Livestock and horses are integral components of agricultural systems, providing resources such as meat, milk, fiber, and labor. Horses, in particular, have unique roles in agriculture, sport, and recreation, distinguishing them from other livestock. This topic explores the management, breeding, nutrition, and health of horses and other livestock species. It encompasses studies on husbandry practices, welfare considerations, and the impact of these animals on the environment and economy. The page includes peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate various aspects of livestock and equine science, offering insights into their biological, ecological, and economic significance.
Cortinovis C, Caloni F.This review focuses on some of the most important poisonous plants in Europe and provides an overview of the poisoning episodes that have occurred in European countries. Poisoning of livestock and companion animals by plants is a relatively common occurrence. In Europe livestock and horses are commonly poisoned by Datura stramonium (Jimson weed), Senecio spp. (ragworts and groundsels), Quercus spp. (oak), Taxus baccata (European yew), Nerium oleander (oleander), Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern), Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) and Rhododendron spp. (rhododendrons and azaleas). Poisoning ...
Yilmaz O, Wilson RT.Mules are known to have been used as carriage and riding animals in Mesopotamia and Anatolia as early as the beginning of the second millennium BC but may have been first bred in Anatolia in the Third Century BC. They have thus contributed to Turkey's cultural, social and economic heritage for more than 4,000 years and were an ancient component of its guild of domestic animals and overall biodiversity. Once bred country-wide most mules are now introduced "illegally" to the southeast and east from Iraq and Iran. Mules are now bred only in one small area in north-central Turkey close to the Blac...
Lorena SE, Luna SP, Lascelles BD, Corrente JE.The objective of this study was to assess the use of analgesics, describe the attitudes of Brazilian veterinarians towards pain relief in horses and cattle and evaluate the differences due to gender, year of graduation and type of practice. Methods: Prospective survey. Methods: Questionnaires were sent to 1000 large animal veterinarians by mail, internet and delivered in person during national meetings. The survey investigated the attitudes of Brazilian veterinarians to the recognition and treatment of pain in large animals and consisted of sections asking about demographic data, use of analge...
Glass K, Barnes B.When novel disease outbreaks occur in livestock, policy makers must respond promptly to eliminate disease, and are typically called on to make control decisions before detailed analysis of disease parameters can be undertaken. We present a flexible metapopulation model of disease spread that incorporates variation in livestock density and includes occasional high-mixing locations or events, such as markets or race meetings. Using probability generating functions derived from this branching process model, we compare the likely success of reactive control strategies in eliminating disease spread...
Kinnison T, May SA.The Royal Veterinary College's 'Teaching Quality Survey' was completed by 261 recent graduates (six months after graduation) from 2005 to 2011 (26.8 per cent response rate). The results were used to compare veterinarians' background information with current position and career ambition, and to investigate perceptions of curriculum balance. There was a significant difference between males' and females' current positions and career ambitions with comparatively lower percentages of females in farm animal and farm and equine practices. There was also a significant difference between individuals fr...
Van den Eede A, Martens A, Floré K, Denis O, Gasthuys F, Haesebrouck F, Van den Abeele A, Hermans K.Equine methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage entails a risk of both equine and zoonotic transmission and infection. In Europe, CC398, the livestock-associated (LA-)MRSA is highly prevalent in horses and veterinary personnel at equine clinics. The extent of the MRSA reservoir created by healthy horses from the general population and associated health hazard for their daily caretakers is, however, unknown. This study aimed at screening healthy horse-caretaker couples from a broad range of home farms. At five equine gatherings, 166 couples were selected for MRSA screening in...
Roug A, Byrne BA, Conrad PA, Miller WA.Livestock fairs present a unique opportunity for the public to experience close contact with animals, but may also expose people to zoonotic pathogens through contact with animal feces. The goal of this study was to screen cattle, sheep, goat, chicken, rabbit and horse feces from a livestock fair in California for the potentially zoonotic pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Vibrio, Cryptosporidium and Giardia spp., as well as determining the level of antimicrobial resistance in E. coli and Salmonella. Notably, E. coli O157:H7 was reported for the first time in a pig ...
