Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-05-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:43:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 itavo_ccbf_dr_botfmvz.pdf: 222398 bytes, checksum: 1ea0ac32963111f791dbe3a63abd60b7 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / Objetivou-se avaliar os efeitos dos aditivos própolis verde, própolis marrom e monensina sódica sobre o comportamento ingestivo, consumo de matéria seca e fibra em detergente neutro e desempenho produtivo de cordeiros terminados em confinamento. Foram utilizados 32 cordeiros, machos, sem raça definida, com oito animais por tratamento. O confinamento teve duração de 64 dias, no qual utilizou-se dieta com relação volumoso:concentrado de 50:50, a base de feno de capim-Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp.) e concentrado comercial. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos ao acaso, pelo critério de peso, e os animais distribuídos aleatoriamente entre os tratamentos: (1) controle, dieta sem aditivo; (2) própolis verde, (3) própolis marrom e (4) monensina sódica. Para ruminação e ócio, houve efeito de tratamento, com menor tempo de ruminação e maior de ócio, no tratamento própolis verde. Os cordeiros apresentaram semelhante eficiência de alimentação. Os consumos de matéria seca e fibra em detergente neutro, em porcentagem do peso vivo e em g/kg de peso metabólico, foram maiores para tratamento controle. Os valores de ganho de peso foram superiores para tratamentos controle; entretanto, a conversão e eficiência alimentar foram superiores para própolis marrom e monensina sódica. Tecnicamente, a própolis marrom pode ser utilizada como aditivo alimentar em substituição a monensina sódica em dietas para ovinos confinados. Mais estudos são necessários para identificação dos melhores níveis de inclusão de própolis marrom como aditivo alimentar para ovinos. / It was aimed at to evaluate the effects of the additive green propolis, brown propolis and sodic monensin about the ingestive behavior, dry matter and neutral detergent fiber intake and productive performance of lambs finishing in feedlot. It were used 32 lambs, males, without defined breed, with eight animal per treatment. The feedlot had duration of 64 days, in which a diet was used with roughage:concentrate relation of 50:50, with grass-Tifton 85 hay (Cynodon spp.) and commercial concentrate. The experimental design was blocks at random, by the weight, and the animals were distribuited among the treatments: (1) control, diet without additive; (2) green propolis, (3) brown propolis and (4) sodic monensin. For the activities rumination and idle, there was treatment effect, with minor spent time for rumination and major for idle to the green propolis. The lambs presented the same feeding efficiency. The dry matter and neutral detergent fiber intakes, in % BW and BW0.75, differed with major values presented by control diets. The weight gain were highest for the animals fed to control diets, however feeding conversion and efficiency values were superior for the brown propolis and sodic monensin. Technically, the brown propolis can be used like additive in substitution of sodic monensin in the diet of sheep in feedlot. More research is necessary to identification of best level of brown propolis as additive in the diets for sheep.

