Recent advances in immunocastration in sheep and goat and its animal welfare benefits:A review

Castration of male animals is a common practice in the meat industry aimed at reducing aggressive behavior, preventing unpleasant flavor, and controlling undesirable breeding. For many years, mechanical castration and surgical castration have been practiced to sterilize the animals. However, these castration methods are not humane because of the associated risk of death, pain, and stress. Recently, immunocastration targeting the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis(HPG) axis has been reported as an animal-friendly approach that circumvents many of the concerns with conventional castration, and suggested by researches as an alternative to surgical castration. However, there is no compilation of updated information on the use of immunocastration in sheep and goats. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the developmental process from traditional surgical castration to immunocastration and to screen the process of immune targets. It also compares the respective advantages and disadvantages of traditional castration technologies and immunocastration, in particular including analyses in the characteristics, features application and welfare benefits of immunocastration in sheep and goats were also analyzed.

Preliminary Discussion on Farm Animal Welfare and Its Influence on Brand and Consumption of Chinese Livestock Products

Farm animal welfare(FAW) affects the health and sustainable development of animal husbandry. However, at present,there are still a lot of damage to FAW, and the situation of FAW in China is worrying. In this paper, the concept of FAW and brand are sketched and the importance of FAW is emphasized through analyzing the impact of FAW on the brand and consumption of animal products in China. Advices that more importance should be attached to FAW, animal welfare awareness should be promoted to publicity, and FAW legislation should be speed up are proposed.

Understanding Animal Welfare

Awareness increases in China over the issue of protecting pets HAO Xiaomao is a truck driver,shipping whatever his employers ask him to from his hometown of Jiaozuo City in central China’s Henan Province to northeast China.But one of his recent hauls put him in the center of a nationwide controversy.

Review of human-animal interactions and their impact on animal productivity and welfare

Humans and animals are in regular and at times close contact in modern intensive farming systems.The quality of human-animal interactions can have a profound impact on the productivity and welfare of farm animals.Interactions by humans may be neutral,positive or negative in nature.Regular pleasant contact with humans may result in desirable alterations in the physiology,behaviour,health and productivity of farm animals.On the contrary,animals that were subjected to aversive human contact were highly fearful of humans and their growth and reproductive performance could be compromised.Farm animals are particularly sensitive to human stimulation that occurs early in life,while many systems of the animals are still developing.This may have long-lasting impact and could possibly modify their genetic potential.The question as to how human contact can have a positive impact on responses to stressors,and productivity is not well understood.Recent work in our laboratory suggested that pleasant human contact may alter ability to tolerate various stressors through enhanced heat shock protein（hsp） 70 expression.The induction of hsp is often associated with increased tolerance to environmental stressors and disease resistance in animals.The attitude and consequent behaviour of stockpeople affect the animals＇ fear of human which eventually influence animals＇ productivity and welfare.Other than attitude and behaviour,technical skills,knowledge,job motivation,commitment and job satisfaction are prerequisites for high job performance.

Environmental Enrichment and Its Effect on the Welfare of Two Asian Elephants in Africam Safari Wildlife Conservation Park (Puebla, Mexico)

Animal welfare is important in zoos to maintain the physical well-being and psychological health of individuals. An animal is considered to have welfare if it has good nutrition and also expresses its innate behavior, including sensations and feelings experienced as a result of physical health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviors of two Asian elephants in a wildlife conservation park. The behavior of two Asian elephants, a 46-year-old male and a 59-year-old female, was observed. Behavior was measured by quantifying the frequency, latency, and duration of behavioral actions. Measurements were done with ad libitum sampling during 5 days of testing, then observations were recorded with focal sampling for 25 days with environmental enrichment and 25 days without enrichment. Data were analyzed with the Chi-square statistical test using the statistical program SPSS 20, observing significant differences (P the application of environmental enrichment. The frequency of maintenance behaviors was higher when environmental enrichment was provided, and the frequency of social conducts (affiliative and agonistic) decreased. In fact, the behaviors most frequently presented by elephants with and without environmental enrichment were definitely maintenance behaviors. The environmental enrichment program helped to reduce the duration of abnormal behaviors and increase the frequency of typical behaviors of the species. It also increased independent movements within the exhibition area and helped to know each of the elephants individually in order to apply each enrichment combination according to their needs.

