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Topic:Animal Science
Animal Science and horses encompass the study of equine biology, physiology, and management practices aimed at understanding and improving horse health, welfare, and performance. This field integrates various scientific disciplines, including genetics, nutrition, reproduction, and behavior, to address the needs of horses in diverse contexts such as sports, work, and companionship. Research in this area often focuses on optimizing feeding strategies, enhancing breeding programs, and developing effective health management protocols. Additionally, studies explore the genetic factors influencing traits such as athleticism and disease resistance, as well as the impact of environmental and management conditions on horse behavior and welfare. This page gathers peer-reviewed research and scholarly articles that investigate the scientific principles underpinning equine science and their practical applications in horse care and management.
Comparative FISH mapping of 32 loci reveals new homologous regions between donkey and horse karyotypes. A total of 32 loci comprising specific genes, microsatellites and anonymous BAC clones from horse and cattle were mapped on donkey chromosomes. Of these, 13 markers were also mapped for the first time in the horse. This information, together with that previously available in donkey and horse updates the comparative status of the karyotypes of the two species. The findings of the present study for the first time show correlation between eleven equine acrocentric autosomes and the donkey chromosomes and in part enable detection of rearrangements between them. There are still 7-8 pairs of chromos...
Animal nutrition and acid-base balance. In domestic animals, acid-base balance may be influenced by nutrition. The major research effort in this area has been made on the prevention of hypocalcemic postparturient paresis in dairy cows. This disorder is caused by the sudden increase of calcium secretion into the colostrum. The manipulation of the dietary cation-anion difference makes it possible to maintain the cows in metabolic acidosis during the critical period that precedes calving, presumably via a mechanism that involves the strong ion difference in the extracellular fluid. As a consequence the mobilization of calcium is enhanc...
[The origin and function of the enamel cup, infundibulum dentis, on the incisors of the horse]. The enamel cups of equids originated phylogenetically through several phases in Oligocene and Miocene horses, which readjusted from hard to soft leaf food and from double nutrition (leaves and grass) to a pure grass intake. This has been proved experimentally. The resulting construction of the incisor is continually changed on its occlusal surface by erosion according to the pattern of the enamel crests. Referring to the whole incisor tooth, this results in an equid life cycle in which the good grip of the occlusal surface and the efficiency of ingestion favours the young, sexually mature hors...
[Efficacy of probiotic feed additives: guidelines for the evaluation of the efficiency of microorganisms in dogs, cats, and horses]. Probiotic microorganisms are frequently in use as feed additives for farm and pet animals. For admission for the common market products have to be tested according to the feed additive directive 70/524/EC. The dossier for admission has to comprise data of efficiency as laid down in the directive 87/153/EC. During the last years it became obvious after the evaluation of several dossiers, that no definitive criteria for the assessment of efficacy were available for dogs, cats and horses (84/153/EC). Aspects like the promotion of animal production are not relevant in this context. Therefore, the ...
Effect of pyruvate on the function of stallion spermatozoa stored for up to 48 hours. Stallion spermatozoa maintain high fertilizing capacity if cooled to 5 degrees C and inseminated within 24 h. However, if spermatozoa are stored for 48 h, fertilizing capacity declines. Therefore, multiple shipments of semen are often required to inseminate mares that remain in estrus for days. Therefore, experiments were designed to determine if adding antioxidants to stallion spermatozoa stored at 5 degrees C for 48 h could maintain motility and fertilizing ability. In the first experiment stallion spermatozoa were incubated in a skim milk (SM) or a skim milk-egg yolk medium in combination w...
Identification of virulence attributes of gastrointestinal Escherichia coli isolates of veterinary significance. The pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli recovered from the intestinal tract of animals fall into categories called enterotoxigenic, enteropathogenic, enterohemorrhagic and necrotoxigenic. The other two categories, enteroinvasive and enteroaggregative, have not been reported in animals. The pathogenicity of these strains is determined by the presence of certain genes that encode adhesins and toxins, are generally organized in large blocks in chromosomes, large plasmids or phages, and are often transmitted horizontally between strains. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the vir...
Human nutritional supplements in the horse: comparative effects of 19-norandrostenedione and 19-norandrostenediol on the 19-norsteroid profile and consequences for doping control. The dietary supplements 19-norandrostenedione and 19-norandrostenediol are potential metabolic precursors of nandrolone. They are considered by law in the United States as prohormones without proven therapeutic, curative or diagnostic properties, and therefore available as over-the-counter drugs. Oral dosages of 0.1-1 mg/kg body weight were readily absorbed in the equine intestinal tract and thereby led to urinary excretion of drastically increased 5alpha-estrane-3beta,17alpha-diol conjugates, which are known to be final metabolites of nandrolone. The actual rules for detection of illicit nand...
