Year:2008 | Volume:21 | Issue:2 (79 IN ANIMAL AND FISHERIRS SCIENCES)|Papers Count:32

Fars province contains a high potential in developing aquaculture. The objective of this study was to appraisal investment in aquatic projects in Fars province. The data set obtained thorough aquatic growers by interviewing in 2005. Internal Rate of Return, Net Present Value and Benefit-Cost Ratio are the applied criteria to get the objective. In order to determine representative farm the selected farms were clustered using Compare Mean Test. Then, sensitive analysis of calculative criterion and costs and gains were computed. The results showed that financial rate of return of cool water growing projects in farms with 10, 32 and 100 tone capacity are 38, 62 and 107 percent respectively. The Benefit-Cost Ratio of the farms with discounting rate of 15% was obtained 1.17, 1.29 and 1.48 respectively. The corresponding figures for warm water growing farms with 1.5, 6 and 10 hectare are 4, 17.4 and 31 percent respectively. In the case of processing enterprises with capacity of 200 and 500 tones the financial rate of return were obtained 26.7 and 34.2 percent. In general. Except for warm water farms of 1.5 capacity that are far from break even point and cool water farms of 6 hectare that are close to break even point other scale of fish growing farms are economically feasible. It was also revealed that cool water farms are more feasible economically compared to warm and processing units.

Hyperimmune sera are used in diagnostic laboratories abundantly. Because of the imported antisera are expensive, the internal preparation with high quality, is very important. In this study, the hyperimmune serum against adaptated plowright rinderpest virus to primary rabbit kidney cell prepared and used in agar gel immunodiffusion test and serum neutralization test. Primary cell, prepared with enzymatic disaggregation method. The attenuated virus was inoculated and the cytopathic effect was seen in 7th blind passage and it's ideal assay (10-5) obtained in 18th passage. The antiserum prepared after injection to rabbit and created clear precipitation lines in agar immunodiffusion test. In SN, the 1: 64 titer in 100 TCID50 could neutralized the RPV. The sensitivity and specificity of this antiserum was 100% and 80%, that is suitable. At the end, the adaptated virus and hyperimmune serum lyophilized. This serum kept to delivering to the diagnostic laboratories.

Between 1998 to 1999 total number of 27 wild carnivores (5 wolves, 7jackals, 15 foxes) of East Azarbaijan province in northwest of Iran were examined (on post mortem examination) for Dirofilaria immitis. Some of these animals were shouted and others have been killed in car accident, many adult worms and numerous of microfilaria were recovered from heart and blood samples that examined with Knott’s method. One Wolf, four jackals and two foxes had adult worms in their heart. One wolf and two jackals had microfilaria in their bloods.

In the majority of experiments, the effects of phytic acid (with or without phytase) are not separated from the effects of adding plant meals containing phytic acid. A 12-week experiment was conducted with rainbow trout (with average weight: 28.9 g) to determine the separate and combined effects of phytic acid and phytase on feed intake, trypsin activity, digestibility and growth. Diets were prepared without phytic acid and phytase, with 2000 U phytase kg-1 diet, with 10 g sodium phytate kg-1 diet, and with 10 g sodium phytate and 2000 U phytase kg-1 diet. The basal diet contained sufficient phosphorus and other minerals to meet rainbow trout requirements. Two-way anova was used for data analyse and Duncan multiple range test was used for mean comparison by SAS software at level of 0.05. The addition of phytic acid had no significant effect (p>0.05) on feed intake or weight gain, it significantly (p<0.05) reduced protein digestibility although there was no reduction in trypsin activity. Phytase inclusion neutralized the effect of phytic acid on protein digestibility. Phytase had no effect on feed intake but significantly (p<0.05) enhanced growth whether included with or without phytic acid. Feed efficiency ratio was significantly (p<0.05) improved for fish fed the diet containing both phytase and phytic acid but not separately. The significance of this experiment was to separate the direct effects of phytase and the direct effects of phytic acid, added in a pure form, from effects due to other components in ingredients containing phytic acid.

