Browsing by study line "Animal Science"
Now showing items 21-29 of 29
-
(2021)Faba bean (Vicia faba) is considered as promising protein plant for increasing protein self-sufficiency. Still, raw faba bean has not been as good protein feed for dairy cows as rapeseed meal. This experiment was conducted to test industrially heat-treated and dehulled faba bean as replacement for rapeseed meal in dairy cows either alone or with rumen-protected methionine. The experiment was designed as three times repeated 4 × 4 latin square. Cows were fed ad libitum total-mixed-ration, which consisted of timothy and meadow fescue silage, cereal based concentrate, and isonitrogenous protein component. The four feedings were control feeding without protein concentrate, rapeseed meal feeding, faba bean feeding, and faba bean feeding with rumen-protected methionine. Feed and nutrients intake and apparent whole-tract digestibility, milk yield and its composition, ruminal pH, volatile fatty acids and ammonia, and plasma amino acids and metabolites were measured. Results were statistically analysed using the Mixed-procedur of SAS-program. Protein feeds increased dry matter intake 1.3 kg/d and milk yield 1.2 kg/d compared to control feeding (dry matter intake 22.5 kg/d and milk yield 30.7 kg/d), and they increased milk protein concentration and protein and fat yields compared to control. Substitution of rapeseed with faba bean decreased dry matter intake but milk yield and milk protein and fat concentration remained unchanged. Rumen-protected methionine increased milk protein concentration but did not have any effect on milk, protein or fat yields. Amino acid intake increased when protein feeds were fed, and cows given rapeseed had higher amino acid intake compared to those given faba bean. Essential amino acid concentration in plasma was higher with increased feed protein level but there were no differences between rapeseed and faba bean diets despite difference in amino acid intake. Rumen-protected methionine increased plasma methionine concentration (30.8 mmol/l compared to 18.2 mmol/l) but had no effect on concentrations of other amino acids. According to this study industrially heat-treated faba bean would be comparable protein feed to rapeseed meal but the results should be interpreted cautiously due to low production responses to protein supplementation. Rumen-protected methionine had quite small impact on milk yield, and more information is needed concerning its use to balance amino acid supply on cows fed faba bean.
-
(2021)Nykyaikaisilla isoilla sikatiloilla eläinten ja ihmisten välinen vuorovaikutus on vähentynyt automaation, kuten koneellistuneen ruokinnan myötä ja se rajoittuu usein eläintä stressaaviin toimenpiteisiin, kuten lääkitsemiseen tai eri eläinryhmien yhdistämiseen. Stressaavat käsittelyt lisäävät eläinten kokemaa ihmispelkoa ja laskevat eläinten hyvinvointia ja tuottavuutta. Tutkimuksen hypoteesina on, että eri käsittelyt; rehun antaminen merkinnän yhteydessä, porsaiden merkitseminen ja lähestymistestien toistot vähentävät porsaiden pelokkuutta ihmistä kohtaan kokeen aikana. Koe tehtiin länsisuomalaisella sikatilalla syksyllä 2019. Kokeessa oli mukana 345 6–7 viikon ikäistä vieroitettua porsasta. Koe tehtiin kahdessa osastossa, joissa molemmissa oli 12 karsinaa. Ensimmäisessä osastossa lähestymistestit tehtiin neljänä testipäivänä ja toisessa osastossa vain viimeisenä testipäivänä. Testejä teki kaksi eri testaajaa. Jotta porsaat pystyttiin tunnistamaan yksilöinä, niille laitettiin yksilölliset värimerkit, jotka vahvistettiin viidesti kokeen aikana. Merkinnät tehtiin eri päivinä kuin lähestymistestit. Osastoissa oli koko koejakson ajan kamerat, jotka tallensivat tapahtumat videoille. Jälkeen päin videoilta kerättiin porsaille yksilöllisiä testaajan lähestymis- ja kosketusaikoja sekä karsinakohtaiset ajat testaajille etogrammin mukaisesti. Saaduista ajoista laskettiin aikakestoja, joiden avulla pystyttiin määrittämään aikaviiveitä eri lähestymiskäyttäytymisille eri testipäivinä. Eri käsittelyiden vaikutukset analysoitiin lineaarisella sekamalilla. Tutkimuksen tuloksista nähdään, että toistuvan lähestymistestauksen myötä porsaat lähestyivät ja koskettivat testaajaa huomattavasti nopeammin ensimmäisessä osastossa viimeisenä kuin ensimmäisenä testipäivänä. Merkinnän yhteydessä annetun rehun merkitys porsaiden lähestymis- ja kosketusnopeuteen jäi tutkimuksessa hieman epäselväksi. Tulokset kuitenkin osoittavat rehukäsittelyllä olevan positiivista vaikutusta porsaiden pelokkuuden vähenemiseen, mikä näkyi tuloksissa rehun tilastollisina merkitsevyyksinä joidenkin lähestymiskäyttäytymisten kohdalla. Tuloksista nähdään myös, että porsaat, joille oli tehty lähestymistestejä useammin, olivat huomattavasti rohkeampia lähestymään ja koskettamaan ihmistä viimeisenä testipäivänä kuin porsaat, joille ei ollut aiemmin testejä tehty. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että porsaat voivat tottua ihmiseen ja niiden pelkotaso ihmistä kohtaan voi laskea, kun ihminen on säännöllisesti positiivisessa vuorovaikutuksessa porsaiden kanssa. Lisäksi muut positiiviset käsittelyt, kuten rehun antaminen pelokkuutta herättävän käsittelyn yhteydessä voi vaikuttaa positiivisesti porsaiden kokemukseen ihmisestä. Hyvän ihmis- eläin suhteen luominen ottaa kuitenkin paljon aikaa ja vaatii hoitajalta eläimen käyttäytymisen ja tarpeiden tuntemista oikeiden ja toimivien toimintatapojen ja kestävän luottamuksen luomiseksi.