Girard TL, Bork EW, Nielsen SE, Alexander MJ.Public lands occupied by feral horses in North America are frequently managed for multiple uses with land use conflict occurring among feral horses, livestock, wildlife, and native grassland conservation. The factors affecting habitat use by horses is critical to understand where conflict may be greatest. We related horse presence and abundance to landscape attributes in a GIS to examine habitat preferences using 98 field plots sampled within a portion of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve of SW Alberta, Canada. Horse abundance was greatest in grassland and cut block habitats, and lowest in con...
Beschta RL, Donahue DL, DellaSala DA, Rhodes JJ, Karr JR, O'Brien MH, Fleischner TL, Deacon Williams C.Climate change affects public land ecosystems and services throughout the American West and these effects are projected to intensify. Even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, adaptation strategies for public lands are needed to reduce anthropogenic stressors of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and to help native species and ecosystems survive in an altered environment. Historical and contemporary livestock production-the most widespread and long-running commercial use of public lands-can alter vegetation, soils, hydrology, and wildlife species composition and abundances in ways that exa...
Santín M.Cryptosporidium spp. are frequent parasites of livestock and companion animals, raising questions about the clinical significance of such infections. Cryptosporidium infections have a wide spectrum of clinical signs that can vary from asymptomatic to serious infection to death. In neonatal ruminants, cryptosporidiosis is considered an important disease characterised by diarrhoea and mortality. In companion animals most infections are asymptomatic but severe clinical illness has also been reported in dogs, cats and horses. In birds, three main clinical forms of cryptosporidiosis are primarily s...
Van den Eede A, Martens A, Feryn I, Vanderhaeghen W, Lipinska U, Gasthuys F, Butaye P, Haesebrouck F, Hermans K.In Europe, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) belonging to the clonal complex (CC) 398 has become an important pathogen in horses, circulating in equine clinics and causing both colonization and infection. Whether equine MRSA is bound to hospitals or can also circulate in the general horse population is currently unknown. This study, therefore, reports the nasal and perianal MRSA screening of 189 horses on 10 farms in a suspected high prevalence region (East- and West-Flanders, Belgium). Results: Only one horse (0.53%) from one farm (10%) tested positive in the nose. It carried...
Cocco P, Satta G, D'Andrea I, Nonne T, Udas G, Zucca M, Mannetje A', Becker N, Sanjosé Sd, Foretova L, Staines A, Maynadié M, Nieters A, Brennan P....We explored the risk of lymphoma and its most prevalent subtypes associated with occupational contact with livestock, and whether risk was modified by age at first contact, in 2,348 incident lymphoma cases and 2,462 controls who participated in the EPILYMPH case-control study. A detailed occupational history was collected in cases and controls, including working in a livestock farm, species of livestock, its approximate number and circumstances of contact. For each disease outcome, and each type of livestock, odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using un...
Wieser B, Tichy A, Nell B.Guinea pigs have a very low threshold of corneal sensitivity and at the same time nearly no reflex tearing compared to dogs, cats, and horses. The question arose whether there is a general correlation between corneal sensitivity and the quantity of reflex tearing. Methods: Totally 160 animals of 8 different species (20 animals per species) were investigated. Methods: The corneal touch threshold (CTT) was measured with a Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer. The palpebral fissure length (PFL) was measured with a calliper ruler. The Schirmer tear test (STT) was modified by adapting the width of the STT s...
Kościuczuk EM, Lisowski P, Jarczak J, Strzałkowska N, Jóźwik A, Horbańczuk J, Krzyżewski J, Zwierzchowski L, Bagnicka E.Cathelicidins are small, cationic, antimicrobial peptides found in humans and other species, including farm animals (cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits and in some species of fish). These proteolytically activated peptides are part of the innate immune system of many vertebrates. These peptides show a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against bacteria, enveloped viruses and fungi. Apart from exerting direct antimicrobial effects, cathelicidins can also trigger specific defense responses in the host. Their roles in various pathophysiological conditions have been studie...
