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.

Fixed-point Monitoring of Vaccine Immune Effects on Severe Animal Diseases in Livestock and Poultry Breeding Fields

In order to reveal the immune antibody levels and immune effect of livestock and poultry in the locality,we performed antibody surveillance on severe animal diseases in 17 livestock and poultry fields in six administrative districts of Wuhan City. The results showed that the vaccines had a good protective efficacy on highly pathogenic avian influenza( HPAI) and Newcastle disease( ND) in Wuhan City. The whole antibody levels kept above the ministerial standard( 】 70%).However,the vaccine immunity of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome( PRRS),swine fever( SF) and foot and mouth disease( FMD) was still poorly protective. The data indicated that the vaccines are protecting the severe animal diseases well,but there are still some potential security holes in some administrative districts.

Utilisation of Non-Conventional Animal Waste as Feeds by Multiple Livestock Species Farmers in Lake Victoria Crescent of Central Uganda

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to establish the utilisation of non-conventional animal waste in multiple livestock species systems. Farmers (150) were selected from four out of ten districts of Central Uganda in Lake Victoria Crescent. A structured questionnaire was used and descriptive analysis showed that over 80% are smallholder farmers on 3.0) years. Household husbands (80%) significantly (P 1.0) as they cause poor livestock health due to pathogens, parasites and toxins which are associated (OD > 1.0) with poor growth, mortality and condemnation of livestock products. The remedy to unsafe non-conventional feeds is to apply effective solar-heating (75%), chemical and ensiling treatment methods. The study showed that there are no significant (P < 0.001) public health risks associated with utilising treated non-conventional feeds instead it improves production and sustainability of multiple livestock species systems.

Infection of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i>in Humans and Livestock Animals: An Emerging Silent Threat for Bangladesh

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular, zoonotic protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. It can potentially infect almost all mammalian and avian hosts including one-third of the human population world-wide. The major target group of the parasite includes immunocompromised patients (e.g. AIDS, cancer, organ transplantation) and fetus bearing pregnant women where it develops toxoplasmic encephalitis, myocarditis, chorioretinitis and abnormal fetal brain development or stillbirths respectively. In this review, we have presented the current status of T. gondii infection in livestock animals and human population in Bangladesh to assess the country-wide relative risk. Although exact prevalence is difficult to predict due to the scarcity of data, nevertheless existing literature suggests that 16% - 39% humans and 8% - 70% domestic animals are infected with T. gondii, which implies Bangladeshi population is at high risk of toxoplasmosis. Furthermore, we have proposed a potential area of research to decipher the genetic diversity and transmission routes of T. gondii infection into Bangladeshi population.

Industry Development and Genetic Resources Protection of Animal Husbandry in the World Selenium Capital Enshi Prefecture

Agricultural genetic resource is an important component of agricultural intellectual property. The protection of livestock genetic resources is related to sustainable development of animal husbandry and biodiversity. Enshi Prefecture enjoys a reputation of ＂world selenium capital＂, and has the important animal genetic resources of Enshi yellow cattle, Enshi black pig, Enshi horse-head goat, Jingyang chicken, Enshi bee, silkworm, etc. The prefecture is the best place for natural selenium-euriched livestock products. This paper introduces genetic resources and industry of animal husbandry in the prefecture, analyses the countermeasures of genetic resources protection and industry development, and further puts forward some constructive suggestions.

Adaptation to climate change in desertified lands of the marginal regions in Egypt through sustainable crop and livestock diversification systems

