Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Vacek Author-Workplace-Name: Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: L. Stádník Author-Workplace-Name: Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: M. Štípková Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Title: Relationships between the incidence of health disorders and the reproduction traits of Holstein cows in the Czech Republic Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships between several health disorders: milk fever (MF; hypocalcaemia and parturient paresis), retained placenta (RP; retained foetal membranes), metritis (ME; endometritis and pyometra), ovarian cysts (OC; follicular and luteal cysts), clinical mastitis (CM), and lameness (LS; foot and leg problems) as affecting the reproductive performance of dairy cows. The dataset of 1 432 Holstein cows calving between January 2000 and April 2004 from 4 commercial dairy herds was analyzed by the linear regression model which included the effects of herd-year-season of calving, parity, FCM yield level, incidences of studied fertility and health disorders, and regression on the first calving age within parity. It was proved that fertility disorders relating to parturition, such as RP and ME, had a significant influence (P < 0.01 to P < 0.0001) on the evaluated reproduction parameters, i.e. days from calving to the first AI service (DAI), open days (OD), and the number of inseminations needed for conception (NAI). A significant effect (P < 0.0001) of OC on all reproduction parameters was also found. Mastitis and lameness occurring during lactation had significant effects on OD and NAI (P < 0.05 to P < 0.0001). The milk fever occurrence was related significantly only to a longer period to the 1st < AI (P < 0.01). In general, cows with health disorders are inseminated later and they conceived later after their previous calving compared to healthy cows, and need more inseminations for conception. Keywords: health, fertility, parameters, dairy cows Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 227-235 Volume: 52 Issue: 8 Year: 2007 DOI: 10.17221/2278-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2278-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-200708-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:52:y:2007:i:8:id:2278-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Z. Veselá Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Praha-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: J. Přibyl Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Praha-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: L. Vostrý Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Praha-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: L. Štolc Author-Workplace-Name: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague-Suchdol, Czech Republic Title: Stochastic simulation of the influence of insemination on the estimation of breeding value and its reliability Abstract: Insemination is used less commonly in the population of beef cattle than in dairy cattle. As a consequence, herds are genetically isolated and their comparison is difficult. The objective of the paper was to evaluate the impact of the use of reference sires in insemination on the estimation of breeding value and its reliability by means of stochastic simulation based on a single addition of calves to the basic set. Simulation was divided into three variants according to the connectedness calves through sires (variant 1 - unrelated calves, variant 2 calves related between HYS but unrelated within HYS, variant 3 - calves related within and between HYS). The degree of connectedness was determined by computation of genetic drift variance (GDV). The average value of GDV in the basic set was 0.71. In our study the highest values of GDV were reached in simulated variant 3, in which the relationship increased not only between HYS but also within HYS. The lowest values of GDV were in variant 2, when the relationship increased only between HYS (simulated calves after reference sires did not have any half-sibs in HYS). The single use of reference sires in one generation to make herds connected slightly increased the average coefficient of reliability from 0.121 to 0.145 (by 2.4%) in the whole set. But this increase from 0.24 to 0.33 (by 8.9%) was observed only in animals that were directly connected through reference sires. The increase in reliability was mainly due to an increase in the number of contemporaries. A decrease in the effective number of sires' offspring was an indirect consequence of the increase in the connectedness of the set and higher use of reference sires in insemination. This is the reason why the increase in the connectedness of the set influenced the reliability of breeding value of the whole set less than we would expect. The use of reference sires influenced the fluctuation of breeding values. The use of a higher number of reference sires in insemination with only one offspring in each of the connected herds appeared as the most suitable approach from the aspect of the connectedness of the set and reliability of breeding value estimation. A marked influence of herd connectedness on the estimation of breeding value and its reliability, and on the result of breeding, is to be expected after reference sires have been used in several successive generations. Keywords: beef cattle, breeding value, connectedness, reference sires, reliability, stochastic simulation Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 236-248 Volume: 52 Issue: 8 Year: 2007 DOI: 10.17221/2281-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2281-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-200708-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:52:y:2007:i:8:id:2281-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: K. Matković Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Hygiene, Environment and Ethology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: M. Vučemilo Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Hygiene, Environment and Ethology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: B. Vinković Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Zoohygiene and Livestock Technology, Croatian Veterinary Institute, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: B. Šeol Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Hygiene, Environment and Ethology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: Ž. Pavičić Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Hygiene, Environment and