An explanation of a groove found on the nasal process of the equine incisive bone. Thirteen fresh equine heads were dissected in an attempt to determine the cause of a groove frequently found on the dorsal border and medial side of the nasal process of the incisive bone. This groove appeared on both sides in 40 out of 44 equine skulls. The sulcus seems to be caused by the combined action of the lateralis nasi muscle and the medial accessory cartilage of the nose (cartilago nasalis accessoria medialis). Other sulci found on the nasal process of the bone may be explained as impressions caused by nerves.
Urea as a measure of dilution of equine synovial fluid. This paper tests the hypothesis that serum and synovial urea concentrations are similar and that urea concentration can be used as an accurate marker for synovial fluid dilution in normal equine joints. Serum and synovial fluid urea concentrations were compared in 42 horses and were equivalent for individual horses (P<0.0001). Mean +/- s.e. serum concentration was 6.1+/-0.552 mmol/l and synovial concentration 6.0+/-0.459 mmol/l. The normal range for synovial urea concentration was determined as 2.5-7.7 mmol/l. The synovial urea concentration from different synovial structures in individual hor...
Comparison of pregnancy outcome in mares among methods used to evaluate and select spermatozoa for insemination. An artificial insemination dose for mares consisting of 500 million progressively motile spermatozoa is considered "standard" by most clinicians. However, little information is available directly comparing pregnancy outcome among methods of evaluating and selecting spermatozoa for insemination. The objective of this study was to determine if the method of spermatozoal evaluation and selection influences fertility as measured by pregnancy outcome. Mares were inseminated with 100 or 500 million spermatozoa that were selected for progressive motility, normal morphology, hypoosmotic swelling or ab...
Rapid intrachain binding of histidine-26 and histidine-33 to heme in unfolded ferrocytochrome C. Time-resolved spectroscopic studies of unfolded horse iron(II) cytochrome c have suggested that the imidazole side chains of His26 and His33 bind transiently to the heme iron on microsecond time scales, after photodissociation of a carbon monoxide ligand from the heme. Our studies of four variants of cytochrome c (horse wild type, horse H33N, horse H33N/H26Q, and tuna wild type), unfolded in guanidine hydrochloride at pH 6.5, demonstrate that these side chains are responsible for the observed microsecond spectral changes. As His33 and then His26 are eliminated from the horse wild-type sequence...
IGF -I plasma concentrations in non-treated horses and horses administered with methionyl equine somatotropin. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF -I) is likely to be an indicator of somatotropin (ST) administration in the horse. To investigate the different ways ST administration may be detected, the following aspects of IGF -I concentrations in plasma were studied: (i) the daily variation; (ii) variation following a treadmill test; (iii) concentrations at rest and after exercise; and (iv) concentrations in plasma from two young horses and two adults treated with methionyl equine somatotropin (e ST). In the population of horses at rest, IGF -I mean concentration (SEM) was 261 (104) ng ml(-1). In post ra...
[Eight polymorphic blood protein systems in Arab horses from Turkey]. Analysis of the blood protein system was used to study the genetic composition of Arabian horses. Biochemical markers of eight polymorphic loci (Tf, Al, Es, AlB, Gc, Hb, PGD, and PGM) were electrophoretically identified in blood samples. A total of 43 phenotypes were identified for these polymorphic systems. The Tf, Hb, and Es loci appeared to be more polymorphic than the other loci studied. Statistically significant differences between the observed and expected genotypic frequencies were found for the PGD and PGM loci (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). Individual allele frequencies,...
Damper for bad vibrations. This research presents the hypothesis and findings that short muscle fibers in horses and other large mammals may protect bones and tendons from damaging vibrations during running, negating the previous […]
Toxic plants. What the horse practitioner needs to know. Horses poisoned by a plant may show a myriad of clinical signs. Awareness of the poisonous plants growing in a given area and those that are likely to appear in hay and their associated clinical signs can be instrumental in making diagnoses. More importantly, the information can be shared with clients to help prevent plant poisonings in horses.
Risks associated with the use of herbs and other dietary supplements. The use of dietary supplements (herbs, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and other compounds) is common in horses. They are heavily marketed in retail stores, magazines, and on the Internet. There is the perception that since these compounds are "natural" they are devoid of toxicity, and, therefore, they are safe to use. Some of the active compounds in supplements, however, have inherent toxicity, and using them may cause adverse effects. Even relatively non-toxic ingredients may be toxic if used over-zealously or for a long period of time. By and large, these compounds have not been t...