Environmental degradation resulting from current climate changes, including prolonged drought, land degradation, desertification, and loss of biodiversity, is presenting enormous challenges to achieve food security and eradication of poverty in the marginal regions （about 90% of the total area） of Egypt. In addition to the natural constraints of high temperature, wind erosion, sand dune movement, and recurrent drought, such regions are subjected to improper land and water management. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge, technologies, and experiences to match with the current severe climatic changes. There is a great need for establishing sustainable integrated ecosystem rehabilitation and management programs to overcome such problems in the marginal areas, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula due to its strategic and social importance. A series of research and development programs have been conducted in 2006 to im- prove the livelihoods of smallholders through enhancing the efficient management and utilization of local resources that can cope with the drastic changes of climate in the Sinai Peninsula. An integrated livestock/salt-tolerant fodder crop system was introduced, in 2010 by the project teamwork of Desert Research center, Egypt, to many smallholders in the South Sinai region, where studies were conducted at both the general research and individual farmer levels. The most important results were： （1） adoption of the most salt-tolerant genotypes of three forage crops： pearl millet （Pennisetum glaucum L.）, sorghum （Sorghum bicolor）, and Sudan grass （Sorghum sudanense （Piper） Stapf.）; two cereal crops （triticale and barley）; and two oil crops： safflower （Carthamus tinctorius） and Brassica （Mustard）. Alfalfa （Medicago sativa L. and Medicago arborium）, cowpeas （Vigna sinensis L.）, fodder beets （Beta vulgaris L.）, clumping desert bunchgrass （Panicum turgedum）, ryegrass （Lolium perenne） Ray grass, forage shrubs （Kochia indica, Atriplex num- mularia, Sesbania sesban L.）, and Acacia cyanophila, Leucaena leucocephala, Porsopis cheilanses, and Prosopis jioflora were also evaluated; （2） active participation of farmers in development of management strategies to improve ir- rigation water use efficiency, forage production, and livestock production; and （3） economic evaluation at the farmer level, which showed that feeding livestock salt-tolerant fodders produced an increase of about 60% in milk production and 80% in meat production, and reduced feed costs by about 40%. Accordingly, a 70% increase of family income was achieved. It is concluded that better utilization of fragile ecosystem resources and growing salt-tolerant fodder crops may contribute to the development of marginal areas and enhance the living standards of local people through providing high-quality livestock feed materials and producing economical animal products.

Conservation of endangered animals: From biotechnologies to digital preservation

In the recent years, the number of endangered animals, both referred to livestock and wild species, has grown enormously. The “livestock” term refers to animals domesticated for producing commodities for man such as food, fiber and draught. Livestock biodiversity is integral to our culture, history, environment, and economy. Thousands of livestock breeds have evolved over time to suit particular environments and farming systems. Conservation and analyses of these genetic resources rely on demographic characterization and correct breeding schemes. In addition, molecular genetic studies allow to identify and monitor the genetic diversity within and across breeds and to reconstruct their evolution history. The conservation of livestock variability is also a crucial element in order to preserve and valorise specific nutritional and nutraceutical properties of animal products. Efficient ex situ and in situ conservation strategies, as well as the creation of bio-banks and specific biotechnological and bioinformatics tools for genetic analyses and digital preservation, are obligatory requirements in order to implement an appropriate action for the conservation of animal biodiversity. The main issues concerning different species are summarised, with particular reference to the livestock biodiversity still existing. Some examples of ex situ conservation strategies, which mainly refer to cryoconservation of semen, ova, embryos or tissues, developed in Italy, are presented, and the different actions in defense of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) developed within the European Community are illustrated. Interestingly, the same strategies for biological and digital analyses and preservation of livestock biodiversity can be exported to wild endangered animals in order to plan a correct conservation and repopulation of the species. Furthermore, the European Union has set up the guidelines to safeguard the biodiversity and to combat the extinction of animal species, and has made the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems one of the main objectives of the Sixth Environment Action Programme.

Occurrence of <i>Vibrio cholerae</i>in Some Households Engaged in Livestock Farming in Some Parts of Zaria, Nigeria

The study was designed to determine the presence of Vibrio cholerae from the environment in close proximity with livestock in Zaria,Kadunastate. Three hundred and thirty six environmental samples comprising soil, water, manure and vegetables were collected from some selected households inZariacoveringZariacity, Sabo and Samaru from April to October 2006 and analyzed for the presence of Vibrio cholerae, one of the etiologic agent of gastroenteritis. Twelve Vibrios exhibiting characteristics of Vibrio cholerae were identified using biochemical techniques. Serological identification confirmed 5 (41.7%) of these isolates as Vibrio, 1 (20%) as Vibrio serogroup O1, Ogawa biotype. A 0.59% prevalence was obtained for this pathogen in the study. The 0.59% isolation rate though low is significant considering it’s source being animal, since livestock keeping is a common feature in the study location, with animals living in close proximity to man this work is imperative. Animals are a point source of contamination of enteric pathogens, therefore extensive management system and proper treatment of animal manure is recommended before its use as fertilizer.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Transgenic Animal Technology with Genetic Engineering