Phenotypic correlation among the morphological and economical traits were evaluated on 1100 colonies of 69 apiaries in Tehran‚ Markazi, Ghazvin and Isfahan provinces. The economic traits were assessed in apiaries locations. The morphological traits were measured by Ruttner method in the lab. The obtained data (average of morphological and economic traits) were studied by analysis of variance, phenotypic correlation, partial correlation and regression. The results showed significant difference in four economic traits among the 13 location. The simple correlation coefficient among traits showed no significant correlation between morphological traits and honey production. The results showed significant negative correlation between honey production and swarming (r=-0.125), significant positive correlation with aggressiveness behavior (r=0.064), and significant positive correlation between aggressiveness behavior and swarming (r=0.164), significant negative correlation with calmness behavior (r=-0.732). Significant correlation were observed among morphologic traits. Therefore additional studies are necessary to evaluate the phenotypic and genetic correlation among these traits by reliable multiple traits model and using them in honeybee breeding projects.

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted with rainbow trout to examine effects of partial substitution of plant protein sources with fish meal in diets. Two different sources of plant protein including canola and soybean meal, were substituted by fish meal at four levels of 10, 20, 30 and 40%. Each diet was assigned to triplicate groups of fish in a completely randomized design as a 2×4 factorial arrangement, with a control diet.240 fish were used in this trial.10 fish were randomly assigned to each of 24 pens and were acclimated in these pens to the experimental conditions two weeks before treatments began. Measurements of Final body weight, Body Weight Index (BWI), Feed Conversion ratio (FCR), specefic growth rate (SGR), volountary feed Intake (VFI) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) was determined for total experimental duration and carcss composition (dry matter, protein and energy) was determined on first and 56th day for measuring of nitrogen (NRE) and energy retetion (ERE). This substitution caused no significant differences in all criteria measured with control diet (with the exception of final body weight, VFI, NRE and ERE) (p>0.05). Irrespective of substitution levels, comparison of fish fed by two different sources of plant protein in their diets showed that fish fed diet containing canola meal had significantly (p<0.05) higher final body weight, BWI, SGR, VFI, PER, NRE and ERE and lower FCR than the fish receiving soybean meal diets. The results of present experiment showed that 40% canola meal because of improvement of growth performance in rainbow trout is feasible to replace compared with 40% soybeam meal. Partial replacement of canola meal result in a higher energy availability to fish and also better performance of fish. These results indicate that canola meal can be recommended as a more suitable and fish meal-sparing ingredient compared with soybean meal in diets for rainbow trout.

In this study different levels of hay from the range plant Prangos ferulacea were included in the ration of fattening lambs. Seventy-two lambs were randomly divided into six groups of 12 lambs each. The hay of Prangos ferulacea was included in the ration as to replace 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 % of ration total roughage where the remainder was alfalfa hay. Each ration contained 60 % roughage and 40 % concentrate. The rations were fed gradually over a preliminary period of 3 weeks, followed by 100 days during the fattening period. Initial weights (IW), final weights (FW) and average daily gains (ADG) were not different between experimental groups. Carcass characteristics were not influenced by the treatments. ADG for the six experimental groups were 221, 216, 213, 211, 207, 201 g, daily feed intake was 1.499, 1.502, 1.507, 1.465, 1.477, 1.471 kg and feed conversion ratio was 6.78, 6.94, 7.06, 6.95, 7.12 and 7.33 kg feed to kg gain for groups 1 to 6, respectively. Carcass lean percentage were 59.08, 59.31, 56.21, 56.4, 55.58, 53.4 and fat depots percentage was 22.44, 20.7, 24.15, 24.42, 23.28, 28.32 and bone percentage was 14.26, 16.56, 15.35, 14.71, 15.75, 14.91 for groups 1 to 6, respectively.