Blitvich BJ, Saiyasombat R, Travassos da Rosa A, Tesh RB, Calisher CH, Garcia-Rejon JE, Farfán-Ale JA, Loroño RE, Bates A, Loroño-Pino MA.To determine the seroprevalence of selected orthobunyaviruses in livestock in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, a serologic investigation was performed using serum samples from 256 domestic animals (182 horses, 31 sheep, 1 dog, 37 chickens, and 5 turkeys). All serum samples were examined by plaque reduction neutralization test using Cache Valley virus (CVV), Cholul virus (CHLV), South River virus (SOURV), Kairi virus, Maguari virus, and Wyeomyia virus. Of the 182 horses, 60 (33.0%) were seropositive for CHLV, 48 (26.4%) were seropositive for CVV, 1 (0.5%) was seropositive for SOURV, 60 (33.0%) ...
Almeida RF, Garcia MV, Cunha RC, Matias J, Labruna MB, Andreotti R.Ticks are vectors of various pathogens, including Rickettsia spp., which are responsible for causing an emerging disease of global significance. In the present study, an epidemiological survey was performed to identify Rickettsia spp. of the spotted fever group (SFG) in ticks and wild hosts in a native forest adjacent to livestock farming activity. The ticks and blood were evaluated by a hemolymph test and by PCR using the primers CS78 and CS323, which target a partial sequence of the enzyme citrate synthase (gltA) gene. Positive samples by PCR were further tested with the primers Rr190.70p an...
Thompson NN, Auguste AJ, Coombs D, Blitvich BJ, Carrington CV, da Rosa AP, Wang E, Chadee DD, Drebot MA, Tesh RB, Weaver SC, Adesiyun AA.Seroprevalence rates of selected arboviruses in animal populations in Trinidad were determined using serum samples collected between 2006 and 2009 from horses (n=506), cattle (n=163), sheep (n=198), goats (n=82), pigs (n=184), birds (n=140), rodents (n=116), and other vertebrates (n=23). The sera were screened for antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV), St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV), Ilheus virus (ILHV), Bussuquara virus (BSQV), Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), and western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV), using hemagglutination inhibiti...
McCarthy AJ, Lindsay JA, Loeffler A.Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to pose a major threat to human health. In animals, MRSA has become established as a veterinary pathogen in pets and horses; in livestock, it presents a concern for public health as a reservoir that can infect humans and as a source of transferrable resistance genes. Genetic analyses have revealed that the epidemiology of MRSA is different in different animal hosts. While human hospital-associated MRSA lineages are most commonly involved in pet infection and carriage, horse-specific MRSA most often represent 'traditional' equine S. au...
Sun Y, Liu Z, Ren L, Wei Z, Wang P, Li N, Zhao Y.This review focuses on the diversity of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes and Ig isotypes that are expressed in domestic animals. Four livestock species-cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses-express a full range of Ig heavy chains (IgHs), including μ, δ, γ, ϵ, and α. Two poultry species (chickens and ducks) express three IgH isotypes, μ, υ, and α, but not δ. The κ and λ light chains are both utilized in the four livestock species, but only the λ chain is expressed in poultry. V(D)J recombination, somatic hypermutation (SHM), and gene conversion (GC) are three distinct mechanisms by which immunog...
Degueurce C.The first veterinary school in the world was created in Lyon in 1761 by an equerry, Claude Bourgelat (1712-1779), a man renowned for his skill in horsemanship and horse medicine, a man fully able to understand the issues of his time. Aware of the scope of the physiocratic movement and of the need to improve the health of farm animals, he was able to understand the expectations of Henri-Léonard Bertin, Minister of King Louis XV, in proposing the creation of an establishment, breaking with traditional farriery. The creation of the Veterinary School of Lyon would mark a milestone: the considerat...
Caraty A, Decourt C, Briant C, Beltramo M.Kisspeptins (Kp) are a family of neuropeptides produced mainly by two hypothalamic neuronal cell populations. They have recently emerged as a major regulator of the gonadotropin axis and their action is located upstream of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) cell population. In less than 10 yr a growing body of literature has demonstrated the involvement of these peptides in most, if not all, aspects of reproductive axis maturation and function. In contrast to these abundant basic research studies, few experiments have evaluated the potential application of Kp as tools to manipulate repr...