-
(2021)The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between nutritional factors and the incidence of peripheral caries and other oral diseases in Finnish horses. Peripheral caries was chosen as the main subject of this study because of its wide prevalence in horse population. Peripheral caries is also a risk factor for other oral diseases, and it is thought to express well the effects of feeding to teeth. The aim of this study was also to find out how the Finnish horse population is fed. The study was carried out as questionnaire at Porvoon Hevosklinikka. Horse owners filled the questionnaire according to the information from oral exam done by veterinarians. Oral exams were carried out by two Specialists in Veterinary Medicine, Equine Diseases. Of the 94 horses included in this study, 79% (n=74) had been diagnosed with peripheral caries by a veterinarian. The incidence of peripheral caries was significantly associated with breed and use of hay net. All (n=12) of the warmblood trotters in this study had peripheral caries. Most of the horses (95 %, n=22) that ate their roughage from hay net had peripheral caries. Only 35 % of the horse owners had access to feed analysis of roughages fed to their horses. As much as 85 % of the horses whose owners did not have access to feed analysis had peripheral caries. Some symptoms in eating behavior and riding or driving behavior have been connected to pain at cheek teeth. In this study 37 % of owners reported that horses did not have any of these symptoms. Most (83 %, n=29) of these horses however had peripheral caries. Because of the small sampling and reference group more study of this subject is needed. According to this study most of the Finnish horse owners do not have feed analysis of their roughage and therefore they cannot plan the feeding based on the analysis. Despite this almost all (96%) of the horses in this study had their feeding supplemented with concentrates.
-
(2021)Finnhorse is a native Finnish horse breed and its studbook has four different sections: riding horse, trotting horse, pony-sized horse and working horse. Most of the Finnhorses are registered as trotters. The Finnish trotting and breeding association Suomen Hippos ry is responsible of the breeding value estimation. The official breeding value estimation includes earnings, racing time, time difference at finish, disqualifications and career starting age. The objective of this study was to update variance components for earnings and racing time and to estimate variance components for the racing career length and first year earnings as new traits. Data was received from The Finnish trotting and breeding association Suomen Hippos ry and it contained racing results from years 1984 to 2018. For this study, the data was limited to competition years 2000-2018 for earnings and racing time. For the career length and the first year earnings the data were limited to birth years 1990-2004. The data included trotting race starts from stallions, geldings, and mares. Geldings and stallions competed approximately 60% of the starts. Age was grouped annually from 3 years old to 8 years and older horses. Finnhorse can start racing on September 1st of the year when it turns three years of age and it can race till end of the year when it turns 15 years old. In addition to gender and age, the year of race was included as a fixed factor in the estimation of variance components. The data was processed with RStudio-program. The pedigree file was processed with RelaX2-program and DMU-program’s REML was used for the variance component estimation. The repeatability model was used for the earnings and racing time, since there were multiple observations per animal per year. For the career length and the first year earnings, there were one observation per animal. Heritability estimate for earnings (0,26±0,01) and racing time (0,40±0,02) were moderate. Heritability estimates are similar to those used in the official breeding value 0,30 and 0,35, respectively. The heritability of the career length was low 0,09±0,01 and the first year earnings was moderate 0,26±0,04 which was the same as the earnings trait that included all competition years. The genetic trends were positive for all the studied traits. The genetic correlation between the earnings and the racing time was high -0,94±0,01. This was expected since these two traits illustrates quite the similar features. The genetic correlation between the career length and the earnings of the first year was also high 0,65±0,08. This predicts that moneywise well performing trotter is likely to do a longer career compared to a horse that does not earn that much. The results show that if earnings is used in selection also the length of the career improves genetically.
