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.
Asteraye GB, Jobling R, Jemberu WT, Pinchbeck G, Knight-Jones TJD, Critchlow R, Rushton J, Chaters GL.Working donkeys play a critical role in transportation, agriculture and household resilience in low- and middle-income countries. Other animals that are kept for production purposes, such as cattle, are often grouped into broad production system classes, such as dairy or pastoral, for comparison between and better understanding of the needs and outputs of animals within specific sectors. Despite the importance of working donkeys for sustaining livelihoods there are no systematic classifications of these populations. The aim of this study was to classify and characterise donkey systems in Ethio...
Stokes JE, Labuschagne K, Fèvre EM, Baylis M.In recent decades there has been a huge increase in the export of cut flowers from countries in Africa and elsewhere to European flower markets, with the vast majority first entering the Netherlands for local use or for export. Coincidentally, three significant livestock disease outbreaks caused by viruses associated with Africa or other tropical regions were first detected in the Netherlands (bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8), 2006, and BTV-3, 2023) and in western Germany about 200 km from the Netherlands border (Schmallenberg virus, SBV, 2011). This study aimed to determine whether Culic...
Bland J, McGowan C, Bush E, Lloyd V.Zoonotic diseases have major impacts on human and animal health, as well as being ecologically significant. Lyme Borreliosis or Lyme disease, caused by infection by pathogenic members of the Borrelia genus, is among these zoonotic diseases. Serology is one of the most accessible means for indirect surveillance of pathogen presence by monitoring the presence, abundance, and type of immune response to the pathogen or pathogen-associated epitopes. Serological surveillance of wild animals is important as wild animals are the primary reservoirs of many zoonotic diseases. Similarly, serological sur...
Rouby S, Ewies S.Bovine papillomatosis is an infectious viral disease of cattle characterized by development of benign cutaneous warts. The present study describes bovine papillomavirus infection in cattle on clinco-pathological and molecular bases and compares the identified strains with the previously characterized papillomavirus isolates in Egypt either of bovine or equine origin. Out of sixty examined cattle, skin lesions were collected from eleven clinically diseased cattle exhibiting typical papillomatosis clinical signs and subjected to histopathological and molecular identification. Histological sectio...
Kumar B, Brahmbhatt NN, Thakre B, Maharana BR, Parmar VL, Kumar M.Haemoparasitic diseases constitute a significant constraint to economic livestock farming. Diagnostic techniques that are inexpensive, rapid, reliable, and precise are crucial for the management of diseases. In this context, PCR assays are very valuable yet expensive since the samples must be processed before being included in the PCR reaction. Accordingly, the goal of the current study was to lower the PCR costs without jeopardizing the assay's sensitivity and specificity. For that purpose, the alkaline solution was optimized for low cost and quick DNA extraction (blood lysate), and PCR reage...
Aydin A, Sudagidan M, Abdramanov A, Yurt MNZ, Mamatova Z, Ozalp VC.Domestic horses could be bred for leisure activities and meat production, as is already the case in many countries. Horse meat is consumed in various countries, including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and with the increase in this consumption, horses are registered as livestock by the Food and Agricultural Organization. In this study, horse meat microbiota of horse samples ( = 56; 32 samples from Kazakhstan and 24 samples from Kyrgyzstan) from two countries, Kazakhstan ( = 3) and Kyrgyzstan ( = 1), were investigated for the first time by next-generation sequencing and metabarcoding analysis. The ...
Amaral Júnior FP, Souza de Sousa CE, Rafael de Almeida Moreira B, Rodrigues Alves BJ, Longhini VZ, da Silva Cardoso A, Ruggieri AC.There is an important gap in how variations in herbivore dung composition affect GHG emissions on pastures, especially due to differences in dry matter (DM) and nitrogen contents. Oversimplifications can compromise the accuracy of mitigation strategies. This study aims to address this gap by investigating how the chemical composition of dung from different species influences GHG emissions in pasture systems. The results showed that drier dung led to higher cumulative N₂O emissions. The highest emissions were observed from goat at 9.47 mg N-N₂O g⁻ dry soil, followed by sheep at 5.95 mg ...
Rosa-Xavier IG, Pinter A, Giuffrida R, Biondo AW, Kmetiuk LB, Santarém VA.(1) Background: Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) is a tick-borne disease that has occurred in several Brazilian regions, caused by spp. bacteria and mainly transmitted by ticks. Despite the high BSF lethality in several Brazilian endemic areas, predictors and associated risk factors remain to be fully established. Accordingly, the retrospective study herein aimed to assess BSF cases and associated factors in an endemic area of western São Paulo state. (2) Methods: Notified cases identified by the System for Epidemiological Surveillance of São Paulo (CVE), from January 2007 to December 2021, w...