Hall SJ.An objective and accountable method is needed for deducing the number of registered animals in a breed from registration data. By following the principle that individual breeders register sufficient young females to be certain of having enough replacements for their current breeding stock, the ratios were calculated of the number of adult females in a breed to the number of female registrations, in a given year. Number of breeds considered were 8 cattle, 16 sheep, 8 pigs, 1 goat and 2 equines, all in the United Kingdom or Ireland. This yielded multipliers (4.4 for cattle, 3.3 for sheep, 3.1 fo...
Raeghi S, Akaberi A, Sedeghi S.Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite found worldwide and responsible for major economic losses in most classes of livestock. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection in sheep, cattle and horses in Urmia, north-west of Iran, using MAT. Methods: Blood samples of 276 livestock and 26 horses were collected from July 2009 till April 2010. The data were analyzed by the Chi-square, Fisher's Exact and Cochran's and Mantel-Haenszel Tests. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. Results: Thirty-three (21.1%) sheep, 2 (1.6%) cattle and 3 (11.5%) horses...
Kaczensky P, Ganbataar O, Altansukh N, Enkhsaikhan N, Stauffer C, Walzer C.Large mammals re-introduced into harsh and unpredictable environments are vulnerable to stochastic effects, particularly in times of global climate change. The Mongolian Gobi is home to several rare large ungulates such as re-introduced Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) and Asiatic wild asses (Equus hemionus), but also to a millennium-old semi-nomadic livestock herding culture.The Gobi is prone to large inter-annual environmental fluctuations, but the winter 2009/2010 was particularly severe. Millions of livestock died and the Przewalski's horse population in the Gobi crashed. We u...
Petzinger E.Pyrrolizidine alkaloids belong to a class of phytotoxins which are present in more than 6000 plant species. The disease seneciosis in farm animals represents the severe poisoning by pyrrolizidine alkaloids from plants of the genus Senecio. This form of poisoning has been known since the end of the 19th century in Germany, the USA, Canada and New Zealand, and is mainly caused by Senecio jacobaea and related Senecio spp. in farm animals, including poultry. Animal poisoning by pyrrolizidine alkaloids is of worldwide importance. In Germany poisoning of horses and cattle by Senecio jacobaea, which ...
Kaplan RM, Vidyashankar AN.Over the past 10-15 years, we have witnessed a rapid increase in both the prevalence and magnitude of anthelmintic resistance, and this increase appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. Reports of anthelmintic resistance to multiple drugs in individual parasite species, and in multiple parasite species across virtually all livestock hosts, are increasingly common. In addition, since the introduction of ivermectin in 1981, no novel anthelmintic classes were developed and introduced for use in livestock until recently with the launch of monepantel in New Zealand. Thus, livestock producers are often...
Martin RG, McMeniman NP, Dowsett KF.Intakes of milk and milk nutrients were determined for 8 foals at 11-18 days of age and for 10 foals at 30-44 days and 60-74 days of age while sucking grazing mares. Water intakes (sources other than milk) of the foals were determined at 30-44 days and 60-74 days of age. Five of the 10 mares were fed a protein supplement (24% crude protein) in addition to grazing during the stud season. The protein supplement did not influence foal intakes of milk and milk nutrients, milk composition, weight gains of the mares or the growth rate of the foals. Foal milk intakes increased (P less than 0.05) from...
McNamara JP.Departments of animal sciences must be relevant to a society in which a small number of people can raise almost all the food animal products needed. The declining number of people involved in animal agriculture has decreased enrollment of students interested in food animals in many departments of animal science. However, several departments welcomed students from a diverse background and began research on animals other than food animals. In many states, the undergraduate enrollment is made up primarily of students interested only in companion animals. A benefit of this is that we have recruite...