Clinical/Behavioral Monitoring of Rodents and Rabbits Undergoing Scientific Experiments

Background: We currently have international and national guidelines regarding the assessment and monitoring of clinical signs and humane endpoints in animals used in teaching and research, which make the performance of these activities mandatory for any experiment and professional working in this area. Assigning the severity of a research experiment is the result of an analysis of records of observations of the animal’s behavior, and clinical signs. The aim of this study was to describe the importance of carrying out a severity assessment associated with clinical and behavioral monitoring of rodents and rabbits during experimentation to maintain the welfare of these animals undergoing scientific research. Methods: The literature search was carried out using the following terms: “Monitoring”;“Humane endpoints”;“Animal welfare”, “Rodents”;“Rabbits”, and as connectors “and”;“or”, in the following databases: PubMed;LILACS/BIREME and SciELO. Results: A total of 987 articles were identified in the databases, and 20 of these studies were included in this review. Conclusions: Humane endpoint protocols and procedure severity tables are of the utmost importance, both from an ethical point and to refine the results of research conducted on laboratory animals. They should be drawn up jointly by the teams responsible for the project and the maintenance of the animals during the research period, and the data obtained should be published so that the scientific community can have access to it, helping to disseminate these practices, as well as helping to draw up new procedures. Monitoring and evaluating the welfare and clinical condition of animals undergoing scientific research procedures is the responsibility of the professors, researchers, veterinarians, and animal facility coordinators. The Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals must monitor all the activities conducted with the animals, by inspecting the experimental procedures and the physical environment of the laboratory animal facility where the animals are housed.

Research Progress on Effects of Stocking Density on Performance, Health and Welfare of Duck

Stocking density is an important factor for animal production performance.It appears particularly urgent and important to research systematically on stocking density for the dual restriction of environmental protection and animal welfare.This review dealt with the influence of stocking density on ducks'productivity and health through production performance,animal behavior and animal welfare,and analyzed the possible mechanism of high stocking density reducing production performance,resulting in abnormal behavior and stress,causing welfare and health problems.We consider that it might be associated with heat stress,more spatial competition(to gather the food,drinking water,sports area,etc.),as well as the quality deterioration of litter and house air caused by high stocking density.Finally,we put forward some suggestions on the study of stocking density's effects on ducks,and proposed the future work that need to be studied and problems that need to be solved imminently.

Music Effects on Swine Welfare:a Sumarry

Music is a form of art that people use to relax, entertain, or express their inner feelings as they act on his particular occasion. Modern scientific research shows that animals, like humans, have complex nervous systems and have certain perception of music. Music can affect animal emotions, affect animal immune function and so on. As people pay more attention to farm animal welfare, more and more researches regard music as a means to improve animal welfare. In this context, the research on the impact of music on the welfare of swine has also begun to attract attention in recent years. This paper briefly reviews the related concepts of animal welfare, its relationship with humans, the mechanism of music and its research on the impact on swine in order to attract more professionals and researchers in animal welfare, music and pig farming.

Preliminary Analysis on the Welfare of Adult Breeding Boar on Scale Swine Farm in China

Not so much attention has been paid to animal welfare in many pig farms in China yet and there are still some violations of Animal Welfare Practices.Breeding boar is the core of modern pig farm,which is responsible for the reproductive task of supplying sperm for sows. With the development of artificial insemination,breeding boar plays an increasingly important role in pig production and the welfare of it is becoming more and more important. The problems existing in the welfare of breeding boar in China scale pig farm were analyzed from the aspects of rearing method,feed,environment condition,exercise,artificial semen collection,sexual behavior and environment enrichment and the corresponding measures or countermeasures were put forwards to improve their welfare level.

Distance Education as a Tool for Training Veterinarians in Laboratory Animal Medicine

With increasing globalization and a trend towards international harmonization of standards for the care and use of animals in research and testing,there is a significant need to assist and support countries to develop training programs for laboratory animal veterinarians.Although formal educational opportunities for training laboratory animal veterinarians exist through well-established specialty colleges of laboratory animal medicine such as ACLAM,ECLAM,JCLAM,and KCLAM or through other professional organisations,such as the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations(FELASA),opportunities for participating in these programs are often limited to veterinarians in North America,Western Europe and specific regions of Asia.Creative thinking is required to develop cost-effective,practical,entry-level and advanced continuing education and applied training programs for veterinarians working in the field of laboratory animal medicine around the world.This paper will describe one potential solution for this issue,the use of a distance education program that provides theoretical information in a virtual classroom with applied training modules to deliver knowledge and practical skills to laboratory animal veterinarians.This type of program takes advantage of the online learning environment and can be an effective means to deliver training at the grassroots level to adult learners.