Ethology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Author-Name: S. Matković Author-Workplace-Name: DVM - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Zagreb, Croatia Title: Qualitative structure of airborne bacteria and fungi in dairy barn and nearby environment Abstract: The study was conducted in a dairy barn and nearby environment to determine the level of air bacterial and fungi contamination. Measurements were performed in morning, noon and evening sampling periods once a week during two autumn months inside the barn and in a 25 m distant barn environment. A Merck MAS-100 air sampler was employed with different medium and incubation combinations for the capture and identification of bacteria and fungi. The results of the study showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) between the bacterial and fungi counts measured inside and outside the barn, whereby total outside bacterial count was by 97.4% to 98.0% lower, and total outside fungi count by 85.2% to 99.4% lower than the respective indoor counts in various sampling periods. In 125 analyzed colonies, gram-positive bacteria, especially those of the genus Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, were most commonly identified in the air samples from both inside and outside the barn. Gram-negative bacteria were present at a low rate, predominated by enterobacteria and by the genus Moraxella and Pseudomonas. Nine mould genera were identified in 325 fungi colonies, predominated by the genus Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus and yeasts, both in the barn and in the nearby environment. Keywords: airborne bacteria, airborne fungi, dairy barn Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 249-253 Volume: 52 Issue: 8 Year: 2007 DOI: 10.17221/2280-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2280-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-200708-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:52:y:2007:i:8:id:2280-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: A. Wolc Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Agricultural University of Poznan, Poland Author-Name: M. Lisowski Author-Workplace-Name: Poultry Research Branch at Zakrzewo, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Poland Author-Name: T. Szwaczkowski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Agricultural University of Poznan, Poland Title: Heritability of egg production in laying hens under cumulative, multitrait and repeated measurement animal models Abstract: Six generations of three layer lines (13 770 recorded individuals of A22 line, 13 950 of A88, 9 351 of K66) were used to estimate genetic effects on egg production under cumulative, multitrait and repeatability models. Variance components were estimated by the AI-REML algorithm. The heritability of cumulative records ranged from 0.08 to 0.1. For the repeated measurements model the following genetic parameters were obtained: heritability 0.02-0.03, repeatability 0.04-0.38. The first two months of egg production were found to differ from the other periods: heritability was relatively high (h2 > 0.35) and low or negative correlations with the other periods were found. Heritability was low (h2 < 0.1) from the peak production until the end of recording and the consecutive periods were highly correlated. Further studies on monthly records are suggested. Keywords: egg production, laying hens, cumulative model, monthly records Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 254-260 Volume: 52 Issue: 8 Year: 2007 DOI: 10.17221/2282-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2282-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-200708-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:52:y:2007:i:8:id:2282-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: B. Jankowska Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Meat Technology and Chemistry, Faculty of Food Science, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: Z. Zakęś Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Aquaculture, Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: T. Żmijewski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Meat Technology and Chemistry, Faculty of Food Science, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: M. Szczepkowski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Aquaculture, Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn, Poland Author-Name: A. Kowalska Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Aquaculture, Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn, Poland Title: Slaughter yield, proximate composition, and flesh colour of cultivated and wild perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) Abstract: The aim of this research was to determine the slaughter yield, proximate composition, and flesh colour of cultivated and wild perch (Perca fluviatilis). The study material was composed of fish obtained from intense fattening on formulated feed (age 1+, mean body weight (BW 116 g)) and wild specimens caught in a lake (age 3+, BW 119 g). The biometric traits of the two groups of fish did not differ with regard to body weight, total length (Lt), body length (Lc), or condition coefficient (P > 0.01). The cultivated perch had both higher maximum body height (H) and relative body profile (Rp) (P ≤ 0.01). The cultivated perch has a significantly lower slaughter yield (P ≤ 0.01). This dependence stems from the heavier viscera, which included more perivisceral fat and larger liver. Cultivated perch had significantly higher values of the viscerosomatic (VSI; 12.0 vs. 6.4), hepatosomatic (HSI; 1.9 vs. 1.7), and perivisceral fat (IPF; 7.0 vs. 1.2) indices. The analysis of the proximate composition of fillets from wild and cultivated perch indicated that the ratios of protein, fat, water were significantly different (P ≤ 0.01). The higher content of dry matter in the cultivated perch was a result of higher fat and protein contents. The fillets of the two groups of perch differed with regard to the saturation of green and yellow pigment; the cultivated perch exhibited lower values of parameter a* and higher values of parameter b* (P ≤ 0.01). Keywords: Perca fluviatilis, slaughter yield, proximate composition, flesh colour Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 260-267 Volume: 52 Issue: 8 Year: 2007 DOI: 10.17221/2279-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2279-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-200708-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:52:y:2007:i:8:id:2279-CJAS