Horses damp the spring in their step. The muscular work of galloping in horses is halved by storing and returning elastic strain energy in spring-like muscle-tendon units.These make the legs act like a child's pogo stick that is tuned to stretch and recoil at 2.5 strides per second. This mechanism is optimized by unique musculoskeletal adaptations: the digital flexor muscles have extremely short fibres and significant passive properties, whereas the tendons are very long and span several joints. Length change occurs by a stretching of the spring-like digital flexor tendons rather than through energetically expensive length changes...
A mathematical model of the ascending colon of the horse. In this study we present a geometric model of the ascending colon of the horse, especially the left ventral colon and the right ventral colon, the left dorsal colon and the right dorsal colon and the pelvic flexure. We also present a mathematical model of the cross sections of these ascending colon parts with the exceptions of the pelvic flexure. We show that these cross-sections correspond to the closed algebraic curves known as epitrochoid.
Advancements in cryopreservation of domestic animal embryos. The development of embryo freezing technologies revolutionized cattle breeding. Since then, advancements in cryobiology, cell biology, and domestic animal embryology have enabled the development of embryo preservation methodologies for our other domestic animal species, including sheep and goats. Recently, technologies have been developed to cryopreserve pig embryos, notorious for their extreme sensitivity to cooling; horse embryo cryopreservation is in its infancy. While cryopreservation can enhance the utilization of in vitro embryo production technologies, cryosurvival of in vitro-produced ...
Population study and validation of paternity testing for Thoroughbred horses by 15 microsatellite loci. Microsatellite 15 TKY System was characterized for parentage verification of horse registry. The Microsatellite 15 TKY System was constructed by using 15 microsatellites, TKY279, TKY287, TKY294, TKY297, TKY301, TKY312, TKY321, TKY325, TKY333, TKY337, TKY341, TKY343, TKY344, TKY374, and TKY394, to provide stringent PCR-based microsatellite typing specifically optimized for multicolor fluorescence detection. The Microsatellite 15 TKY System showed good resolutions for 250 unrelated Thoroughbred horses, and the probability of exclusion (PE) at each microsatellite ranged from 0.437 to 0.621, resul...
Fusobacterium equinum sp. nov., from the oral cavity of horses. Two strains of gram-negative, anaerobic, non-sporulating rod that were isolated from the normal oral cavity and oral-associated disease from horses and which phenotypically resembled Fusobacterium necrophorum were characterized by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization and phenotypic characterization. The results placed the novel strains as distinct members of the genus Fusobacterium. The novel species Fusobacterium equinum sp. nov. is proposed, with strain VPB 4027T (= NCTC 13176T = JCM 11174T) as the type strain.
An approach to assessment of the efficiency of dietary energy utilization by horses and ponies kept at riding schools. The ratio of calculated net energy intake (NEi) to calculate net energy requirement (NEr) might serve as an indicator of the efficiency of dietary energy utilization. The ratio was determined for 93 horses and ponies from 10 riding schools. For each animal with an assumed constant body weight, energy intake and energy requirements were assessed. On average, the estimated NEi was 14% greater than NEr. There was a significant, negative association between crude fibre intake and the NEi: NEr ratio. Earlier work indicated that extra fat intake may lead to over estimation of the calculated energy v...
Non-fatal animal related injuries to youth occurring on farms in the United States, 1998. To provide data on the magnitude and patterns of animal related on-farm injuries to youth in the United States. Methods: A survey of 26,000 farm households conducted for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1998. Methods: Youth younger than 20 years of age. Results: There were an estimated 6,438 animal related on-farm injuries to youth in 1998. 70% occurred to farm residents; 69% were work related. Males accounted for 64% and approximately 41% occurred to those younger than 10; 37% involved horses and 31% cattle. Most horse...
[Analysis of the genetic structure of the breeding nucleus of the Russian population of purebred Thoroughbred horses at the Extension locus using molecular DNA typing]. Results of the first in Russia survey of the gene pool of the breeding nucleus of the Russian population of thoroughbred horses by means of PCR analysis of the E (Extension) locus MC1R gene mutations are presented. The data on the structure of breeding populations from the leading stud farms Voskhod and Oros with regard to color phenotypes as well as genotype and allele frequencies are presented. The population structure parameters are discussed with respect to possible specific features of microevolution processes.