Trends in in ovo sexing technologies:insights and interpretation from papers and patents

Numerous researchers and institutions have been developing in ovo sexing technologies to improve animal welfare by identifying male embryos in an early embryonic stage and disposing of them before pain perception.This review gives a complete overview of the technological approaches reported in papers and patents by performing a thorough search using Web of Science and Patstat/Espacenet databases for papers and patents,respectively.Based on a total of 49 papers and 115 patent families reported until May 2023 worldwide,11 technology categories were defined:6 non-optical and 5 optical techniques.Every category was described for its characteristics while assessing its potential for application.Next,the dynamics of the publications of in ovo sexing techniques in both paper and patent fields were described through growth curves,and the interest or actual status was visualized using the number of paper citations and the actual legal status of the patents.When comparing the reported technologies in papers to those in patents,scientific gaps were observed,as some of the patented technologies were not reported in the scientific literature,e.g.,ion mobility and mass spectrometry approaches.Generally,more diverse approaches in all categories were found in patents,although they do require more scientific evidence through papers or industrial adoption to prove their robustness.Moreover,although there is a recent trend for non-invasive techniques,invasive methods like analyzing DNA through PCR or hormones through immunosensing are still being reported(and might continue to be)in papers and patents.It was also observed that none of the technologies complies with all the industry requirements,although 5 companies already entered the market.On the one hand,more research and harmony between consumers,industry,and governments is necessary.On the other hand,close monitoring of the market performance of the currently available techniques will offer valuable insights into the potential and expectations of in ovo sexing techniques in the poultry industry.

Finding biomarkers of experience in animals

At a time when there is a growing public interest in animal welfare,it is critical to have objective means to assess the way that an animal experiences a situation.Objectivity is critical to ensure appropriate animal welfare outcomes.Existing behavioural,physiological,and neurobiological indicators that are used to assess animal welfare can verify the absence of extremely negative outcomes.But welfare is more than an absence of negative outcomes and an appropriate indicator should reflect the full spectrum of experience of an animal,from negative to positive.In this review,we draw from the knowledge of human biomedical science to propose a list of candidate biological markers(biomarkers)that should reflect the experiential state of non-human animals.The proposed biomarkers can be classified on their main function as endocrine,oxidative stress,non-coding molecular,and thermobiological markers.We also discuss practical challenges that must be addressed before any of these biomarkers can become useful to assess the experience of an animal in real-life.

Adverse impact of industrial animal agriculture on the health and welfare of farmed animals

Industrial animal agriculture is grounded in the concept of maximizing productivity and profit.Selective breeding for maximum productivity in one characteristic of the animal(e.g.milk yield in cows,or breast meat in broiler chickens)has resulted in genotypes and phenotypes that may predispose the animals to poor health and welfare.The conditions in which these individuals are kept may also frustrate many inherited behaviors that they are strongly motivated to perform.In order to curb the resulting harmful aberrant behaviors,such as feather-pecking in chickens,we sometimes resort to mutilating the animals.In many places chickens are routinely de-beaked by means of a hot metal guillotine.Compassion in World Farming(an international organization that promotes the humane treatment of farm animals)believes that it is unethical to treat sentient beings in such ways.We have a duty to respect farm animals’sentience by providing them with housing conditions that take their needs and wants into account,and by reverting to the use of dual-purpose,slower-growing breeds that have the potential for good welfare.Alternatives to current farming practices are available,and we owe it to the animals,and to our consciences,to pursue them.

An alternative approach for sustainable sheep meat production:implications for food security