Transgenic animal technology has been one of the fastest growing biotechnology areas. The exogenous genes have been introduced into the animal genome by genetic engineering, so that these genes can be inherited and expressed by offspring to produce desired traits or evaluate function in elite livestock breeds. There are several methodologies for the production of transgenic animals, i.e., （1） microinjection of genes into pronuclei of fertilized ova; （2） DNA transfer by retroviruses; （3） injection of embryonic germ （EG）/embryonic stem （ES） cells previously treated with foreign DNA; （4） DNA transfer into cells and embryos with using liposomes; （5） exogenous DNA transfer while in vitro fertilization by using sperm; （6） electroporation of DNA into sperm, embryos or ova; （7） biolistics; （8） nuclear transfer （NT） with somatic cells, EG or ES cells; （9） germ line stem cell-mediated; （10） gene targeting; （! 1） gene silencing technology with RNA interference; （12） induced pluripotent stem cell; （13） zinc-finger nuclease gene targeting technology. Gene farming is one of the newest and most promising areas in modern biotechnology. Cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and rabbits are the main farm livestock species and fish is also used in transgenic technology. The question of ＂why make transgenic animals？＂ is very important. Some of the answers to this question are： （1） to obtain new knowledge; （2） to solve the genetic code; （3） to create genetic disease models; （4） to study the genetic control of physiological systems; （5） to improve animal production traits; （6） to produce new animal products. Transgenic technology is one of the main and important tools in the finding solutions to problems of growing population with their applications to different organisms, and takes more attention and interest every day. Transgenic technology creates opportunities and areas to play with organisms to fulfill the demands of people. Because of this, this paper based on mainly transgenic applications to take people＇s attention and exhibit its importance.

The Rural Women Participation in Small Scale Livestock Management Decisions

In the Turkish society, family is accepted as the basic element of social structure. However, the role and importance ofwomen in the family is mostly neglected. Thirty-three percent of women state that their primary duties are child care and domestictask. Besides duties of women in the house, the participation of women to both agricultural production and activities outside thehouse is quite high. On the other hand, only 5% of women accept income generating activities as the main duty of women. Thepercentage of women who accept all above-mentioned responsibilities as women’s duty is 60%. This high ratio shows that agreat deal of women can participate indoor or outdoor activities depending on the family needs, however, their responsibilitiesstemming from being a mother or wife always have thepriority. However, in rural areas women are involved in agriculturalproduction activities as a labor, in adition to housework, care for children and the elderly. In small and medium-sized enterprises,labor-intensive work is mostly undertaken by women, and workloads are often higher than men. In this study, face-to-face surveyswith 84 women in small-scale livestock farming in villages in the central province of Diyarbakır yielded results. It has beenunderstood that women do not make decisions on domestic affairs in their own family, that they can not decide on their own behalf,they give more opinions on decisions taken, and even some families do not even report opinions on decisions. It may be possible toimprove and increase the living standards and social and economic structures of women living in rural areas by increasing theirknowledge of animal care.

A systematic review of global occurrence of emerging mycotoxins in crops and animal feeds,and their toxicity in livestock

Mycotoxins are the most frequently occurring natural contaminant in food and feed.Their occurrence in crops and animal feed represents an enormous challenge,particularly for livestock farmers in terms of increased production costs,reduced animal performance and profitability.This study investigates the scale of emerging mycotoxins contamination of crops and animal feeds globally,and evaluates their impacts on the health and performance of livestock,especially when they co-occur alongside regulated mycotoxins.Emerging mycotoxins including nivalenol,enniatins,beauvericin,diacetoxyscirpenol,fusaric acid,patulin,moniliformin and sterigmatocystin were found to be the most prevalent contaminants of cereals and other feed commodities worldwide.The pooled mean levels for beauvericin,nivalenol,enniatins,moniliformin,sterigmatocystin,diacetoxyscirpenol,fusaric acid,and patulin were 386,421,7,854,204,136,126,370 and 138 mg/kg,respectively.In terms of toxicity,co-occurrence of emerging mycotoxins with each other and also with regulated mycotoxins profoundly impacts livestock performance,even at low levels.Therefore,there is a need for cumulative risk assessments to evaluate the health risks associated with simultaneous exposure to emerging and regulated mycotoxins and also to develop effective mitigation strategies.