The dam of River Arass was built, on this river, in 1972, 1973 with coordinates 45o22′ of east Longitude and 39°7′ North Latitude. Now, there are 27 species and subspecies of Teleosts in the lake behind the dam (Sander lucioperca) with 37.3 percent is the most frequent (species) among (different) species of fish in this lake. In the study 125 fish were collected monthy, and 140 fish were collected in 2004 - 2005. nets and gill net by cast net during 1 year from october 2002 to September 2003 and 140 fish were collected in 2004 - 2005. Specimens were carried to the place determined for biometrics snd after anatomical dissection, their digestive systems and reproduction organs were removed from abdominal cavity and they were fixed in Formalin 10% and were assessed in labratoary.27 features of biometrics were measured the most important results of which are related to the total length: 34.79 ± 8.52 c.m, the standard length: 31.8 ± 7.47 c.m and the weight of the body: 355.13 ± 295.7 Also, The length –weigth regression relation (p<0.05) has a high correlation (r2=76.3) and bis smaller than 3 whichindicates the fish allometric arowth in this lake. Also fish’s age is determined according to the scale indicating population in classes 2+or 5+. According to gonadostomatic Indicator (GSI), in March 20 – April 19, the maximum amount of gonads in femal fish is (5.84) and the amount is male fish reaches (2.41). The indicator of stomach emptiness (28.8) shows that the fish is almost gluttonous. The highest amount of food preference belongs to bony fishes a (62 / 92 percent), second crab larve (31 / 46) percent cent and aquatic insects, The indicator of intestine length in this fish is 0.7 shawing that the fish is carnivorous. Also, the average of growth correlation is 729 ± 236.87 (KF).

The presence of aflatoxin B1 in 108 samples of animal feed contain alfalfa meal, corn, corn silage, cottonseed meal, barley and wheat bran obtained from dairy farms of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari analysed. Aflatoxin B1 levels were investigated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) which is a rapid and sensitive method. In 73 (67.6%) of the 108 samples the presence of aflatoxin B1 was detected in concentration ranging between 0.80 mg/kg and 155.18 mg/kg. Aflatoxin B1 level in 19 (17.6%) of these samples were higher than the maximum tolerance limit (30). Results showed that there were statistical difference between aflatoxin B1 contents in cottonseed meal with wheat bran (p=0.014), barley (p=0.032) and alfalfa meal (p=0.027). Statistical evaluation showed that mean contamination level of aflatocxin B1 in Winter samples were significantly higher than those of Summer (p=0.008).

Epinephelus coioides (family Serranidae) is a protogynous fish. This species is one of the most important fishes in food chain of marine proteins of Persian Gulf. In this study, Monthly samples of Epinephelus coioides were examined during 17 months from may 2001 to September 2002 in Persian Gulf. Blood samples and oocytes at all stages of development were taken from this species. The hormones have assayed and also different stages of gonadal maturation. from the histological point of view were studied by light microscope. The results indicated that changes in serum levels of gonadal estradiol were correlated with ovarian development. Serum 17 b estradiol concentration increased in April and reached their highest levels (1.482 ng/ml. p<0.01) in ripe females. whose gonads contained both cortical alveoli and vitellogenic oocytes during the spawning season. 17b estradiol level was also correlated with gonadosomatic index(GSI). and the peak of GSI occurred in May. Testosterone peaked in female during vitellogenesis and maturation (1.045 ng/ml. p<0.01). Plasma concentration of 17- 20BP were significantly elevated in female with ovaries undergoing final oocyte maturation (FOM) and to have high potency to induce maturation. Regarding to the results of this research, it seems that the period of spawning in Epinephelus coioides is in May – June and the aquaculture procedure of this species could be performed in the above mentioned periods.