Background:A pelleted diet containing camelina hay(CAMH)or camelina meal(CAMM)as a supplement along with a control pellet(CONT)diet formulated with commonly available feeds during summer was used to investigate an alternative pathway for sustainable meat production.Sustainable meat production was based on a simple estimation of income from meat produced versus feed costs if animals were fed for an extended period over summer compared to early slaughter at the beginning of summer.Eighty maternal composite wether lambs(Composite)based on Coopworth genetics and 80 pure Merino wether yearlings were divided into 10 groups within breed(n=8)using stratified randomisation based on liveweights.Following 1 week of adaptation to experimental diets,animals were fed experimental diets for up to10 weeks.Results:Animals were slaughtered after either 8,9 or 10 weeks of full feeding when the average liveweight of diet/genetic combination reached a weight appropriate for either‘heavy lamb’or‘heavy hogget’production,which occurred between 8 and 10 weeks of full feeding.There was no diet×breed interactions except for dressing percentage(DP),where Composite lambs fed the CAMH diet had the greatest DP(48.1±0.35)and the Merino yearlings fed the CAMM diet the lowest DP(45.8±0.33).Composite lambs gained 17.6–20.3 kg and Merino yearlings gained 10.7–12.9 kg liveweight.Based on their DP,this resulted in the production of approximately 8.3–9.5 kg additional carcass weight in Composites and 4.9–5.7 kg in Merinos,which in turn produced greater profit per Composite lamb and a small profit per Merino yearling.Conclusions:Composite lambs fed CAMM and CAMH had 5%greater carcass weights at slaughter compared to the CONT group,but dietary treatments did not change carcass weight of Merino yearlings at slaughter.The extended feeding approach offered the producer an estimated economic gain of AUD$20.00 to$25.00 when yearly average prices were used(Method 1)and AUD$40.00 to$47.70 when pre-and post-summer average prices were used(Method 2)per Composite lambs,but extra carcass gain did not result in the same profit per Merino yearling.Among the Composites,the profit for animals fed the CAMH and CAMM were AUD$2.75 to$4.50 greater than CONT group when full year average prices were applied while AUD$3.50 to$5.50 greater than CONT group when pre-and post-summer average prices were applied.However,we acknowledge a combination approach of extended feeding for a portion of animals already on ground and selling the remaining animals pre-summer with joining of additional ewes is the most likely strategy.Considering the scenario of extended feeding for 3 weeks,based on the growth rates observed for Composite lambs,if an additional 2 kg carcass weight per animal can be gained for 50%of the 22 million lambs slaughtered in Australia(=11 million animals),it would potentially supply an additional 22 million kg of lamb carcasses produced per annum.This is equivalent to producing an extra 1 million lamb carcasses per annum weighing 22 kg each.Feeding Composite lambs for an extended period and selling Merino yearlings pre-summer may be a good option due to faster growth rate of Composites that may help quick turn-over to market.

Species identification of crested gibbons(Nomascus) in captivity in China using karyotyping-and PCR-based approaches

Gibbons and siamangs （Hylobatidae） are well-known for their rapid chromosomal evolution,which has resulted in high speciation rate within the family.On the other hand,distinct karyotypes do not prevent speciation,allowing interbreeding between individuals in captivity,and the unwanted hybrids are ethically problematic as all gibbon species are endangered or critically endangered.Thus,accurate species identification is crucial for captive breeding,particularly in China where studbooks are unavailable.Identification based on external morphology is difficult,especially for hybrids,because species are usually similar in appearance.In this study,we employed G-banding karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） as well as a PCR-based approach to examine karyotypic characteristics and identify crested gibbons of the genus Nomascus from zoos and nature reserves in China.We characterized and identified five karyotypes from 21 individuals of Nomascus.Using karyotypes and mitochondrial and nuclear genes,we identified three purebred species and three hybrids,including one F2 hybrid between N.gabriellae and N.siki.Our results also supported that N.leucogenys and N.siki shared the same inversion on chromosome 7,which resolves arguments from previous studies.Our results demonstrated that both karyotyping and DNA-based approaches were suitable for identifying purebred species,though neither was ideal for hybrid identification.The advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are discussed.Our results further highlight the importance of animal ethics and welfare,which are critical for endangered species in captivity.

IgY technology: Methods for developing and evaluating avian immunoglobulins for the in vitro detection of biomolecules

The term“IgY technology”was introduced in the literature in the mid 1990s to describe a procedure involving immunization of avian species,mainly laying hens and consequent isolation of the polyclonal IgYs from the“immune”egg yolk(thus avoiding bleeding and animal stress).IgYs have been applied to various fields of medicine and biotechnology.The present article will deal with specific aspects of IgY technology,focusing on the currently reported methods for developing,isolating,evaluating and storing polyclonal IgYs.Other topics such as current information on isolation protocols or evaluation of IgYs from different avian species are also discussed.Specific advantages of IgY technology(e.g.,novel antibody specificities that may emerge via the avian immune system)will also be discussed.Recent in vitro applications of polyclonal egg yolk-derived IgYs to the field of disease diagnosis in human and veterinary medicine through in vitro immunodetection of target biomolecules will be presented.Moreover,ethical aspects associated with animal well-being as well as new promising approaches that are relevant to the original IgY technology(e.g.,development of monoclonal IgYs and IgY-like antibodies through the phage display technique or in transgenic chickens)and future prospects in the area will also be mentioned.