Sharma D, Gupta S, Sethi K, Kumar S, Kumar R.Trypanosoma evansi, a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite, causes wasting disease called surra in wide range of animals. Although the organism has been reported from various parts of India, data generated from organized epidemiological study is still in infancy in majority states of India. In the present study, livestock of Himachal Pradesh, India, was targeted for epidemiological investigation of T. evansi infections. A total of 440 equines and 444 cattle serum samples were collected from four agro-climatic zones. Furthermore, serum samples of 280 buffaloes from three different agro-climatic zo...
Gandini G, Pizzi F, Stella A, Boettcher PJ.The aim of this work was to compare costs, in the horse, cattle, sheep, swine, and rabbit species, for the creation of gene banks for reconstruction of an extinct breed, using different strategies: embryos-only, embryos in combination with semen, and semen-only. Three cost measures were used: time required for population reconstruction, cost for creation of the gene bank, number of years-keeping-female to reach reconstruction. Semen costs were estimated across four scenarios: the presence or absence of a commercial market for semen, purchase of semen donors, and semen extracted from the epidid...
Majeed QA, Alazemi MS, Henedi AA, Tahrani LM.No doubt, farm animals are essential as a source of milk, protein, and leather and wool ... etc. But, they are always exposed to ecto- and endo-parasites, which cause diseases conditions that may end in death. This study evaluated farm animal parasitosis. Thus, different animal farms were visited to collect fecal samples and data to determine the infection rates with parasites and the relationship between animal management and parasitism in Kuwait. Out of 86, 17, 20, 96 & 52 cattle, sheep, goats, horses and camels examined, 5.5, 17.5, 10, 9.3 and 2.5% respectively were infected with differ...
Grev AM, Hathaway MR, Sheaffer CC, Wells MS, Reiter AS, Martinson KL.Reduced lignin alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) has the potential to provide a higher-quality forage source for livestock by improving forage digestibility. This study was conducted to evaluate apparent digestibility when feeding reduced lignin and nonreduced lignin alfalfa hay to adult horses, and to examine mean fecal particle size (MFPS) and mean retention time (MRT) between alfalfa forage types. In 2017, reduced lignin ("54HVX41") and nonreduced lignin ("WL355.RR") alfalfa hay was harvested in Minnesota at the late-bud stage. Alfalfa hays were similar in crude protein (CP; 199 g/kg), neutral d...
Davis EO, Curran GE, Hetherington WT, Norris DA, Wise GA, Roth IJ, SeaWright AA, Bryden WL.Flood plain staggers, a corynetoxicosis of grazing livestock, occurred on flood plains of the Darling river in northern New South Wales between spring 1990 and autumn 1991, associated with the grazing of Agrostis avenacea with diseased inflorescences. Over this period 1722 cattle, 2466 sheep and 11 horses died on 31 farms. Clinical signs were similar in sheep and cattle, being characterised by intermittent episodes of cerebral convulsion superimposed on varying degrees of cerebellar dysfunction. Pathological changes were variable and non-specific, principally reflecting trauma and the generali...
We evaluated the influences of workload intensity, bath handling and environmental conditions in the rolling behaviour of horses and mules. For this purpose, animals were observed after being exposed to different levels of workload and the rolling behaviour was recorded and described. During all testing procedures, the weather condition (temperature and humidity) was registered by a Black globe and Wet Bulb apparatus. Horses frequently rolled after intense exercise and after bath handling, independently of the weather condition. Mules frequently rolled after control (no exercise) and intense e...
Cerón JJ, Tecles F, Espín JC.Effects of seven different blood diluents (distilled water, Triton X-100, saponin, isotonic saline solution, pH 7.5 and 8 phosphate buffers and bovine serum albumin) and two chromophores: 5, 5'-dithiobis 2-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) and 2,2'-dithiodipyridine (2- PDS) on blood cholinesterase determination in four domestic species (cow, sheep, goat and horse) are described and compared. Haemolytic diluents (distilled water, Triton X-100 and saponin) gave the best precision results when fresh blood was assayed. However, Triton X-100 induced lower ChE activity values in horses, and saponin yielded v...