The increased public interest in the welfare of animals used in food production has led to the emergence of welfare assessment schemes for a range of livestock species. There are currently over 100 million sheep in the EU which are primarily bred for milk, meat and wool production and the majority of these animals are managed extensively. The general perception of sheep in extensive systems living “natural lives” with few welfare compromises, along with the practical challenges of adequately assessing their welfare, has caused them to be largely ignored in comparison to other species. It was only relatively recently that the lack of animalbased welfare assessments for extensively kept small ruminants was recognised. Thus, the aim of this project was to evaluate potential animal-based welfare indicators for use during on-farm welfare assessments of extensively managed sheep. The current project used the Welfare Quality® 4 principles and 12 criteria as a foundation for selecting indicators for the assessment of extensively managed sheep. Following a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and a meeting attended by experts from across the EU, 16 indicators were selected for evaluation. Each principle and criteria were covered by at least one of these 16 indicators ensuring the main aspects of sheep welfare were addressed. The indicators selected for investigation could either be applied without handling or gathering the animals during an 'Assessment in the Field', or during a more thorough hands-on 'Assessment at Gather'. The reliability, feasibility and validity of some indicators (e.g. body condition scoring) are already established. However for others (e.g. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment approach), at least one of these criteria required further investigation before the indicator could be accepted. The reliability of selected measures was evaluated by assessing their repeatability and inter-observer agreement. Face validity was assumed for the indicators selected during the expert meeting, and further cross validation was performed when appropriate using additional information collected on the animal’s physical health status. During the Assessments at Gather blood samples were collected for the assessment of metabolic profiles, and faecal samples provided gastro-intestinal parasite counts. The Assessments at Gather were performed on the same 100-135 Scottish Blackface ewes across a two year period (2011-2013) on a Scottish hill farm. The Assessments at Gather occurred five times a year coinciding with key points in the ewes’ reproductive cycle: pre-mating, mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy, mid lactation and weaning. During the assessments data were collected on the ewe’s body condition, coat cleanliness, faecal soiling score, respiratory conditions, anaemia, lameness and udder condition (udders assessed during lactation only). Current stage in the reproductive cycle and seasonality were found to have significant impacts upon the long-term reliability of the following measures: body condition score, tooth loss, nasal discharge and anaemia scores (P < 0.001) with variation both within, and between years. On commercial farms older and less productive ewes tend to be removed from the flock once a year prior to mating. Of the indicators applied to the ewes during the Assessments at Gathers, tooth loss and body condition score were the best predictors for the ewe’s exclusion from the flock, predicting the future removal of a ewe from the flock 12 months in advance of the shepherd’s decision. For the Assessments in the Field, indicators which did not necessitate close contact were required. A whole-animal method (Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) was therefore particularly useful as it can be performed with minimal disturbance. Rather than quantitatively scoring the behaviour patterns of an animal the assessor focusses on how the animal interacts with their environment. This information is translated in to qualitative descriptors such as “calm” or “agitated”. Good interobserver reliability was found when three observers assessed 49 individual ewes on two occasions (W=0.77, P < 0.001). When QBA was applied 13 times to 50 individual ewes over a six-month time period (spanning late pregnancy to post-weaning) four meaningful Principal Components were identified; the first two accounted for more than half of the explained variation between sheep. The two main components were ‘General Mood’ (PC1), describing the overall affective state of the ewe, and ‘Arousal’ (PC2) reflecting energy levels. General Mood scores significantly increased in the post-lambing period compared to pre-lambing observations, and significantly increased again post-weaning (P < 0.001). Ewes were significantly experiencing significantly higher Arousal in post-lambing and post-weaning conditions compared to pre-lambing (P < 0.001), but there was no difference between post-lambing and post-weaning. During the Assessments in the Field data were also collected on: the ewe’s response to human approach, a surprise test, the ewe’s social group size, group demographics and behavioural synchrony. Ewes with lower mood scores tended to have larger distances between them and other ewes (P=0.023). The distance to which a human could approach before the ewe fled was significantly related to Arousal (P=0.05), as ewes in a higher energy state fled from the approaching human sooner than those who were in lower Arousal states. Ewes in social groups with higher numbers of ewe and lamb vocalisations tended to have lower General Mood scores (P=0.014), and lower Arousal scores (P < 0.001) than those in smaller groups. Indicators which met the conditions of feasibility, reliability and validity (for example, those reported above) proved to be suitable for use when assessing the welfare of extensively managed sheep. The effect of time on the reliability of the indicators applied during the assessments have important implications for understanding temporary fluctuations in the animal’s welfare caused by either internal (reproductive state) or external (environmental) factors. These fluctuations may not be representative of a farm’s overall welfare levels in the long term and therefore further careful consideration of the most appropriate time to apply the selected indicators is required.