Exploring Agritourism Experience and Perceptions of Pork Production

The interest of consumers in farming activities is evident and agricultural producers have responded to this increasing interest in a number of ways, including inviting visitors to farm operations through tourism or farm visits. Livestock industries, in particular, are interacting with the public in numerous ways, including via marketing channels for their products, interacting with community leaders and community members in regard to location siting and regulations, and inviting people onto their operations via agritourism. An improved understanding of who visits agricultural locations (particularly livestock operations) and consumers’ perceptions about livestock agriculture is needed in order to begin to understand the possible relationships between on-farm experiences and consumers’ perceptions. Thus, it is important to gain a deeper understanding in consumers’ interests, including their levels of concern for production process attributes, such as animal welfare, relative to product attributes like price and taste. This analysis investigates the demographics of consumers who have (and have not) visited various agritourism operations, studies differences in preferences for (or perceptions of) animal welfare relative to other pork attributes between consumers who have or have not visited a livestock operation, as well as amongst consumers with varying levels of involvement in household food production. Indeed the relationships explored are between having visited a livestock operation and the perceptions. This study found that 69% of participants had visited a livestock operation (pig farm, dairy farm, and/or horse farm) at some point. The majority of respondents agreed that agriculture was an important industry, yet, those who had visited livestock operations were more likely to note concerns about the impact of livestock operations on water quality in their county.

Comparison of Locomotion Problems and Its Economic Impact on Cobb and Ross Broiler Strains

The rapid weight gain and fast muscle growth due to intense genetic selection and improved nutrition for additional breast muscle in broiler commercial strains affect chickens health.In order to compare the main locomotive problems in broilers of Cobb and Ross strains,two pens from a commercial farm in Veracruz,Mexico were used.The first pen housed 16,500 males and 16,500 females of Cobb strain and the second one 16,500 males and 16,500 females of Ross strain.Chicks were checked for locomotion problems from day one until their sale.Animals with problems were recorded and necropsies were performed to identify the pathology.Out of 1406 animals with locomotive problems(2.13%of the total),58.9%were Cobb and 41.1%Ross(P<0.05).The frequency of locomotive problems was 2.51%for Cobb and 1.75%for Ross.Most common individual lesions were osteochondrosis(38.61%),inflamed joints with purulent contents(37.13%),and valgus(19.65%).Locomotive problems appeared since the first week,but its number increased as birds gained weight,particularly from the fourth week on.Problems occurred more in males than in females and in Cobb birds than in the Ross strain.Economic loss due to locomotion problems was higher for the Cobb strain.

Impact of global climate change on the health,welfare and productivity of intensively housed livestock

Major scientific studies have shown that global warming(i.e.increasing average temperature of the Earth)is now a reality.The aims of this paper are to broadly review the underlining causes of global warming,the general effects of global warming on social and environmental systems and the specific effects of resulting from global warming phenomena severe fluctuations in weather patterns,particularly heat waves on livestock health,welfare and productivity.Finally this article aims to summarise some common sense climate control methods and more importantly to highlight the required future research and development(R&D)work that is necessary to achieve a new level of building environment control capability,and thus ensure that the intensive livestock industries will be able to cope with the changed external climate.With the increasing temperatures on a global scale,the most direct effect of the high temperature on the animals is heat stress,which has been proven to have a variety of negative effects on animal health,welfare and productivity.Different potential measures could be taken in future to alleviate the increased heat stress.Some of these measures are mere adaptations or improvements of current engineering solutions.However,facing the complex challenges of global warming and particularly resulting from it the rapid increase of the number of consecutive days with significantly higher than average temperatures will probably require novel solutions,including new designs based on solid engineering judgment,development of new engineering standards and codes to guide designs,the exploration of new and superior building materials,the need for better energy management,and the development of substantially more“intelligent”control systems that will balance changing exterior disturbances,interior building loads and demands to the biological needs of the occupants of the structures.

P recision L ivestock F arming: A n international review of scientific and commercial aspects

Precision Livestock Farming(PLF)is potentially one of the most powerful developments amongst a number of interesting new and upcoming technologies that have the potential to revolutionise the livestock farming industries.If properly implemented,PLF or Smart Farming could(1)improve or at least objectively document animal welfare on farms;(2)reduce greenhouse gas(GHG)emission and improve environmental performance of farms;(3)facilitate product segmentation and better marketing of livestock products;(4)reduce illegal trading of livestock products;and(5)improve the economic stability of rural areas.However,there are only a few examples of successful commercialisation of PLF technologies introduced by a small number of commercial companies which are actively involved in the PLF commercialisation process.To ensure that the potential of PLF is taken to the industry,it is recommended to:(1)establish a new service industry;(2)verify,demonstrate and publicise the benefits of PLF;(3)better coordinate the efforts of different industry and academic organisations interested in the development and implementation of PLF technologies on farms;and(4)encourage the commercial sectors to assist with professionally managed product development.