In This survey, the brucella infection rate was studied in dairy cattles of industrial and non-industrial herds in Golestan province.10312 blood specimens were randomly collected from whole 400, 000 heads of cow in the area. It must be indicatd that 986 of blood samples were taken from dairy cows of industrial farms and 9326 of them from dairy cows of traditional herds. The specimens were collected from 3 regions in whole province. Serological tests (Rose Bengal, Seroaglutination wright) also and 2-ME tests were done on blood samples.The results showed that brucella infection in province was 1.62% for industrial farms, 0.55% for non-industrial herds and 0.65% for total cows of province (67 reactor of 10312 samples). Generally according to the results of this survey, the prevalence and gradual increasing of the infection in province is not due to consumpting of cow milk and its products, and the invasion of brucella infection to the human being in this area must be searched in other animals like sheep and goat.

In this researeh, stress physlological effects on muscle compound and cortisone’s hormonal varitions for Zander are being analysed. samplings of this project varitions under stress conditons as well as biochemical changer referring to muscle tissue.when zanders were put under stressful conditions type chronic handcing’rate of their muscle compounds (protein, fat, humidity, ash) and also cortisone’s hormonal varitions were measured for two seasons namely Autumn and Winter. during 4 periods of sampling and measuring in realtion to cortisone’s hormonal functuations, rate of plasma cortisone for fish’s blood showed an significant increase (p<0.05). this rate for stressed fish to witness fish is comparable. during 4 periods of sampling, rate of protein has a total significant inerease (p<0.05) is meaning a decreased signifcant rate of humidity witleh resulted in our experiment.

A compeletly randomized design was conducted to determine the effect of three kind of plant leaf as gammarus feeds (Plane: Platanus orientalis, Alder: Alnus glutinosa and mixed of Plane and Alder) on survival of amphipod (Gammarus komareki) during a 1-month culture in a water recirculating system. The specimens of gammarus were gathered from the Shour River in the area of Eshtehard in province of Tehran, Iran, then transported to lab of Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources Faculty of University of Tehran. The experimental unit was consisted of an aquarium with the capacity of holding 30 L water, a trough (30 cm length, 25cm width and 10cm depth) and an aquarium pump with the power of pumping 5L of water per minute to recycle the water through the aquariums and troughs. At the start of the experiment, each aquarium filled with 30 L of brackish water (salinity of 9 ppt), then 20 pieces of Gammarus komareki with the average weight of 10±1.11 mg were introduced into each trough. The specimens were fed dry experimental leaf with the rate of 0.5 g /unit. The old leaf was replaced fresh dry leaf during the experimental period. Water temperature and pH ranged 24-28oC and 7.49–8.23, respectively during the experiment. Concentration of hardness, calcium, total nitrogen, carbonate and bicarbonate decresed during the experimental period. The survival of gammarus was significantly different (p<0.05) among treatments. This rate in treatment with plane leaf was higher compared to other treatments. The result of this study indicated that Gammarus komareki fed plane leaf better than alder leaf and mixed of plane and alder.

This study was undertaken to determine the presence and levels of histamine in canned fish tuna marketed in Tehran that produced by different plants in Iran. For this purpose, a total of 55 canned fish samples analyzed, and ELISA was used to determine the presence and levels of histamine. Histamine was found in 82.81% of 55 of the canned fish samples examined. The range of contamination levels varied among different seasons. Histamine concentration in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter samples ranged from 0 to 260, 2 to 185, 0 to 95, and 0 to 270.5 mg / kg respectively, while the mean values were 63.5, 78.7, 19.1, and 38.8 mg / kg respectively. The highest mean concentration of histamine was registered in Summer samples (78.7 mg / kg). The lowest mean concentration of histamine was registered in Autumn samples (19.1 mg / kg). Statistical evaluation showed that there were significant differences between the concentrations of histamine of canned fish samples taken in Autumn with Spring, Summer and Winter (p<0 / 05). In other words, histamine content of canned fish samples taken in Spring, Summer and Winter were higher than canned fish samples taken in Autumn. Almost 31.42% of the contaminated samples exceeded the 50 mg / kg limits (EU Standard).