Characteristics and influencing factors of grassfeeding livestock breeding in China:An economic geographical perspective

The development of grass-feeding livestock breeding is the key to promoting the transition from grain-consumption type animal husbandry to grain-saving type animal hus- bandry in China, and to solving the problem of competition for grain between people and livestock. From the perspective of economic geography, this paper first defines the conver- sion standard for the breeding quantity of livestock, and then uses exploratory spatial data analysis technology and econometric models and methods to systematically investigate the sequential variation process, geographical aggregation characteristics, and influencing fac- tors of grass-feeding livestock breeding in China. The study results show the following： 1 ） The breeding quantity of grass-feeding livestock in China has an obvious overall growth trend, but there is an obvious difference among the livestock species. During the period 1978-2012, the breeding quantity of grass-feeding livestock in China grew by 92.5%; and the breeding quan- tity within the same period was beef cattle 〉 sheep 〉 dairy cow. 2） On the county scale, the number of increasing areas of the breeding quantity of grass-feeding livestock is larger than the number of decreasing areas, and the growth rate of breeding quantity of grass-feeding livestock in northern China is higher than that in southern China, which initially forms the pattern of ＂hot in the north and cold in the south＂. 3） The spatial Durbin model shows that the per capita output of grain, proportion of productive land area, urban per capita disposable income, agricultural mechanization level, agricultural labor productivity and policy factor have positive effects on the development of grass-feeding livestock breeding, while the per capita GDP, urbanization level and proportion of non-agricultural income have obvious negative effects on it. 4） Grass-feeding livestock breeding in China can be divided into six major types of areas, and each type of area should be regulated and controlled in terms of their respective focus of attention according to regional conditions and situation of agricultural production.

Optimization of slightly acidic electrolyzed water spray for airborne culturable bacteria reduction in animal housing

Slightly acidic electrolyzed water(SAEW)spray has been considered as a novel approach for airborne bacteria reduction in animal housing.This study aimed to optimize the operating parameters of SAEW spray based on the size distribution of sprayed aerosols,the available chlorine travelling loss in sprayed aerosols,and the reduction efficiency of airborne culturable bacteria(CB).The optimized operating parameters were the nozzle orifice diameter and the spray pressure.The size distribution characteristics of sprayed SAEW aerosols under different operating parameters were quantified.The pH and available chlorine concentrations of the original SAEW solution and the SAEW aerosols collected at 0 m,0.25 m,0.50 m,0.75 m,and 1.00 m from the spray nozzle head were analyzed.A bioaerosol nebulizing generator was used to simulate animal housing environment in an environmentally-controlled chamber.Six SAEW spray trials under different operating parameters were conducted at a spray dosage of 80 mL/m2 in the chamber.Airborne CB concentrations before and after spray were measured to investigate the reduction efficiency of airborne CB.Dv(50),the volume-based diameter below which 50%of the particle being present,increased with the nozzle orifice diameter and decreased with the spray pressure.The travelling loss of available chlorine in the sprayed SAEW aerosols was greatly dependent on Dv(50).SAEW spray with medium size sprayed aerosols(Dv(50)=86.62μm,67.94μm,and 54.53μm)showed significantly higher airborne CB reduction efficiencies than large(Dv(50)=121.80μm and 96.00μm)or small size aerosols(Dv(50)=42.57μm).The spray operating parameters that provide medium size sprayed aerosols(Dv(50)~60-90μm)are recommended for SAEW spray in animal housing.

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.