Until recently it was assumed that the healthy mammalian lung did not harbour a microbiota, unlike other body sites. However, through the use of sequencing based technologies this has been shown to not be the case. Low biomass communities of microbes can be identified in the healthy lung and the lung microbiota in various diseases states has been shown to differ form these 'healthy' communities. The sheep respiratory microbiota is of interest from both an animal health perspective and due to the potential use of the sheep as a large animal model for studying the lung microbiota. In this thesis I seek to characterise the composition and variability of the sheep lung microbiota; the differences between the sheep upper and lower respiratory tract bacterial communities and to assess whether exhaled breath condensate collection can be used as a non-invasive lung microbiota sampling method. To study the bacterial communities present in samples I have used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and analysis. In Chapter 3 I examine the inter-individual and spatial variability present within the sheep lung microbiota. Protected specimen brushings were collected from three lung segments in six animals at three time-points. In a separate sheep a greater number of brushings was taken (n=16) in order to examine the amount of variability over a smaller spatial scale. I find that there can be large differences between the bacterial communities isolated from different locations within the lung, even over short distances. Samples also cluster by the sheep from which they were taken, indicating a host specific influence on the lung microbiota. In Chapter 4 I compare whole lung washes and oropharyngeal swabs from 40 lambs in order to examine the differences between the upper and lower respiratory tract microbiotas. I find that oropharyngeal swabs separate into rumen-like or upper respiratory tract-like bacterial communities. Despite the fact that in humans the upper and lower respiratory microbiotas have been shown to have similar compositions, the sheep lung microbiota samples in this study do not resemble either oropharyngeal samples or reagent only controls. In my first two results chapters, lung sampling methods were used which involved either anaesthesia combined with a bronchoscopic procedure (Chapter 3) or samples being taken from dead animals (Chapter 4). In Chapter 5 I assess whether there is a less invasive way of taking lung microbiota samples from a living individual, both to minimise the procedural stress on animals used as models and to increase the pool of potential volunteers for human lung microbiota studies. I compared samples taken via protected specimen brushings to samples taken via exhaled breath condensate collection, a less invasive sampling technique. I find that condensate samples contain less bacterial DNA and different bacteria than brushing samples, indicating that it is unlikely they could be used as a replacement for invasive sampling methods. In my final results chapter I compare the results across Chapters 3, 4 and 5 to identify bacteria which occur consistently in the sheep lung and could therefore potentially be described as core lung microbiota members. In conclusion, while I have found that there are large differences between the sheep lung microbiota and that which has previously been described in humans, the sheep can still be of use as a model in studies where these differences would not have a significant impact, such as in Chapter 5 of this thesis. I have identified several bacterial members of the core sheep lung microbiota which in future it would be interesting to better characterise and to assess whether they play a role in sheep health.

Recently, oxidative stress has been highlighted as a potential mediator underlying life-history trade-offs in animals. However, despite growing interest in the role of oxidative stress as a mechanistic explanation of trade-offs, the importance of oxidative stress in wild populations remain poorly understood. In this thesis, I use four commonly applied markers of oxidative stress. I apply two markers of oxidative damage, protein carbonyls and malondialdehyde, and two markers of antioxidant protection, superoxide dismutase activity and total antioxidant capacity. These were applied to samples collected in 2010-2013 and 2015 from the wild population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries), St Kilda, Scotland. I investigate correlations among different markers of oxidative stress, and their within individual repeatability over time. In addition, I examine the role played by oxidative stress in mediating life-history traits at different life-stages; specifically, I test for associations between oxidative stress, growth and survival in Soay sheep lambs. I also investigate the oxidative costs of reproduction in adult Soay sheep females and I test whether any such costs vary with age. My findings reveal, firstly, that plasma markers of oxidative stress vary dramatically among years, and that the different markers of oxidative damage and antioxidant protection applied throughout this thesis, are uncorrelated with each other (Chapter 2). This indicates that oxidative stress is a multifaceted process, where each oxidative stress marker may reflect different and potentially uncoupled biochemical processes (Chapter 2). Second, faster lamb growth shows a weak, positive association with malondialdehyde. However, growth is not associated with variation in the other three markers (Chapter 3). In addition, lamb survival also shows marker dependent associations; lambs with higher superoxide dismutase activity are more likely to survive their first winter, as are male but not female lambs with lower protein carbonyl content. Survival does not vary with malondialdehyde or antioxidant capacity. Thus, different markers of oxidative stress capture different aspects of the complex relationships between individual oxidative state, physiology and fitness (Chapter 3). Third, protein carbonyl content and superoxide dismutase activity measured at birth and at four month old in the lambs, show no within individual repeatability, although there is a significant difference in mean marker values over time (Chapter 4). This indicates that these markers of oxidative stress might reflect transient, rather than general, physiological states. Finally, I find some evidence for an oxidative cost of reproduction and for age-related variation in oxidative stress (Chapter 5). However, once again, effect are highly marker and year dependent, and I find no consistent patterns of variation across the two oxidative damage markers or across the two antioxidant protection markers, as they all show different responses to both breeding and age (Chapter 5). Together, my results provide some support for the association between oxidative stress and life-histories, but the effects are both marker and year dependent. Furthermore, the lack of correlation among different markers and the lack of within individual repeatability of oxidative stress markers highlight the need for careful selection and interpretation of plasma oxidative stress markers in the wild.

