Relationships among functional markers, management, and husbandry in sheep: a Mediterranean case study.

Most sheep farmers are aware of the importance of monitoring animal health and well-being for profitable sheep production. Unfortunately, there are only a few benchmarked functional measures of sheep well-being but much can be gained from our understanding of other species. Moreover, comprehensive monitoring programs may be complex and relatively expensive to implement. Hence, this work reports the results of a research study on the usefulness of functional markers in measuring dairy sheep well-being, taking into account farm management and environmental conditions. The study was conducted on 11 farms breeding Italian islander sheep breeds. The husbandry and management parameters of each farm were assessed and, based on the findings, the farms were scored in ascending quality order. Flock information concerned housing, milking system, pen size, grazing hours, health management, and stockmanship. Medical history, clinical data, the most relevant haematological, chemical and biochemical parameters, as well as the haemoglobin genotype were recorded for 415 individuals. The whole data-set was analyzed by Spearman correlation and multivariate statistical procedures, showing that albumin, serum alkaline phosphatase, haematocrit, and haemoglobin were the most significant functional markers of a flock's general conditions. Haematocrit and haemoglobin reflect animal health status, while albumin and serum alkaline phosphatase are a measure of nutritional status and physical activity, respectively. These are objective parameters, which can be easily measured from blood samples and have proved to be effective for grouping to interpret animal well-being.

Functional effect of haemoglobin polymorphism on the haematological pattern of Gentile di Puglia sheep.

The relationship between haemoglobin polymorphism and haematological pattern were studied in Gentile di Puglia, the Apulia Merino native breed. In a sample of 292 individuals, on five different farms, alpha- and beta-globin genetic polymorphism was investigated. A remarkable polymorphism was detected especially at alpha-globin gene where the variations concerned both the quality of the gene product and gene expression. Triplicated and quadruplicated alpha-globin genes were observed in 8.6% and 1.2% of the alpha-haplotypes respectively. At beta-globin (HBB) locus, predominance of HBB(B) allele was found in all flocks, while HBB(A) overall frequency was around 11.2%. Moreover, the effect of genotypes at globin systems on haematological data was evaluated on 289 animals. A significant effect was detected for HBB locus on haematocrit (HCT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV), with decreasing HCT and MCV for decreasing number of HBB(A) alleles in the genotype. The opposite trend was observed for mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. The advances presented by this paper give reasons for inferring that BB genotypes can be expected to be more resilient to climatic stress and to local parasites.

Genetics and tolerance to tick-borne diseases in South Italy: experience in studying native Apulian and exotic sheep breed.

Tick borne diseases (TBDs), though neglected, are possibly the major constraints for livestock and agricultural production in southern Italy. The diseases affect mainly the livestock imported from foreign Northern countries. But now, very timidly indeed, the awareness that the use of native breeds could contribute to reduce the ravages of these diseases is growing. Over a period of many centuries Apulian farm animals have naturally developed the ability to thrive in TBDs endemic areas. This trait, which can be defined as tolerance to TBDs is associated with the ability to control parasitaemia and to resist the development of anaemia in the face of infection. It is a matter of fact that the hematological features of Apulian native farm animals are rather peculiar as the authors highlighted by studying the blood of these animals over a period of more than ten years. In the light of their experience the authors considered that the phenomenon of tolerance is a broad-based one and possibly not unrelated to the erythropoietic system of the Apulian animals. Thus the ability to resist anaemia per se was tested in four Altamurana sheep compared to that of four Romanov sheep. This work summarises the results obtained from the experimental anaemization of the above two breed groups and discusses the findings on the basis of a review of the authors' experience in studying TBDs in sheep.

[Reduction, by atropine, of symptomatic shock induced by PGF2 alpha in the dog]. / Riduzione mediante atropina della sintomatologia da shock indotta dalla PGF2 alpha nel cane.

Two groups of 5 bitches different in breed, age and size were given a single dose of PGF2 alpha at a dosage of 0.25 and 0.50 mg/kg of body weight respectively. Since the administration of PGF2 alpha is usually associated with a syntomatic shock in the bitch, four bitches per group were additionally treated with a single dose of atropine (0.050 mg/kg). Two of the four bitches were injected with atropina I.M. contemporaneously with the PGF2 alpha and the other two at the beginning of the symptomatology. Both the former and the latter show a marked reduction of symptomatic shock. The AA. discuss the possible use of PGF2 alpha associated to the administration of atropine in the current therapy of some reproductive disorders of the bitch.