Tasnim Y, Rahman MK, Awosile B.We aimed to determine the genetic relatedness among β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli isolated from soil, lake water, and feces of geese, pigs, dogs, cattle, coyotes, wild hogs, and horses at one health interface in West Texas. Results: Previously isolated 56 β-lactamase-producing E. coli isolates from the feces of geese, pigs, horses, coyotes, dogs, cattle, and wild hogs, and soil and lake water from different locations in West Texas were analyzed for genetic relatedness using whole-genome sequencing, core genome multilocus sequence typing, and phylogenetic single-nucleotide polymorphi...
Gomes-Gonçalves S, Mesquita JR, Ruano ZM, Barradas PF.Coxiella burnetii is a bacterium that causes coxiellosis in animals and Q fever in humans. While ruminants are the main reservoirs, the role of ticks in their transmission is still uncertain. This study looked for C. burnetii in ticks collected from two autochthonous breeds in Portugal: Churra Galega Mirandesa sheep and Garrano horses. A total of 555 ticks were tested, including 100 Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu (s.) stricto (s.) from sheep and 455 Rhipicephalus bursa from horses. Coxiella burnetii was found in 7 % of R. sanguineus s.s., but not in R. bursa. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed th...
Stahl LT, Wehrend A.This article provides an overview of the clinically relevant functions and metabolic processes of selenium. Especially equine and bovine neonates are affected by selenium deficiency leading to serious consequences. Severe selenium deficiency may especially result in skeletal and/or heart muscles damage, which can result in serious illness and death of the animal. The typical clinical picture is known under various names and is often referred to as rhabdomyolysis, or more precisely as nutritional muscular dystrophy (NMD) and in the past usually as white muscle disease. Early recognition of nutr...
Cameron A, Freeman SL, Wild I, Burridge J, Burrell K.Working equids support millions of people globally, especially in low-income, lower-middle-income, and upper-middle-income countries. However, they commonly suffer from poor welfare and are typically overlooked in policy and funding decisions. This scoping review aimed to collate evidence on two topics related to working equid use in low- and middle-income countries: their socioeconomic value to their owners and the impact of educational interventions for owners/handlers aiming to improve equid welfare. Original research published from 2014 onwards was eligible for inclusion. This scoping revi...
Splan RK, Noel FI, Gardner GM, Kenny LB.Proper pasture management improves forage yield, reduces costs, and minimizes environmental impacts, but may be difficult in suburban settings. Objective: This study evaluated pasture condition and management practices on 28 horse farms in counties adjacent to the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Methods: Between November 2019 and January 2020, 72 pastures (2-3/farm) were assessed via soil sampling, USDA-NRCS Pasture Condition Score Sheet (PCSS), Penn State Equine Pasture Evaluation Disc (EPED), and farm manager interviews. Linear models assessed effects of management factors on pasture conditi...
Of the mycotoxicoses caused by molds contaminating grains or their byproducts, leukoencephalomalacia of horses and less frequently aflatoxicosis in cattle have been reported in South America. However, the most important group of mycotoxins in the region are those caused by fungi that infect forages and other types of plants and have regional distribution. In this group, ergotism is important, both caused by Claviceps purpurea infecting grains or by Epichloë coenophiala infecting Schedonorus arundinaceus. Other important mycotoxicoses are those caused by indole-diterpenes produced by Clavicipi...
Ilbeigi K, Mabille D, Roy R, Bundschuh M, Van de Velde E, Hulpia F, Van Calenbergh S, Caljon G.Surra and Dourine are widespread diseases caused by two protozoan parasites Trypanosoma brucei evansi and Trypanosoma brucei equiperdum, respectively. A wide range of animals including camels, horses, cattle and buffaloes are susceptible to infection. These diseases pose a significant socio-economic burden, primarily due to the limited therapeutic options and the complications associated with toxicity and drug resistance, making disease management particularly challenging. This study evaluated the potential of 3'-deoxytubercidin, a previously identified antitrypanosomal nucleoside, as a therap...
Chang X, Shi X, Luo P, Yao X, Meng J, Wang J, Ren W, Li L, Zeng Y.Fat color is one of the most important economic traits influencing consumer preference and the market value of meat products. To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying abdominal adipose tissue color differentiation in the Kazakh horse, this study employed a multi-omics strategy, integrating targeted metabolomics (fatty acid and amino acid profiling), untargeted metabolomics, and transcriptomic analyses. Two types of adipose tissue, white adipose tissue (WAT, = 8) and yellow adipose tissue (YAT, = 8), were selected for systematic comparative analysis. Fatty acid composition analysis reve...