Embryo-mediated genome editing for accelerated genetic improvement of livestock

Selecting beneficial DNA variants is the main goal of animal breeding.However,this process is inherently inefficient because each animal only carries a fraction of all desirable variants.Genome editing technology with its ability to directly introduce beneficial sequence variants offers new opportunities to modernize animal breeding by overcoming this biological limitation and accelerating genetic gains.To realize rapid genetic gain,precise edits need to be introduced into genomicallyselected embryos,which minimizes the genetic lag.However,embryo-mediated precision editing by homology-directed repair(HDR)mechanisms is currently an inefficient process that often produces mosaic embryos and greatly limits the numbers of available edited embryos.This review provides a summary of genome editing in bovine embryos and proposes an embryo-mediated accelerated breeding scheme that overcomes the present efficiency limitations of HDR editing in bovine embryos.It integrates embryo-based genomic selection with precise multi-editing and uses embryonic cloning with elite edited blastomeres or embryonic pluripotent stem cells to resolve mosaicism,enable multiplex editing and multiply rare elite genotypes.Such a breeding strategy would enable a more targeted,accelerated approach for livestock improvement that allows stacking of beneficial variants,even including novel traits from outside the breeding population,in the most recent elite genetic background,essentially within a single generation.

THE SUMERIAN TERM u_(8)/ud_(5)/ab_(2)/eme_(3)/_(6)sila_(4)/maš_(2)/amar du_(3)(-a)

The aim of the present article is twofold:firstly,to prove that the expression animal+young du_(3)(-a),which is basically documented in texts from the 3rd millennium BC,refers to a dam that has just given birth,and secondly,to show the information concerning female animals and their newborns available in the texts.

Evaluating droplet distribution of spray-nozzles for dust reduction in livestock buildings using machine vision

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative effects of sub-optimal air quality on profitability,production efficiency,environmental sustainability and animal welfare.Experiments were conducted to assess potential environmental improvement techniques such as installing oil-spraying systems in piggery buildings.The developed spray system worked very well and it was easy to assemble and operate.However,before selecting the most suitable spray heads,their capacity to uniformly distribute the oily mixture and the area covered by the spray heads had to be assessed.Machine vision techniques were used to evaluate the ability of different spray heads to evenly distribute the oil/water mixture.The results indicated that the best coverage was achieved by spray head No.4 and spray head No.1 which covered 79%and 67%of the target area,respectively.Spray distribution uniformity(variance)value was the lowest for spray head No.4(0.015).Spray head No.3 had the highest variance value(0.064).As the lowest variance means higher uniformity,nozzle No.4 was identified as the most suitable spray head for dust reduction in livestock buildings.

Animal Reproduction Technologies-FuturePerspectives

Reproductive biotechnologies, such as artificial insemination, sperm selection and embryo technologies, offer possibilitiesfor animal producers to increase reproductive efficiency. There have been many significant developments in reproductivebiotechnologies over the last few decades, e.g., in sperm handling and preservation, in vitro embryo production and preservation,sexing and cloning. This review discusses some of the key changes that have occurred and explores their potential for increasing thereproductive efficiency of domestic animals in the future. As a consequence, they also offer opportunities to facilitate or accelerategenetic selection. If properly used, they may contribute to increase the sustainability of animal production. The role of epigenetics ininfluencing phenotype is also considered.

畜禽种业振兴背景下动物科学创新创业人才培养

面对我国畜禽种业振兴的紧迫需求和高等农业教育改革的新动向,文章致力于解析农业院校畜牧学专业在创新创业人才培养方面的瓶颈和挑战,推动人才培养与产业发展的高效对接。通过深入分析当前农业院校动物科学专业与畜禽种业创新人才需求之间的匹配程度,阐述现有教育模式在育种人才创新创业能力培养方面的问题,研究进一步提出与畜牧产业高度融合的双创型人才培养模式,并构建了一套科学的评价指标体系,提出师资队伍结构多元化、专业化建设方案。研究结果旨在培养具备强大专业能力和创新创业能力的“双强人才”,为我国畜禽种业的持续发展和全球竞争力的提升提供有力的人才支持。

面向农业强国:畜牧产业绿色高质量发展的基础、价值与路径

畜牧产业作为经济可持续发展的主要组成部分,如何在农业强国战略指引下实现绿色高质量发展成为重要议题。文章从支持政策持续加码、市场需求日益旺盛、畜牧产业竞争力不断增强三方面阐述我国畜牧产业绿色高质量发展的现实基础。面向农业强国,畜牧产业绿色高质量发展有助于驱动农业农村现代化、助力畜牧业经济高速增长与打造畜牧产业现代化生态。因此,文章提出增强畜牧产业政策扶持力度、提高畜牧产业信息化水平、建立畜禽商品冷链加工配送系统的创新路径,为实现农业强国战略目标提供重要支持。