Garcia-Mazcorro JF, Rodriguez-Herrera MV, Marroquin-Cardona AG, Kawas JR.The health enhancer yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) is widely used in diets for different animals. Two main types of SC-based products are commercially available, one containing live yeasts and one containing SC fermentation by-products, which are supposedly not dependent on live yeasts for their physiological effects in vivo. Culture-based techniques were applied to study yeasts in two types of commercial products: a product containing live SC (LSC) and a SC fermentation product (SCFP). Three temperatures (25, 30 and 39°C) and two pH levels (4 and 7) were tested. The product with LSC co...
López López C, Ferreira LMM, García U, Moreno-Gonzalo J, Rodrigues MAM, Osoro K, Ferre I, Celaya R.The number of horses in northern Spanish mountains has increased in recent decades, but little is known about their grazing behaviour, performance and potential for foal meat production. This research aimed to study the diet selection, liveweight (LW) changes and parasitic status of dry and lactating mares, and foals' LW gains, grazing on heathlands with different botanical composition. The experimental design consisted of three vegetation types: dominated by heather (Ericaceae) species (H), dominated by gorse (Ulex gallii; G) and co-dominated by gorse and heath-grasses (G-G), with four replic...
Qamar W, Alsayeqh AF.Third-world countries have a higher prevalence of food-related disorders than developed nations. Millions of people in underdeveloped countries are seriously at risk from the potential water supply contamination with protozoan diseases. is one of the important protozoans causing diseases in livestock and humans. Despite the standard tests for diagnosing this parasite and different treatment methods, the spread of these parasites is uncontrollable and rising every year due to other management disorders. In this review, we summarize etiopathogenesis and prevalence in Pakistan. We looked for pap...
Farahi S, Shishehbor P, Nemati A, Perotti MA.Manure-inhabiting Mesostigmata mites are important biological control agents of pest flies. However, the biodiversity of this mite community is mainly known from Europe and America, and especially from cattle manure. This study examined the diversity and abundance of Mesostigmata mites associated with various types of manure in an (intensive) agricultural region of the Middle East, i.e., the city Ahvaz and its suburbs, in southwest Iran. Mite samples were extracted from manure of cattle, buffalo, sheep, horse, poultry and quail in 30 livestock and poultry farms. In total, 40 species belonging ...
Huygelen C.Two hundred years ago Edward Jenner inoculated James Phipps with vaccinia and 181 years later smallpox had disappeared from the surface of the earth as a result of generalized vaccination. Compared to the requirements of modern vaccinology, the procedures used by Jenner and his successors, were extremely primitive because of an almost total lack of knowledge in the field of microbiology and immunology. The active principle of smallpox vaccine is vaccinia virus, which in many respects, differs from that of natural cowpox; the term "cowpox" has been used for more than a century and a half to des...
Kilgour R.Modern pastoral farming has radically transformed the niche where agricultural animals live. Recent trends in husbandry tend to give as much emphasis to economic profit and human convenience, as do a concern for the farmed species. Most of the traditional ways of handling sheep, cattle, goats, horses and pigs, like castration, ear tagging, tail-docking or horse breaking, have been accepted by the public with little concern. Inevitably, as renewed public interest focuses on intensive farming, some questions are directed towards extensive pastoral farming practices, particularly in newly-farmed ...
Hudak PF.Ratios of conservative chemicals have been used to identify sources of groundwater contamination. While chloride/bromide ratios have been reported for several common sources of groundwater contamination, little work has been done on leachate derived from farm-animal waste. In this study, chloride/bromide ratios were measured in leachate derived from longhorn-cattle, quarterhorse, and pygme-goat waste at a farm in Abilene, Texas, USA. (Minimum, median, and maximum) chloride/bromide ratios of (66.5, 85.6, and 167), (119, 146, and 156), and (35.4, 57.8, and 165) were observed for cattle, horses, ...
