A family of endogenous retroviruses (enJSRV) closely related to Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is ubiquitous in domestic and wild sheep and goats. Southern blot hybridization studies indicate that there is little active replication or movement of the enJSRV proviruses in these species. Two approaches were used to investigate the distribution of proviral loci in the sheep genome. Fluorescenc...

Five Merino and five Dorper sheep were artificially infested with the sheep scab mite Psoroptes ovis and the effect of infestation on their haematology, serum protein levels and live mass recorded for a period of 14 weeks. The reaction of the Merino sheep to infestation was more severe than that of the Dorper sheep. Haematological values fluctuated within the normal range during the assessment ...

Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most important foodborne pathogens. Toxoplasmosis causes abortion and neonatal loss in livestock and imposes significant losses to farming industry. Prevalence of T. gondii in sheep and goats was investigated in three adjacent geographical areas within Gilan province in north of Iran. Methods: Serum samples were collected from 247 sheep and 155 goat...

Sheep scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that can be transmitted horizontally. The prion protein gene (PRNP) profoundly influences the susceptibility of sheep to the scrapie agent and the tissue levels and distribution of PrPSc in affected sheep. The purpose of this study was to compare the survival time and PrPSc tissue distribution in sheep with highly resistant and highly s...

This study aimed to assess serum total alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and its bone isoform (BALP) levels during the ageing and in different physiologic states of sheep, in order to expand the knowledge about the variation of these biomarkers over the sheep lifespan. Ninety female sheep were divided into nine groups of various ages and physiological states (dry, lactation and pregnancy). Serum ALP, ...

Sheep fed on either a low (500 g lucern (Medicago sativa) chaff/d; L) or high (1100 g lucerne chaff/d; H) intake had measurements made, using arterio-venous techniques, of blood flow and energy metabolite and cysteine utilization in the skin. Sheep on the H intake had significantly increased skin blood flow (P = 0.014) and oxygen uptake (P = 0.05). Although the H sheep had higher skin blood flo...

Previously a Brucella protein named CP28, BP26, or Omp28 has been identified as an immunodominant antigen in infected cattle, sheep, goats, and humans. In the present study we evaluated antibody responses of infected and B. melitensis Rev.1-vaccinated sheep to the BP26 protein using purified recombinant BP26 protein produced in Escherichia coli in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (...

Three trials were conducted to determine if low ingestion of some leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) by sheep is primarily due to differences in sheep or in leafy spurge. In the first trial, pastures in Idaho and North Dakota were grazed by sheep originating from both states. Generally, sheep from both states grazed the leafy spurge growing in the Idaho pastures reluctantly but grazed the leafy ...

This study reports a functional characterization of a limited segment (QTL) of sheep chromosome 12 associated with resistance to the abomasal nematode Haemonchus contortus. The first objective was to validate the identified QTL through the comparison of genetically susceptible (N) and resistant (R) sheep produced from Martinik × Romane back-cross sheep. The R and N genotype groups were then exp...

Myostatin (MSTN) has been shown to be a negative regulator of skeletal muscle development and growth. MSTN dysfunction therefore offers a strategy for promoting animal growth performance in livestock production. In this study, we investigated the possibility of using RNAi-based technology to generate transgenic sheep with a double-muscle phenotype. A shRNA expression cassette targeting sheep MS...