic testing in order to eliminate the lethal KIF1C allele.

This study provides estimates on genetic parameters, inbreeding depression and purging for meat performance measures from 25 German sheep breeds. All German meat, merino sheep breeds and breeds of other breeding directions with a sufficient number of pedigree and performance data were included in this study. Phenotypic traits retrieved from the national database OviCap were evaluated: daily weight gain, meatiness score and ultrasound measurements for muscle and fat thickness. We employed animal models to estimate heritability, variance and covariance components for these meat performance traits as well as inbreeding depression and purging. The heritabilities, on average, reached estimates of 0.55, 0.34, 0.53 and 0.61 for daily weight gain, meatiness score and ultrasound measurements for muscle and fat thickness, respectively. We estimated the linear regression slopes for the individual rate of inbreeding, new and ancestral inbreeding, as well as the inbreeding coefficient and its interaction with the inbreeding coefficient of Ballou, employing animal models with non-genetic effects and the additive genetic effect of the animal. Across all breeds, inbreeding was only significant for daily weight gain, whereas for all other traits, estimates were not significant. Within sheep breeds, we found significant inbreeding depression for daily weight gain in German Mutton Merino and German Blackheaded Mutton as well as for the meatiness score in German Whiteheaded Mutton. Significant effects for purging, based on ancestral inbreeding and the interaction effect of the classical inbreeding coefficient with the inbreeding coefficient of Ballou, were not obvious either across or within any sheep breed. A 1% increase in inbreeding significantly decreased the phenotypic trait median of daily weight gain across all sheep breeds by 0.50% and 0.70% of phenotypic and genetic standard deviation, respectively. Purging effects due to ancestral inbreeding were not significant in any breed or across breeds. The results of this study may indicate that inbreeding depression may be more harmful in traits under stronger selection than in traits that exert low selection pressure. The results of this study demonstrate the different effects that result in meat performance traits due to inbreeding. With increasing rates of inbreeding and critical effective population sizes, selection intensity for breeding objectives has to be critically reviewed for each sheep breed. Inbreeding depression and purging should be evaluated in order to prevent a decrease in trait means due to inbreeding and to determine whether detrimental alleles are eliminated.

This study was conducted with the aim of determining the growth characteristics and survival rate of Karacabey Merino lambs, as well as the non-genetic factors affecting these traits. The study included data from a total of 17659 lambs and 12263 ewes raised in 30 herds between the years 2011 and 2016 as part of the National Sheep and Goat Improvement Project. The average birth weight of the lambs was determined as 3.73±0.05 kg, the average 45th day live weight was 18.43±0.58 kg, the average weaning (average 91.8 days) weight was 31.83±0.24 kg, and the average daily live weight gain until weaning was 289.1±3.91 g. The average survival rate of lambs at weaning was calculated to be 95.67% ± 1.15. The effects of the factors herd, birth year, birth type, birth season and sex were found significant for all traits (p<0.01). It was established that the mortality rate in lambs in large herds was higher during 6 years in which the project was carried out. Due to the high twinning rate in large herds, the number of lambs per worker is increased, and as a result, they cannot be adequately cared for. For this reason, large farms may be encouraged to increase workmanship services in addition to being provided with protective health practices for lambs throughout the birth period. On the other hand, it was determined that the twinning rate was low in small farms. On farms with fewer sheep populations, it may be advised to flush or administer exogenous hormone treatments to ewes in order to increase fertility and help them bear twins.

A quasiexperimental field study was undertaken in 576 exclusively breastfed (EBF) infants from 0 to 14 weeks in Gujarat, India to assess the effect of the use of appropriate breastfeeding techniques on daily weight gain rate and on reducing the underweight rate in early infancy. The interventions were delivered through the existing health system and focused primarily on counselling pregnant women during antenatal and post-natal sessions for ensuring \'effective breastfeeding\' by adoption of the technique of \'cross cradle hold\', appropriate breast attachment, emptying of one breast before shifting to the other along with conducting regular monitoring of infant\'s weight. The intervention care group (ICG) of 300 EBF infants were compared with 276 EBF infants in the control standard care group (SCG). The findings revealed that median weight gain per day between 0 and 14 weeks was significantly higher (p = 0.000) in ICG (32.7 g) as compared with SCG (28.05 g). The median weight-for-age Z at 14 weeks of age was also significantly higher in ICG compared with SCG (p = 0.000). Underweight prevalence was three times lower in ICG (5.3%) compared with SCG (16.7%) at 14 weeks of age. Infants in the ICG were noted to be 2.65-fold more likely to achieve a weight gain of 30 g or more per day compared with infants in SCG. Nutrition interventions, therefore, must aim not only on mere promotion of EBF for up to 6 months but stress on ensuring EBF is \'effective\' for optimum transfer of breastmilk through adoption of appropriate techniques, including cross-cradle hold, by mothers.

