Fatal transmission of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia to an Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx).

Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is an infectious respiratory disease mainly affecting domestic goats. As CCPP has never been documented in grazing antelopes (subfamily hippotraginae), they were not considered susceptible. Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp) was isolated from pleural liquid collected during the necropsy of a severely emaciated Arabian oryx with mild nasal discharge. The Mccp isolate was then genotyped using a multilocus sequence scheme; the sequence type was identical to the Mccp strain previously identified in a sand gazelle from a nearby enclosure. This case shows for the first time that members of the hippotraginae subfamily, here the Arabian oryx, can be affected by CCPP. In addition, genotyping shows that the oryx was most probably infected, at a distance, by sand gazelles.

Embryonic development from first cleavage through seventy-two hours incubation in two strains of pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos).

Embryonic mortality is a significant problem plaguing the commercial duck industry worldwide. Yet, an objective means to stage development of the duck embryo is lacking. Such a staging procedure, which is described in this study, is essential for the critical and reproducible assessment of embryo development. The morphological features associated with duck embryo development are very similar to those of the chicken, although the duck embryo develops more slowly. The staging scheme presented here provides objective morphological criteria describing the embryonic development of the duck.

Genetic parameters of survival to the different stages of embryonic death in laying hens.

Heritabilities and genetic correlations of fertility (FERT) as well as of susceptibilities to early (EEM), medium (MEM), and late (LEM) embryonic mortalities conditional on fertility and survival to earlier stage(s) of embryonic mortality were estimated with a general linear model using a logistic link function on 59,794 eggs obtained from 6,480 hens issued from 228 sires and 1,053 dams. Estimated heritabilities of FERT, EEM, MEM, and LEM were, when estimated from sire and dam components, respectively, equal to 0.09 and 0.31, 0.09 and 0.25, 0.07 and 0.20, and 0.05 and 0.18; whereas estimated heritabilities of hatchability of fertile eggs were 0.05 and 0.15, respectively, when estimated from the sire or dam components. Most genetic correlations between FERT, EEM, MEM, and LEM were favorable with the exception of correlations between FERT and MEM and between EEM and MEM when estimated from the sire component. These results show the theoretical interest of distinguishing the three stages of mortality.

The effects of age on the composition of uterine fluid of broiler breeder hens and on maintenance of quality of fowl spermatozoa when stored in uterine fluid or in a synthetic medium.

We studied effects of aging of hens on some physio-chemical parameters of uterine fluid taken at 2 stages of the ovulatory cycle (12 and 18 h after the oviposition) and of uterine fluid properties as a semen diluent in vitro at 41 degrees C. The volume, pH, osmotic pressure, Na+, K+, Ca2+, glucose and total protein concentrations of uterine fluid were measured. The percentage of motile spermatozoa and the fertilizing ability of fowl semen diluted 1:9 in uterine fluid were tested throughout the laying cycle in meat-type hens and compared to those of semen diluted in synthetic medium M199. The results showed that the volume and the K+ and Ca2+ concentrations in uterine fluid decrease with the hens' aging, while osmotic pressure is significantly higher in older hens. But in spite of the composition differences, uterine fluids from hens of different ages have little influence as semen diluents either on sperm motility or on fertilizing ability. These observations suggest that the variations of the composition of uterine fluid with hens' aging does not contribute to the late seasonal decline in fertility observed during the later stages of the reproductive season in this species. In any case, uterine fluid is harmful to sperm quality in vitro, while M199 is an appropriate semen diluent at 41 degrees C. The high glucose concentration in M199, however, slightly decreases motility and the duration of the fertile period of spermatozoa.