This study was conducted to reveal Immunization and immunosuppression on experiment al sporothricosis lesrons in model animal at beginning Sporothrix schenckeii was grown on BHI medium. Then fungi harvested and were disrupted by sonication. Thus, soluble antigen obtained. And then, 25 female Newzealand white rabbits were used. These animals were divided to three groups as fallows: Group 1: In this group, the rabbits were immunized with soluble antigen, which obtained from yeast phase of Sporothri x schenckeii. Group 2: In this group, for immunosuppression, we used of cyclophosphamide (100 mg / kg) and hydro cortisone acetate (3mg / kg). Group 3: This group was kept as control during the investigation. All of the rabbits (3 group) were inoculated with 1×107 fungal cells from different routs, I.V and interatracheal. After 25 days, all rabits were sacrificed and investigated for microscopic and macroscopic lesions. Clinical symptoms were recorded. The most lesions were revealed in liver, lung and kidney respectively. According to lesions in different organs, significant differences were observed only in liver but in other organs, the differences were not significant.

Broiler farms have been the most profitable industry in the world because they provide enough protein in diets with low price, however, feed wastes are very high in this industry which shows an unfavourable feed conversion ratio indicator. To find out the level of feed conversion ratio and factors affecting it in broiler farms in Iran, a national research project was carried out. It was based on a survey research method, a systematic sampling technique was used to identify the first highest provinces in terms of broiler production capacity. These provinces have 53% of overall capacity in broiler production at national level. The survey questionnaire was designed based on literature and then its face -validity and reliability were calculated. A sample of 200 broiler farms was considered as sample for interviews. The result showed that the highest FCR with 6.21 and the lowest with 2.49 exist in Khorasan and Mazanderan provinces, respectively, and an average of 3.80 for all provinces. The results also showed that factors such as farm size, lack of official authority for operation, usage of mash feed, supplying feed from non -official providers, uncorrect usage of some technology for hygiene and ventilating, careless the time between two rearing periods, rearing period numbers in the year, chick numbers for a rearing period, early sale of produce, lack of knowledge about feed wastages standard, excessive feeding and uncorrect mode of feeding, have led to high FCR. The practical recommendations are presented in the paper showing how to decrease FCR.

Two species of genus Natrix (N. natrix and N. tessellata) have been reported from Iran. Monothetic method of identification and diagnostic characters of dichotomous keys can not distinguish this two species exactly. In this research, we examined the ability of polythetic method and multivariate analysis for identification of this two Iranian species. Four morphologic, two morphometric and 14 meristic characters have been studied in 41 specimens (collected during 1997 to 2005 and deposited in Zoological Museum of Gorgan University) from different part of Iran. Statistically significant difference exists between this two species in number of preocular scales, number of postocular scales, number of sircumorbital scales, number of subventrals and number of subcaudals (p<0.01). The specimens of N. natrix and N. tessellata have been actually separated based on coordinate I (72% variances and eigenvalue 1.7) and coordinate II (15% variances and eigenvalue 0.3) in principle coordinate analysis. In discrimination analysis, all of specimens were assigned to their correct apriori group (species), based on three first functions. The most important characters were: Number of preocular scales, number of subventrals, number of subcaudals and body length. Results showed that multivariate analysis can identify the specimens of N. natrix and N. tessellata.

This research has focused in breeding of the convict cichlid (Cichlosoma nigrofasciatum). The effects of 5 treatments for sex ratio and 3 treatments for photoperiod on fecundity and fry survival have been surveyed. The sex ratio treatments included: F1: M1, F2: M1, F3: M1, F1: M2, F1: M3 and photoperiod treatments included 3 different lightening periods such as: L10: D14, L12: D12, L14: D10. All of treatments were done 3 times. The result of reproduction including fecundity, hatching and survival percentage of fry within 40 days in different treatments was as following: With increasing the females in an aquarium, the number of eggs in aquarium that contains F1: M1 and F3: M1 decreased from 566 to 344. The treatments in which number of females was more than males, spawning time increased from 10 days (F1: M1) to 26 days (F3: M1). Fry survival percentage declined in treatment of F1: M1 and F3: M1, 99% - 73% respectively. In photoperiod test, rising the lightening time from 10 hours to 14 hours increased the number of eggs and hatched eggs. But it caused decreasing in spawning time and fry survival percentage. As a result the best sex ratio and photoperiod are offered F1: M1 and L12: D12 respectively.