The results of five experiments are reported as tests of a theory of the growth and feed intake of sheep. An attempt is first made to describe potential growth in the sheep, that is, growth under non-limiting conditions, and to generalise this description across breeds. The two ways of providing non-limiting conditions are then considered. This approach necessarily confronts the problem of predicting the desired intake of feed resources required to fulfill the potential. Whilst ad libitum access to a single,nutrient-rich feed is found an acceptable method, data collected in three experiments, using a total of 64 Suffolk X Greyface lambs, lead to theconclusion that sheep can also attain their potential for growth when given free and continual access to more than one feed, a possible combination of which is non-limiting to growth. It is suggested that the technique may be applied as an independent test of other estimates of resource requirements for growth and to the prediction of feeding behaviour in sheep. The responses of sheep to limiting conditions for growth are studied on the assumption that sheep have rules for partitioning the feed's first limiting resource. The limits to this view are investigated by experiment using 73 Scottish Blackface wethers offered amounts of feed which provide similar crude protein allowances but different yields of energy. It is concluded that the body composition of sheep can be manipulated by nutrition, since the animals will partition scarce energyresources to protein growth before fattening, but that this effect is complicatedin ruminants because protein supply is not independent of feeding level. The theory is then applied to the problem of predicting the recovery of sheep from the effects of growth restraint. An experiment involving 30 Scottish Blackface wethers provides data which support the idea that sheep, following a period of underfeeding, will resume their known potential for growth and, only when necessary, restore their body composition to the state dictated by their inheritance. No compensatory growth is observed. Finally, the work as a whole is discussed in relation to animal science and the sheepmeat industry. Possibilities for future research are also suggested. The experimental data are published in full in the appendices.

Submitted by Hiolanda Rêgo (hiolandar@gmail.com) on 2013-08-14T20:09:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_ICS_ Miriam Flores.pdf: 1077091 bytes, checksum: b0adcded73dce2647872382d21f4a4be (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-14T20:09:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_ICS_ Miriam Flores.pdf: 1077091 bytes, checksum: b0adcded73dce2647872382d21f4a4be (MD5) / FAPEX;CNPq / Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the etiologic agent of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), a chronic disease that affects goats and sheep, characterized by granuloma formation in subcutaneous and internal lymph nodes. CLA causes significant economic losses in commercial goat herds; the best procedure to avoid spread of this disease is elimination of infected animals. Secreted antigens from T1 strain bacteria grown in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth were tested in an indirect ELISA system to determine if this system could be used to identify specific immunoglobulins against C. pseudotuberculosis. The electrophoretic profile of the BHI antigen was analyzed, as well as the recognition pattern by CLA infected sheep sera. The ELISA results were compared to Multiplex PCR assay and IFN-gamma production. The ELISA was able to discriminate between negative and positive animals, with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 99%, and a large difference between positive and negative optical density values. When this assay was compared with other immunological and molecular methods, it was found only two discrepant results among thirty-two samples. We concluded that an ELISA using secreted antigens from C. pseudotuberculosis T1 strain growth in BHI broth culture would be a reliable tool for the serodiagnosis of caseous ymphadenitis in sheep. / Salvador

