Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: J. Rychtářová Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: Z. Sztankóová Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: J. Kyselová Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: V. Zink Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: M. Štípková Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: M. Vacek Author-Workplace-Name: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: L. Štolc Author-Workplace-Name: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Effect of DGAT1, BTN1A1, OLR1, and STAT1 genes on milk production and reproduction traits in the Czech Fleckvieh breed Abstract: The impact of polymorphism of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1), butyrophilin (BTN1A1), oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor (OLR1), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) genes on milk production and reproduction traits in 419 Czech Fleckvieh cows was examined using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. The loci DGAT1 and BTN1A1 were observed simultaneously to affect milk production, estimated breeding value of milk production traits, as well as reproduction parameters. Significant differences were found also between genotypes of the STAT1 loci in relation to estimated breeding value of milk production traits. Similar findings in pure dairy breeds suggest that heterogeneous effects of the observed loci can be explained by different genetic backgrounds in various breed populations selected to achieve different commercial goals. Thus, it is necessary to determine variability and influence of a molecular marker in a specific population when considering its inclusion into a breeding programme. Keywords: cattle, genetic polymorphism, fertility Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 45-53 Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/7228-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7228-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201402-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:59:y:2014:i:2:id:7228-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: E. Strapáková Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Genetics and Breeding Biology, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: P. Strapák Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: J. Candrák Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Genetics and Breeding Biology, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Title: Estimation of breeding values for functional productive life in the Slovak Holstein population Abstract: Genetic evaluation of length of functional productive life was carried out using a Weibull proportional hazard sire-maternal grandsire model. The database included 405 624 Holstein cows with 19.24% censoring. The analyzed effects were parity × stage of lactation, within-herd standard deviations of milk production, herd × year × season interaction, change of herd size with respect to the previous year, age at first calving, and sire and maternal-grandsire effects. Parity × stage of lactation had the most important influence on functional productive life. The results of the analysis confirmed more intensive selection at the beginning of each lactation, whereby the risk ratio increased with each other lactation. Heritability of functional productive life was 0.13 on the original scale. Breeding values of sires were expressed as relative breeding values with a mean of 100 and genetic standard deviation of 12. Keywords: cattle, longevity, survival analysis, risk ratio Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 54-60 Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/7229-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7229-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201402-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:59:y:2014:i:2:id:7229-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: S. Świątkiewicz Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Balice, Poland Author-Name: A. Arczewska-Włosek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Balice, Poland Author-Name: D. Józefiak Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland Title: Bones quality indices in laying hens fed diets with a high level of DDGS and supplemented with selected feed additives Abstract: An experiment with 192 caged ISA Brown laying hens, fed a diet containing a high level of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), was conducted to determine the influence of selected feed additives on biomechanical and geometrical indices of tibia and femur bones. At 26 weeks of age hens were randomly assigned to 8 treatments with 12 replicates (cages of two hens). To week 55, hens were fed isocaloric and isonitrogenous experimental diets either containing or not containing a high level of DDGS (200 g/kg). The diet containing 200 g/kg of DDGS was supplemented or not supplemented with feed additives, i.e. enzymes (xylanase and phytase), sodium butyrate, probiotic bacteria (L. salivarius), herbal extract mixtures (Taraxaci siccum, Urticae siccum, and Salviae siccum), inulin or chitosan. At week 55, inclusion of DDGS in the diet had no effect on biomechemical (bone breaking strength, yielding load, and stiffness) or geometrical (cortex thickness, cross-section area, weight, and length) indices of tibia and femur bones (P > 0.05). Some of the supplements used had a beneficial effect on bone quality in hens fed the diet with a high level of DDGS. Thus, the addition of probiotic bacteria or herb extracts increased the breaking strength of femurs and breaking strength and yielding load of tibias (P < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that DDGS may be included to a level of 20% in the diet of laying hens without any negative influence on bone quality, while such feed additives as probiotic bacteria and herbal extracts may improve the selected biomechanical indices of bone quality of layers fed diets with a high level of DDGS. Keywords: layers, distillers dried gains with solubles, feed supplements, femur and tibia measurements Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 61-68 Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/7230-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7230-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201402-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:59:y:2014:i:2:id:7230-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: D.W. