Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Zuzana Krupová Author-Name: Emil Krupa Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague - Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: Marie Wolfová Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Animal Science, Prague - Uhříněves, Czech Republic Title: Economic weights of current and new breeding objective traits in Aberdeen Angus Abstract: Breeding values estimated for growth, calving performance, and exterior traits are currently combined into simple selection indices for bulls, cows, and heifers of the Aberdeen Angus breed. To establish a comprehensive economic index for this breed, the absolute and relative economic weights (EW) for a complex of 16 production, functional, carcass, and feed efficiency traits were calculated. The absolute EW of a trait expressed the difference in the present values of profit that will be obtained from the descendants of a bull with the average breeding value for this trait, and descendants of a bull with the breeding value one unit higher than the average one. The relative EW of a trait was defined as the standardised EW of a trait (i.e. EW per genetic standard deviation) expressed as percentage of the sum of standardised EWs of all evaluated traits. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to explore the EW of traits under variable production and economic conditions. Variability in the marketing strategy, in product prices and costs, and in trait means was considered in this analysis. Relative EW of the feed efficiency of breeding heifers and of cows reached 4%. The highest relative EW was obtained in three growth traits: weight gains of calves from birth to 120, from 120 to 210, and from 210 to 365 days of age (66% combined). The survival rate of calves until weaning and cow productive lifetime reached 11% and 8% of the total economic importance of traits, respectively. These growth and functional traits accounted for 84% (in marketing strategy involving selling breeding animals) to 90% (in populations with high growth intensity) of the total economic weight of all 16 evaluated traits. Therefore, these traits should be considered as new selection criteria when constructing a comprehensive selection index for the Czech Aberdeen Angus population in future. Keywords: selection, economic value, feed efficiency, growth traits, functional traits, carcass traits Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 77-85 Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/255/2019-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/255/2019-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202003-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:3:id:255-2019-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Chunyan Li Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, P. R. China Author-Name: Qiuyue Liu Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Xiangyu Wang Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Wenping Hu Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Deping Han Author-Workplace-Name: College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Joram Mwashigadi Mwacharo Author-Workplace-Name: Small Ruminant Genomics, International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Author-Name: Caihong Wei Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Mingxing Chu Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Author-Name: Ran Di Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China Title: Expression and localization of PIWI proteins in testis and ovary of domestic sheep Abstract: The piRNA-PIWI protein complex plays crucial roles in safeguarding the genome against inordinate transposon mobilization and regulation of embryonic development. A previous study indicated the presence of piRNA in sheep reproductive organs. However, the tissue distribution and cellular localization of PIWI proteins in sheep remains unclear. Therefore the present study aimed to explore the expression profiles of mRNAs of mammalian PIWI proteins (PIWIL1, PIWIL2, PIWIL4 and AGO3) in 9 tissues derived from adult male and female sheep. Results showed the expression of PIWIL1, PIWIL2, and PIWIL4 was significantly higher in the testis and ovary than in the other tissues. Immunohistochemistry analysis of testes indicated that each of the 4 proteins had specific cellular localizations, and some of the localizations were different from those of other species. All the proteins were mainly localized in the primary spermatocytes, suggesting that they are crucial for silencing of transposon to guarantee the integrity of the gamete genome during early stage of spermatogenesis. In the ovaries, the PIWI proteins were mainly localized in oocytes from antral follicles and leukocytes in ovarian blood. Our results provide insights to better understand the functions of PIWI proteins during spermatogenesis, oogenesis and immune defence in sheep. Keywords: PIWI proteins, reproduction, localization, testis, ovary Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 86-96 Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/7/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202003-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:3:id:7-2020-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Kamila Pokorná Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Jaroslav Čítek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Kateřina Zadinová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Monika Okrouhlá Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Nicole Lebedová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: Michal Komosný Author-Workplace-Name: Czech Breeding Services, s. r. o., Grygov, Czech Republic Author-Name: Roman Stupka Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic Title: Influence of the use of nurse sows on their lifetime performance Abstract: Using nurse sows is a common practice for intensive pig farming because large numbers of piglets per litter result from intensive breeding. This aim of this study was to compare reproductive parameters of nurse sows and non-nurse sows in relation to subsequent reproductive performance. The study evaluated 463 breeding sows that produced at least one litter. The sows were divided into two groups: non-nurse sows (350 sows) and nurse sows (113 sows) at their first farrowing. The average length of first lactation was 35.12 days for nurse sows and 29.79 days for non-nurse sows. At first parity, nurse sows weaned 5.18% more piglets than did non-nurse sows (P < 0.05). At second parity, nurse sows had 2.25% more live born piglets than did non-nurse sows. Nurse sows also had 9.59% more total live born piglets and they were removed from the breeding herd later (on average by 67.1 days) than were non-nurse sows. In conclusion, using sows as nurse sows in their first lactations provides a good solution when there are large numbers of piglets per litter, and this practice has no negative effect on sows' subsequent reproductive performance. Keywords: lactating sow, farrowing, litter size, piglet, reproduction, wean Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 97-103 Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/12/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/12/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202003-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:3:id:12-2020-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Shaojun He Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang, P. R. China Author-Name: Qirun Yin Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang, P. R. China Author-Name: Yongjie Xiong Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang, P. R. China Author-Name: Deyi Liu Author-Name: Hong Hu Author-Workplace-Name: College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang, P. R. China Title: Effects of dietary fumaric acid on the growth performance, immune response, relative weight and antioxidant status of immune organs in broilers exposed to chronic heat stress Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary fumaric acid (FA) on growth performance, immune responses, immune organ index and antioxidant status in broilers under chronic heat stress (HS). A total of 200 21-day-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with two diets (basal diet or 10 g/kg FA diet) and two temperatures (thermoneutral or HS) for 21 days. On day 42, growth performance, immune organ index, immune function and antioxidative ability were determined. HS resulted in a significant reduction in final body weight (FBW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), antibody titres against sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and Newcastle disease virus, IgM, IgG, relative weights of spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricius, but a significant increase in the feed conversion ratio (FCR), activities of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the bursa, contents of malondialdehyde and total carbonyl (TC) in thymus and bursa (P < 0.05). Dietary supplementation of FA increased FBW, ADFI, ADG, antibody titres against SRBC, IgG, relative weights of spleen and bursa, activity of GPx in thymus and bursa, whereas it decreased the FCR and TC of thymus and bursa. These results suggest that dietary 10 g/kg FA had positive effects on growth performance and immune function through improving the antioxidative capacity of immune organs. Keywords: broiler, organic acid, high ambient temperature, immune function, redox status Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 104-113 Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Year: 2020 DOI: 10.17221/13/2020-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/13/2020-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-202003-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:65:y:2020:i:3:id:13-2020-CJAS