Falk J, Donadeu FX.Groundbreaking work by Takahashi and Yamanaka in 2006 demonstrated that non-embryonic cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) by forcing the expression of a defined set of transcription factors in culture, thus overcoming ethical concerns linked to embryonic stem cells. Induced PSCs have since revolutionized biomedical research, holding tremendous potential also in other areas such as livestock production and wildlife conservation. iPSCs exhibit broad accessibility, having been derived from a multitude of cell types and species. Apart from humans, iPSCs hold particular med...
Laseca N, Ziadi C, Perdomo-Gonzalez DI, Valera M, Demyda-Peyras S, Molina A.Inbreeding depression is a genetic phenomenon associated with the loss of fitness and mean phenotypic performance due to mating between relatives. Historically, inbreeding coefficients have been estimated from pedigree information. However, the onset of genomic selection programs provides large datasets of individuals genotyped using SNP arrays, enabling more precise assessment of an individual's genomic-level inbreeding using genomic data. One of the traits most sensitive to issues stemming from increased inbreeding is reproduction. This is particularly important in equine, in which fertility...
Merridale-Punter MS, Wiethoelter AK, El-Hage CM, Patrick C, Hitchens PL.Despite several millions of working equids worldwide, there are few published studies regarding the epidemiology of their health and welfare. Data collected by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the working equid sphere therefore have important epidemiological value and could be used towards animal health surveillance. The aim of this study was to identify common clinical findings and mortality patterns of working equids in low- and middle-income countries and investigate their epidemiology using data collected from an international NGO. A retrospective analysis was conducted t...
Giontella A, Silvestrelli M, Cocciolone A, Pieramati C, Sarti FM.Morphological scoring is a common evaluation method for domestic animals. The National Association of Maremmano Breeders (ANAM) has provided a dataset containing the records of 600 horses, four metric measurements (cm) and 24 traits with a continuous evaluation scale, each one with 15 classes. Moreover, a body condition score (BCS) with five classes is included. In this study, factor analysis was conducted to create a small number of informative factors (3) obtained from these traits, and a new BLUP-AM-MT index was established. The New Estimated Breeding Value (NEBV1) of each horse was compute...
Seck M, Carder G, Wathan J, Randau M, Fletcher K, Proops L.The role that working equids play in both rural and urban communities in low and middle-income countries is invaluable. They contribute to daily tasks such as carrying food, water and people, support income generation, and are of social and cultural importance. Despite their importance, global standards of working equid welfare are low. Many variables can impact the welfare status of animals under human care, but often specific factors are explored in isolation. Factors can include, but are not limited to an owner's socioeconomic status and their attitudes and beliefs towards animals. In this ...
Zhou S, Zhang X, Zhang J, Zang C, Fan R, Wang J, Guo T, Han R, Yang Y.Milk powder, a nutrient-rich dairy product, lacks comprehensive information summarizing its specific properties when produced by spray- and freeze-dried technologies from different sources. Therefore, this study investigated the differences in physicochemical properties, microstructure, and proteome of spray- and freeze-dried milk powders from bovine, goat, and horse sources. The results revealed that spray-dried milk powder exhibited a smaller particle size, lower air content within the powder particles, inferior reconstitution properties, and lower lactose crystallinity compared with freeze-...
Ahlawat S, Sharma U, Niranjan SK, Chhabra P, Arora R, Sharma R, Singh KV, Vijh RK, Mehta SC.This study explored the maternal genetic diversity of six indigenous Indian horse and pony breeds (Bhutia, Kathiawari, Manipuri, Marwari, Spiti, and Zanskari) using comprehensive mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) analysis. Blood samples from 53 horses across diverse agro-climatic zones of India were analyzed, revealing 36 distinct haplotypes, with a haplotype diversity of 0.889 and nucleotide diversity of 0.00347. These indices suggest significant maternal genetic diversity in Indian equines. A median-joining (MJ) network, based on the hypervariable region of the D-loop along with sequences of...