The yak has a unique physiological structure suited to life in anoxic and cold environments at high altitudes. The aim of this study was to isolate Bacillus species with good probiotic properties from yak feces. A series of tests were performed on the isolated Bacillus: 16S rRNA identification, antibacterial activity, tolerance to gastroenteric fluid, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, antibiotic sensitivity, growth performance, antioxidants, and immune indexes. A safe and harmless Bacillus pumilus DX24 strain with good survival rate, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, and antibacterial activity was identified in the yak feces. Feeding mice with Bacillus pumilus DX24 increased their daily weight gain, jejunal villus length, villi/Crypt ratio, blood IgG levels, and jejunum sIgA levels. This study confirmed the probiotic effects of Bacillus pumilus isolated from yak feces and provides the theoretical basis for the clinical application and development of new feed additives.

Molecular breeding can accelerate the process of animal breeding and improve the breeding efficiency. To date, many Indel molecular markers have been identified in livestock and poultry, but how Indels affect economic traits is not well understood. For molecular breeding, it is crucial to reveal the mechanism of action of Indels and to provide more accurate information. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the 52/224-bp multiallelic Indels of the chicken QPCTL promoter area affect the daily weight gain of chickens and the potential regulatory mechanism of the QPCTL gene. The analysis was conducted by association analysis, qPCR, dual-fluorescence assay and Western blotting. The results showed that Indels in the QPCTL promoter region were significantly associated with the daily weight gain in chickens and that QPCTL expression showed a decreasing trend in embryonic breast muscle tissues. Furthermore, QPCTL expression was significantly higher in breast muscle tissues of the AC genotype than in those of the AB and BB genotypes. Based on the transcriptional activity results, the pGL3-C vector produced more luciferase activity than pGL3-A and pGL3-B. In addition, overexpression of QPCTL promoted chicken primary myoblast (CPM) proliferation and inhibited differentiation. The results of this study suggest that Indels in the promoter region of the QPCTL gene may regulate the proliferation and differentiation of CPMs by affecting the expression of QPCTL, which ultimately affects the growth rate of chickens. These Indels have important value for the molecular breeding of chickens, and QPCTL can be used as a candidate gene to regulate and improve chicken growth and development.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of substitution of siris foliage with alfalfa forage in the diet of fattening lambs on digestibility, fermentation, and growth performance of fattening lambs. In the present experiment, 27 8-month-old Arabi lambs (31.3 ± 6) with an initial weight of 28.8 ± 1.99 kg were used in a completely randomized design. The effect of experimental diets on dry matter intake was not significant; however, the diets had a significant effect on the intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and crude protein (P < 0.05). The effect of experimental diets on the apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, NDF, ADF, and crude protein was not significant (P < 0.05). Ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH, and a total population of ruminal fluid protozoa and blood parameters were not affected by experimental diets. Parameters of fattening performance such as feed intake, live weight changes, feed conversion ratio, some carcass traits such as mean weight and size of carcass parts, and colorimetric indices of muscle tissue in the order of fattening lambs were not affected by experimental diets. The use of foliage of siris in the diet of fattening lambs as a substitute with part of alfalfa had no adverse effect on the characteristics studied in the present experiment. Therefore, siris be recommended as part of the diet of fattening lambs.

Although there have been many genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and selective sweep analyses to understand pig genomic regions related to growth performance, these methods considered only the gene effect and selection signal, respectively. In this study, we suggest the cross-population phenotype associated variant (XP-PAV) analysis as a novel method to determine the genomic variants with different effects between the two populations. XP-PAV analysis could reveal the differential genetic variants between the two populations by considering the gene effect and selection signal simultaneously. In this study, we used daily weight gain (DWG) and back fat thickness (BF) as phenotypes and the Landrace and Yorkshire populations were used for XP-PAV analysis. The main aim was to reveal the differential selection by considering the gene effect between Landrace and Yorkshire pigs. In the gene ontology analysis of XP-PAV results, differential selective genes in DWG analysis were involved in the regulation of interleukin-2 production and cell cycle G2/M transition. The protein modification and glycerophospholipid biosynthetic processes were the most enriched terms in the BF analysis. Therefore, we could identify genetic differences for immune and several metabolic pathways between Landrace and Yorkshire breeds using the XP-PAV analysis. In this study, we expect that XP-PAV analysis will play a role in determining useful selective variants with gene effects and provide a new interpretation of the genetic differences between the two populations.

This study aimed to develop an adaptability score (AS) for chicken strains, which includes behavioral, plumage conditions, and body lesion indicators through a multifactorial approach. A total of 600 male chickens from 6 poultry genotypes-Ranger Classic (R1), Ranger Gold (R2), Rowan Ranger (R3), Hubbard Red JA (A), CY Gen 5 × JA87 (CY), and M22 × JA87 (M)-were reared under organic conditions, fed ad libitum, and individually weighed weekly to calculate the daily weight gain (DWG). The behavioral observations consisted of the explorative attitude (EA), recorded at 21 days, and the behavioral patterns (BPs) recorded the week before the slaughter. The AS was established by a principal component analysis, and the AS of these genotypes was compared. Moreover, the effect of DWG and genotype on the AS was evaluated by univariable and multivariable regression models. Although the DWG and genotype were strictly dependent, genotype was the most important factor affecting the AS. In fact, its effect was significant both in univariable (p < 0.001) and multivariable models (p < 0.001). Conversely, the DWG was significant only in the univariable and lost significance when the effect of genotype was introduced in the model.