The goal of this Diploma thesis was an analysis of the chosen factors and their influence on sheep fertility in the herd of sumava sheep. This factors were presented through the age of sheep, sheep nutrition and stress influence on the sheep fertility. For this purpose it was chosen the sumava sheep farming in herd Michlova Hut. At first this herd was introduced, than statistically described in terms of sheep fertility and in the next part there was analysis of the chosen factors. Based on these results the conclusions and the basic breeder recommendation to breeder community were deduced. The main reason for choice this topic was a growing breeder´s interest in breeder´s economy and various possibilities of the increasing sheep fertility.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-01-20Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T21:02:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 katiki_lm_dr_botfmvz.pdf: 1503507 bytes, checksum: 7ad92e791989f524b8cad6907f21f758 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os óleos essenciais de Mentha piperita, Cymbopogon martinii e Cymbopogon schoenanthus foram avaliados in vitro sobre tricostrongilídeos de ovinos por meio dos testes de eclodibilidade, do desenvolvimento, da inibição da alimentação e da eliminação da cutícula larvar. Utilizou-se cromatografia gasosa acoplada ao espetrômetro de massas para identificação dos constituintes dos óleos. Os óleos apresentaram elevada atividade anti-helmíntica avaliada pela comparação de CL50, sendo o C. schoenanthus o mais ativo. Os mesmos óleos foram testados em ratos Wistar infectados artificialmente com o parasita intestinal Strongyloides venezuelensis nas dosagens de 1,5 mL/kg e 2,3 mL/kg cada um. Os óleos não apresentaram efeito anti-helmíntico significativo medido pela contagem de ovos nas fezes e contagem parasitária quando comparado ao albendazol. C. schoenanthus foi o óleo essencial que apresentou melhor atividade anti-parasitária in vitro sobre trichostrongilídeos de ovinos, portanto, sua atividade foi testada in vivo em cordeiros artificialmente infectados com Haemonchus contortus nas dosagens de 0,2 e 0,4 mL/kg. A redução parasitária (por meio de de contagem de ovos nas fezes e contagem parasitária) e a toxicidade (por meio de de perfis bioquímicos renal e hepático) foram avaliadas. O óleo essencial de C. schoenanthus não foi tóxico nas dosagens utilizadas e embora não tenha propiciado redução significativa no grau de infecção parasitária, proporcionou maior valor de hematócrito e proteína sérica total. Além desse efeito, causou discreta redução no desenvolvimento de larvas nas fezes. Uma metodologia aperfeiçoada de teste in vitro utilizando o nematoide de vida livre Caenorhabditis elegans, mantidos em cultura líquida estéril, também foi descrito, assim como os testes de sensibilidade destes nematoides aos principais solventes utilizados na preparação dos extratos de plantas / Mentha piperita, Cymbopogon martinii and Cymbopogon schoenanthus essential oils were evaluated in vitro against sheep trichostrongylids through eclodibility assay, larval development assay, larval feeding inhibition assay and larval exsheathment assay. Oils were analysed by chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The oils presented high anthelmintic activity by comparison of LC50, being C .schoenanthus is the most active. The oils were tested withWistar rats artificially infected with Strongyloides venezuelensis at 1.5 mL/kg and 2.3 mL/kg. The essential oils didn’t present a significant anthelmintic effect measured by fecal egg count and worm burden when compared to albendazole. The oil of C. schoenanthus had the best anthelmintic activity against sheep trichostrongylids and were evaluated in vivo in lambs artificially infected with Haemonchus contortus at doses of 0.2 and 0.4 mL/kg. Its activity were evaluated by fecal egg count and worm burden and the toxicity evaluated by kidney and liver profile. C. schoenanthus did not show toxic effects at the doses tested and although without significant reduction in parasite infection, it led to a higher packed cell volume and total serum protein and small reduction in larval development in feces. An improved methodology of in vitro test employing the free living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans raised in sterile liquid medium was described as well the toxicity to the major solvents used in preparation of plant extracts

No description available.

No description available.