Transferrin types were determined for flocks of Finnish Landrace, Clun Forest, Soay and Merino sheep and gene frequencies were calculated. Analysis of ratios of transferrin types in segregating matings of Finnish Landrace and Clun Forest revealed a significant excess of heterozygotes in matings of heterozygous rams with heterozygous and with homozygous ewes. In Finnish Landrace, matings of shee...

Worldwide, fetal growth restriction (FGR) affects 7%–10% of pregnancies, or roughly 20.5 million infants, each year. FGR increases not only neonatal mortality and morbidity but also the risk obesity in later life. Currently, molecular mechanisms by which “programs” an obese phenotype are well understood. Studies demonstrate that females more prone to compared males; however, lead sexually dimor...

Six castrated male Karagouniko sheep, offered three levels of water, were used in a 3x3 Latin Square design to study the effects of mild water restriction on roughage intake and digestion. The three treatments were offered water ad libitum throughout the day (A), made available to the animals for 1h daily (B) or 65% of the water consumed ad libitum (C). Sheep in Treatment A consumed more water ...

To investigate the effect of restricted grazing time on behavior of Tan sheep on desert steppe, forty 4-months old male Tan sheep with an original body weight (BW) of 15.62±0.33 kg were randomly allocated to 4 grazing groups which corresponded to 4 different restricted grazing time treatments of 2 h/d (G2), 4 h/d (G4), 8 h/d (G8) and 12 h/d (G12) access to pasture. The restricted grazing times ...

Background: Fasciola hepatica is a genus of the trematodes which mainly affects the liver of sheep and these livestock are accidentally infected by eating plants or drinking water contaminated with the metacercariae of this parasite. These parasites can cause considerable economic damage by destroying the liver and bile ducts. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of ultras...

Sarcocystis is one of the most prevalent parasites of domestic ruminants worldwide. This study was aimed to determine prevalence of Sarcocystis infection and molecular discrimination of Sarcocystis gigantea and Sarcocystis medusiformis infecting domestic sheep. Tissue samples from 638 sheep slaughtered at Urmia abattoir were randomly collected from February 2011 to January 2012. Genomic DNA ext...

1. Comparisons were made between castrated male Scottish Blackface sheep and red deer (Cervus elaphus) of voluntary forage intake (VFI), digestibility and the mean retention time (MRT) of a particulate-phase marker (103Ru-phenanthroline) in the alimentary tract, when a range of forages: dried-grass pellets, chopped dried grass, fresh-frozen Agrostis-Festuca spp. and heather (Calluna vulgaris, L...

Previously we have shown that ovariectomised (OVX) female sheep have reduced renal function and elevated blood pressure from 6 months of age following fetal uninephrectomy (uni-x) at 100 days of gestation (term = 150 days). In the current study we examined if in intact female sheep the onset of decline in renal function and elevation in blood pressure was prevented. Studies were performed at 1 ...

BACKGROUND Animal models are commonly used in investigating new treatment options for knee joint injuries including injuries to the meniscus. The reliability and applicability of these models to replicate findings in humans depends on determining the most suitable animal proxy. Therefore, this study was designed to compare the wet weight, volume and dimensions of the human meniscus with two com...