The present research aims at identifying various stages of Rutilus frisii kutum sexual maturity with emphasis on reproduction time’s body size at maturity, sex determination and fecundity through application of various scientific methods done during 2005-6. With respect to the central importance of kutum among the south Caspian sea fishes, it seems necessary to launch a comprehensive study including, consideration of biometrics menses enumeration such as total length, fork length, standard, total body weight, gonads weight, number of ovum per gram and the sexual maturity of this species at different periods and location. For this purpose the Kutum fishes migrating to estuaries and reverie sections were regularly caught by beach seine with mesh size of as 22mm.on a monthly basis. The data obtained were analyzed using Excel, SPSS 13 software packages using statistical procedures such as ANOVA.The results indicate that during March, April & June the female Kutum were at IV, V, VI stages of sexual maturity whereas the maximum range occurred in March when the body length of the fish was 349±58 mm weighting 564±334 with a sex composition of 45.6% female and the remaining 54.4% constituting male ones.

In this study, hydrogel as wound dressing was prepared with composite Poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrolidone)(PVP), Alginate and Polyethylenglycol (PEG) by ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation was applied as a tool for initiation of crosslinking and sterilization of these materials. Alginate as sodium alginate was extracted from brown seaweed prepared from areas of Sistan and Balochestan. then identified by FT-IR and GPC method. The effects of irradiation dose at the range 10-40 KGy and prepared hydrogels was studied. Also the concentration of components were varied and these effects of components on the properties of hydrogels such as Gel Fraction, Degree of Swelling (DS), Hydration and Dehydration properties, and Microbial test were evaluated. Hydrogel membrane at the dose of 25 KGy exhibits the following properties. It is elastic, transparence, flexible, sterile and impermeable for bacteria. They absorb a high capacity of water, attachable to healthy skin and can easy to be removed. PVP and Alginate hydrogels alone don’t have suitable properties the same as wound dressing when they are used together, better gel is obtained, because of the existence of alginate chains between PVP network.

Lymphatic system protects the body against the attack of foreign antigen. Various bacteria cause damage to lymphatic nodes (lymphadenopathy) among which there are dangerous disease such as melioidosis, tularemia, anthrax and caseous lymphadenitis. This study carried out to determine the cause of this lesion and its prevalence rate in a sheep in Kazeroun slaughterhouse. In this study 500 sheep carcasses were infected from 21 April, 2003 to 6 July 2003. Fifteen carcasses out of 500 sheep (3%) were suffered from lymphadenopathy and most of them were 3-year-old females. Among them, 7 sheep (46.6%) were suffered from caseous lymphadenitis caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. In this research it was observed that prevalence rate of lymphadenopathy in females was higher than males it is because of the slaughter of 1-year-old male sheep, where as females are kept for reproduction.

Since macro-nutrients such as protein, lipid and starch has been worked out on advanced fry of Caspian frisii kutum in recent years, hence the other requirement such as multi-vitamin in the form of premixes must be known for the purpose of surveying the effect of different vitamin premix levels on growth index of Caspian frisii kutum, a nutritional experiment of 8 weeks was conducted in order to obtain optimum level on advanced fry stage. Three-hundred advanced fry with an average individual weight of 3 ± 0.8 gr were randomly stocked between 15 fiberglass tanks of 400 lit capacity eachwhich was filled with 300 lit freshwater. Water quality such as temperature, co2, pH, … were maintained at optimum levels throughout experiment. Five semi-purified diets ranging 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4% vitamin premix, with isonitrogenous (35%) were formulated and fed to triplicate group of fish, they were fed daily at rate of 8% of total body weight. With increase of vitamin premix in treatment 4 and 5, all growth indices were improved and showed significant with other treatments (p<0.05). Fishes fed the diet with no vitamin premix (control diet) showed unimprovement in all growth indices and significantly different with other treatments (p<0.05).Composition of body carcass in diet with no vitamin premix showed unimprovement and was significant difference with other treatments (p<0.05).