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Dezhou University, Dezhou, P.R. China Author-Name: J.J. Zang Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: L. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: N.W. Jaworski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, USA Author-Name: Z.J. Fan Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: T.T. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: D.F. Li Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: F.L. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Title: Energy content and amino acid digestibility of extruded and dehulled-extruded corn by pigs and its effect on the performance of weaned pigs Abstract: Three experiments were conducted to compare raw corn, extruded corn, and dehulled-extruded corn in piglets' feeding. In Experiment (Exp.) 1, 8 barrows (19.9 ± 0.6 kg) were fed experimental diets containing one out of three corn samples and a rice-soybean meal basal diet in a double 4 × 4 Latin square design to determine the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in the corn samples using the difference method. The DE content in extruded (14.29 MJ/kg) and dehulled-extruded (14.42 MJ/kg) corn was greater (P < 0.05) than in raw corn (13.57 MJ/kg). In Exp. 2, 5 barrows (26.2 ± 1.3 kg) were fitted with ileal T-cannulas and used in a 5 × 5 Latin square design to determine the apparent (AID) and standardized (SID) ileal digestibility of amino acids (AA). The diets comprised the basal diet, the three corn diets from Exp. 1, as well as a nitrogen-free diet to estimate basal endogenous losses of AA. The AID and SID of isoleucine, leucine, lysine, threonine, and valine in dehulled-extruded corn was lower (P < 0.05) than in raw or extruded corn. In Exp. 3, 108 weaned 35 days old piglets (8.4 ± 1.2 kg) were allotted to one of the three diets based on corn type. Weaned pigs fed diets containing extruded or dehulled-extruded corn exhibited reduced (P < 0.05) weight gain and feed intake than pigs fed diets containing raw corn. The diet containing dehulled-extruded corn resulted in a higher incidence of diarrhoea. In summary, extrusion of corn did not result in improvements in digestibility and dehulling corn prior to extrusion appeared to result in heat damage which reduced ileal digestibility of AA. Substitution of raw corn with extruded or dehulled-extruded corn in starter diets formulated to equal quantities of ME and SID AA content did not improve the performance of weaned pigs. Keywords: digestible energy, extrusion processing, growth, metabolizable energy Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 69-83 Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/7231-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7231-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201402-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:59:y:2014:i:2:id:7231-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Meisser Author-Workplace-Name: Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Nyon, Switzerland Author-Name: C. Deléglise Author-Workplace-Name: Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Nyon, Switzerland Author-Name: F. Freléchoux Author-Workplace-Name: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Lausanne, Switzerland Author-Name: A. Chassot Author-Workplace-Name: Research Station Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux ALP, Posieux, Switzerland Author-Name: B. Jeangros Author-Workplace-Name: Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Nyon, Switzerland Author-Name: E. Mosimann Author-Workplace-Name: Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, Nyon, Switzerland Title: Foraging behaviour and occupation pattern of beef cows on a heterogeneous pasture in the Swiss Alps Abstract: In the Alps, many summer pastures are under-used due to the decreasing number of livestock. Optimizing the grazing management of heterogeneous pastures implies a better understanding of foraging habits of cattle. The aim of this study was to precise the relationships between cattle behaviour and the characteristics of the vegetation. The experiment was carried out on a pasture encroached by shrubs (mainly Alnus viridis) and composed of four contrasted vegetation units at 1800 m a.s.l. Four beef cows were monitored in a paddock of 2.9 ha by Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) during three rotations, in order to analyze the spatial and temporal occupation pattern. The open grasslands and, to a lesser extent, the tall herb community were significantly more visited than expected if cattle had foraged at random. The shrubby areas were far less visited than expected at random. The monitoring also revealed differences across rotations. Vegetation surveys were also performed to determine the specific contribution and the grazing frequency of the encountered plant species. The most eaten herbaceous plants were not necessarily those known to be the most palatable, even if graminoids were more selected than other plants. Leontodon hispidus, Agrostis capillaris, Festuca rubra, and Luzula sylvatica were the most selected species, whereas Veratrum album and Trollius europaeus were completely avoided. The consumed forage was of better quality than the forage collected at random and its nutrient content showed less variability and remained more constant over the three rotations. The results highlight that the selection processes exerted by cattle are important. They occur at different levels (species, vegetation type, in time) and confirm that an integrative approach is necessary for improving the understanding of cattle foraging behaviour in heterogeneous mountain pastures. Keywords: subalpine grassland, Global Positioning System, grazing behaviour, herbage selection, mountain pasture, encroachment Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 84-95 Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/7232-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7232-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201402-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:59:y:2014:i:2:id:7232-CJAS