Liu Y, Zhou F, Zheng W, Bai T, Chen X, Guo L.The sleeping and eating behaviors of horses are important indicators of their health. With the development of the modern equine industry, timely monitoring and analysis of these behaviors can provide valuable data for assessing the physiological state of horses. To recognize horse behaviors in stalls, this study builds on the SlowFast algorithm, introducing a novel loss function to address data imbalance and integrating an SE attention module in the SlowFast algorithm's slow pathway to enhance behavior recognition accuracy. Additionally, YOLOX is employed to replace the original target detecti...
Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Boklund A, Dippel S, Dorea F, Figuerola J, Herskin M, Miranda Chueca MA, Nannoni E, Nonno R, Riber A, Stahl K, Stegeman JA....The objective of this Scientific Opinion is to assess the hazards and welfare consequences associated with the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The entire slaughter procedure, from arrival at the slaughterhouse until death, is divided into three phases: Phase 1 - pre-stunning, Phase 2 - stunning and Phase 3 - bleeding. Phase 1 includes the following processes (in chronological order): (a) arrival, (b) unloading of the animals from the vehicle, (c) lairage, (d) handling and moving to the stunning area and (e) restraint before application of the stunning method. Phase 2 encompasses the...
Vall E, Blanchard M, Sib O, Cormary B, González-García E.In tropical regions, subject to significant fluctuations in feedstuffs, the body condition score (BCS) is a relevant indicator for monitoring body reserves status of farm animals. However, the most used BCS grids comes from temperate conditions and still not adapted for tropical species, which limits adoption and usefulness. The current work presents for the first time an original, low-cost, standardized BCS assessment system, suited to a large spectrum of tropical farm animals (zebu and/or crossbred cattle, buffaloes, camel, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys). Based on a rigorous set of unifor...
Wang Y, Tang C, Xue P, Yang N, Sun X, Serik K, Assanbayer T, Shamekova M, Kozhanov Z, Sapakhova Z, Khurramovich JK, Zhou X, Kairat I, Muhatai G. The Yanqi horse is a distinguished local breed in China, known for its robust physique and strong adaptability. However, due to insufficient breeding populations and a loosely structured breeding system, the number of Yanqi horses has been declining annually. To protect its genetic resources and develop scientific breeding strategies, this study aimed to analyze the genetic diversity, parentage relationships, and genetic structure of the Yanqi horse conservation population using microsatellite markers. A total of 117 Yanqi horses were selected for genotyping analysis using 16 microsatellite ...
Szacawa E, Kozieł N, Brzezińska S, Augustynowicz-Kopeć E, Weiner M, Szulowski K, Krajewska-Wędzina M. is one of the most dangerous pathogens of both animals and humans. Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a disease caused by mycobacteria belonging to the complex (MTBC), which spreads mainly among domestic cattle but also to mammals other than cattle. The transmission of MTBC between different species requires research and epidemiological investigations to control its spread. When multiple species are a reservoir of infection, it poses a significant public health and veterinary concern. In this study, the diagnosis of alpaca, cattle, horses, dogs, a sheep and a cat from one farm suspected of bovine ...
Bae JW, Hwang JM, Lee WJ, Kim DH, Yi JK, Ha JJ, Oh DY, Kwon WS.The selection of superior sires is paramount for enhancing the efficiency of animal production in the livestock industry. However, semen quality assessment still relies on conventional semen analysis techniques in both animals and humans. Despite extensive efforts to develop various biomarkers for more accurate and precise predictions of male fertility potential, more effective physiological indicators and advance potential biomarkers are needed. Herein, we aimed to develop new potential biomarkers related to sperm motion kinematics for male fertility prediction. We first evaluated sperm motio...
Raza A, Ijaz M, Mehmood K, Ahmed A, Javed MU, Anwaar F, Rasheed H, Ghumman NZ.Theileria equi is 1 of the emerging and prevailing tick-borne hemoprotozoans adversely affecting the equids worldwide, including Pakistan. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence and molecular characterization of T. equi in working horses (n = 194), the comparative efficacy of different diagnostic tests, associated risk factors, and hematobiochemical analysis. The blood samples of horses were subjected to microscopic examination, cELISA, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the results revealed a prevalence of 9.79, 21.13, and 13.40%, respectively, for T. equi in working horse...
