abstract the whole blood potassium concentration has shown the bimodal distribution in sheep, which has been classified into lk and hk types; hk allele is recessive to lk with a single gene inheritance. this polymorphism showed different behavior in different environment, which could be due to adaptation process. this research was conducted on the zel and kermani breed research station, which k...

Sheep are among the major economically important livestock species worldwide because the animals produce milk, wool, skin, and meat. In the present study, the Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip was used to investigate genetic diversity and genome selection among Suffolk, Rambouillet, Columbia, Polypay, and Targhee sheep breeds from the United States. After quality-control filtering of SNPs (single nu...

This study aimed to investigate the bone development of two mountain sheep breeds during natural summer grazing either in the lowlands or on different characteristic alpine pastures. Pasture types differed in topographic slope, plant species composition, general nutritional feeding value, Ca and P content, and Ca:P ratio of herbage. Twenty-seven Engadine sheep (ES) lambs and 27 Valaisian Black ...

BACKGROUND Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease of small ruminants in Asia and Africa. In 2008, a PPR outbreak was reported for the first time in Morocco and a mass vaccination campaign allowed control of the disease. In this study, the susceptibility of four Moroccan local breeds of small ruminants to PPR virus was investigated by experimental infections. The o...

The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of breed (Churra and Merino) and advancing season (middle June, late July and early October) on rumen fermentation in sheep grazing a continuously stocked grass /white clover pasture. Six mature sheep (three Churra and three Merino) fitted with rumen cannulae were used. During each grazing period, samples of the grazed herbage (obtained using t...

When domesticated species are not reproductively isolated from their wild relatives, the opportunity arises for artificially selected variants to be re-introduced into the wild. However, the evolutionary consequences of introgression of domesticated genes back into the wild are poorly understood. By combining high-throughput genotyping with 25 years of long-term ecological field data, we descri...

Tibetan sheep are carpet and apparel wool producing ovine breed of the Indian subcontinent. The Bhotia community of North Eastern India traditionally rears the sheep of this breed. The Tibetan sheep are adapted to the temperate climate and have been providing livelihood for majority of the people in the region. Livestock herding was the primary occupation of the people of the higher altitude re...

The aim of this study was to assess the seasonal trend of the serum protein content of sheep and goats. The tested animals were six female goats (Maltese breed) and six female sheep (Valle del Belice breed). All animals were clinically healthy and not pregnant or lactating before or during the study. On blood samples, collected through an external jugular venipuncture every 30 days for 12 month...

Any producer contemplating the prospect of sheep dairying will face the problem of breeds: which breeds or what type of animals to purchase (or develop) in order to have the most economical commercial milk production? The problem is not an easy one to solve because there is not a single breed that combines all favorable traits. Some breeds are better than others in producing milk and others are...

BACKGROUND The physiological levels of endocrine and metabolic parameters in Slovene autochthonous breeds of sheep are not yet well known, nor are the mechanisms of their adaptability and responses to climate and environmental factors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate fluctuations of cortisol, insulin and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in growing ewes over an one-year period....