This study was undertaken to determine the presence and levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in powdered milk produced by different plants in Iran. For this purpose, 42 powdered milk samples analyzed, and competitive ELISA was used to determine the presence and levels of AFM1. AFM1 was found in 100% of 42 of the powdered milk samples examined. The range of contamination levels varied among different seasons. AFM1 in Spring, Autumn and Winter samples ranged from 51 to 914, 32 to 640 and 32 to 879 ng / kg respectively, while the mean values were 305, 278 and 285 ng / kg respectively. The highest mean concentration of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) was registered in Spring samples (914 ng / kg).Also the lowest mean concentration of aflatoxin M1 was registered in Autumn and Winter samples (32 ng / kg).Statistical evaluation showed that there were not significant differences (p>0.05) between the concentrations of AFM1 of powdered milk samples produced in Spring, Autumn and Winter. In other words, AFM1 contents of powdered milk samples produced in Spring were not lower than powdered milk samples produced in Autumn and Winter. Almost 80.7% of the contaminated samples exceeded the maximum acceptable levels (50 ng / kg, EU standard) while 26.9 % of the samples exceeded the 500 ng / kg (Codex alimantarius, Iran). It was therefore concluded that, high occurrence of AFM1 in powdered milk samples were considered possible hazards for human health.

An investigation was designed to find out the concentrations and correlations among serum glucose, betahydroxybutyrate (BHB), urea and cortisol concentrations in pregnant and lactating goats in 2006 in Urmia. Ninety five pregnant does and 54 lactating goats were selected. Jugular blood samples were collected from each goat. Blood glucose, BHB and urea concentrations were assessed by spectrophotometer methods using commercial kits (Runbut, UK and Pars Azmon, Iran), respectively. Cortisol was assessed by ELISA method using cortisol kit (Human, Germany). Mean for serum cortisol, glucose, BHB and urea concentrations for pregnant goats were 7.31ng / dl, 44.9mg / dl, 0.23mmol / l, 3.21mmol / l for lactating goats 6.94ng / dl, 48.9mg / dl, 0.27mmol / l and 4.09mmol / l, respectively. Mean comparison among pregnant and lactating goats showed significant differences (P<0.01) just for urea concentrations. There was a positive correlation between cortisol and BHB (r=0.55, p<0.01), cortisol and urea concentrations (r=0.51, p<0.01) in lactating goats. There were correlations between BHB and cortisol in pregnant goats (r=0.76, p<0.01), BHB and cortisol concentrations for overall goats (r=0.63, p<0.01). It is concluded that serum glucose, BHB, urea and cortisol concentrations were at the level recommended in references and were not differ between pregnant and lactating goats except for urea concentration. The presence of correlations among serum parameters in lactating and pregnant goats could be useful in detection of the metabolic disorders. Subclinical pregnancy toxemia was not observed in goats.

Lame is the most ultimate of economic lose in dairy operation. A prompt identification and appropriate therapy of problematic cases is needed to be done for prevention of premature culling decision. This study was carried out at an abattoir in the vicinity of Tehran.33 cases of culled lame cows, with special reference to the claw lesions were randomly selected. All amputated limb were referred by the clinicians to Veterinary Teaching Hospital Pathology Department for more routine pathological studies by bacterial maceration and bleaching. On the base of pathological changes in surfaces of claw as well as the boney structures in claw capsule indicates that accuracy in early diagnosis and simple attempt for therapy with variety of antimicrobial and topical remedies often enabling progression of disease through inadequate and inappropriate therapy which influence on culling decision.