Erratum: Ferosekhan et al. Influence of Genetic Selection for Growth and Broodstock Diet n-3 LC-PUFA Levels on Reproductive Performance of Gilthead Seabream, Sparus Aurata. Animals 2021, 11, 519.

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...].

Influence of Genetic Selection for Growth and Broodstock Diet n-3 LC-PUFA Levels on Reproductive Performance of Gilthead Seabream, Sparus aurata.

Genetic selection in gilthead seabream (GSB), Sparus aurata, has been undertaken to improve the growth, feed efficiency, fillet quality, skeletal deformities and disease resistance, but no study is available to delineate the effect of genetic selection for growth trait on GSB reproductive performance under mass spawning condition. In this study, high growth (HG) or low growth (LG) GSB broodstock were selected to evaluate the sex steroid hormones, sperm, egg quality and reproductive performance under different feeding regime of commercial diet or experimental broodstock diet containing either fish oil (FO) or vegetable oil (VO) based diet. Under commercial diet feeding phase, broodstock selected for either high growth or low growth did not show any significant changes in the egg production per kg female whereas egg viability percentage was positively (p = 0.014) improved by the high growth trait broodstock group. The experimental diet feeding results revealed that both growth trait and dietary fatty acid composition influenced the reproductive performance of GSB broodstock. In the experimental diet feeding phase, we observed high growth trait GSB males produced a higher number of sperm cells (p < 0.001) and also showed a higher sperm motility (p = 0.048) percentage. The viable egg and larval production per spawn per kg female were significantly improved by the broodstock selected for high growth trait and fed with fish oil-based diet. This present study results signifies that gilthead seabream broodstock selected on growth trait could have positive role in improvement of sperm and egg quality to produce viable progeny.

Cryopreservation of semen in the dog: use of ultra-freezers of -152 degrees C as a viable alternative to liquid nitrogen.

This experimental work was carried out to validate the use of a -152 degrees C ultra-low temperature freezer to freeze and store canine semen. The semen of three dogs was pooled and processed to obtain a final dilution with a concentration of 100 x 10(6) spermatozoa/mL, glycerol at 5% and Equex at 0.5%. Then, four freezing protocols were tested to evaluate the cryosurvival of sperm at 1, 7, 30, 60 and 120 days after freezing: (I) semen was frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen; (II) semen was frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in the ultra-low freezer at -152 degrees C; (III) semen was frozen in the vapour of liquid nitrogen and stored in the ultra-low freezer at -152 degrees C; (IV) semen was frozen and stored in the ultra-low freezer at -152 degrees C. Data were statistically analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance to determine the effect of the freezing protocol and time on the sperm characteristics assessed. The percentages of sperm motility and of dead/live spermatozoa were similar throughout the experimental period, with no significant differences (P < 0.05) to be observed between four different freezing techniques tested. At 120 days after freezing, the percentage of abnormal cells and the percentage of sperm cells with abnormal acrosome were not significantly different between the freezing techniques. Although the number of dogs used was slightly low, in vitro results of this preliminary study showed that the use of ultra-freezers at -152 degrees C to freeze and store canine semen could be a viable alternative to liquid nitrogen.

A comparison of diagnosis of pregnancy in the goat via transrectal ultrasound scanning, progesterone, and pregnancy-associated glycoprotein assays.

Real-time ultrasound scanning (US) via the transrectal route, progesterone (P4) assay, and pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (PAG) detection can be used to diagnose pregnancy at around 3 weeks after breeding. Although several studies have been carried out to evaluate each of these different methods individually, it is difficult to establish adequate comparisons due to differences, such as the breed of goat, age, and farming conditions, among others. The aim of the present paper is to compare the accuracy of diagnosis of pregnancy using transrectal US, P4 assay and PAG detection at the same time and on the same animals. Canary dairy goats (n=143) were synchronized with an 11-day fluorogestone acetate (FGA) intravaginal sponge followed by PGF2alpha and eCG 2 days before the FGA withdrawal. Blood samples were collected on Days 20, 22, 24, and 26 after mating to determine P4 and PAG concentrations. Transrectal US examinations were performed at the same time. There were 79 pregnant goats and another 64 non-pregnant. The US via the transrectal method and the determination of PAG concentrations provide very accurate pregnancy diagnosis at 24-26 days after breeding; on the contrary, P4 assay on plasma samples performed on Day 22 after breeding was accurate, in this case, in detecting pregnant animals but did not always detect the non-pregnant does.