-
(2020)In beef production, the successful reproduction of animals plays a significant role. The gestation length in cattle is about 9 months, but there is variability between breeds. Gestation length in beef breeds is longer than in dairy breeds. Gestation length is correlated with calving difficulties. The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting gestation length in beef cattle. Data was received from Faba co-op. The aim was to calculate the phenotypic gestation lengths for Charolais and Hereford, as well as for their crossbreeds with the most common beef breeds used in Finland. One of the objectives of this study was to calculate heritability estimates for gestation length for pure Charolais and Hereford breeds. Data from Charolais and Hereford calves born in 2009-2018 were used in the analysis. There were 2883 Hereford calves and 3370 Charolais calves in the data. Finally, only pregnancies that had resulted from artificial insemination with the minimum length of 165 and maximum length of 305 days long were included in the analysis. Two different models were used to estimate the variance components, one involving only the direct genetic effect of the calf and the other also considering the maternal effect. Fixed factors in both models included sex of calf, number of calves born, calving season, herd-year, and parity-age. All fixed factors were statistically significant. Based on the results, there were phenotypic differences in gestational lengths between breeds, heavier beef breeds having longer gestations. In the model including only the direct genetic effect of the calf, relatively high heritability estimates were obtained, but in the maternal model the direct heritability was lower, and the maternal heritability was very high. The current data was not well suited for the evaluation of the key figures of the maternal model, so the results should be treated as preliminary.
-
(2020)After calving dairy cows increase their dry matter intake rapidly and at the same time the diet changes from dry period diet to a diet containing more concentrates. These changes can increase the risks of health problems in rumen and decrease the rumen pH. Long and repeated periods of low rumen pH can lead to subacute rumen acidosis (SARA). Adding small amounts of concentrates to the diet before calving is a traditional method to alleviate problems around calving. Lately some researchers have questioned the benefits of lead feeding. Some Finnish farms don’t give lead feeding anymore because it increases the labor work and costs. The experiment was a randomized complete block design, where 16 ayrshire cows were divided into pairs according to their previous milk yield, body weight and estimated calving day. One cow in each pair was fed cereal concentrate 3 weeks before calving in addition to grass silage while the other cow was fed only grass silage. The silage (D-value 715 kg/kg DM) was fed ad libitum. Reticular pH and temperature, ruminating time and eating behaviour was measured 3 weeks before calving and 8 weeks after calving. Treatments did not affect the reticular pH (p>0.10). None of the cows had a reticular pH under the SARA-treshold (over 5.24 h/d under 5.8 and mean pH<6.16). The mean reticular pH was 6.6 before calving and 6.5 on days 1-10 after calving. The lead feeding group spent less time eating in a day (180 vs. 230 min/d, p<0.001) and had higher eating rate (kg DM/min) than the non-lead fed group (p<0.01). The effect remained after calving. During days 1 to 10 d after calving lead feeding group ate less than non-lead fed group (15.0 vs. 16.3 kg DM/d, p=0.02). Before calving the non-lead fed group had longer rumination time than the lead-feeding group (465 vs. 395 min/d, p=0.01). After calving the difference in the ruminating time tended to sustain (p=0.13). The lead feeding shortened the daily eating and ruminating times pre- and postpartum. Reticular pH did not differ between treatments but lead feeding group had higher reticular temperature, lower rumination time and decreased feed intake during very early lactation which may indicate problems in pH-balance.
-
(2020)Transition from pregnancy to lactation is a critical period for dairy cows. During this time period the cow is vulnerable to different metabolic diseases. The rumen function may be disturbed, when rapidly switching to increased concentrate feeding after calving. The cow and its rumen do not have time to get used to the changed feeding and this may cause, for example, rumen acidosis. Lead feeding with concentrate may prevent illness and problems associated with eating feed near calving and in the beginning of lactation. The goal of this study was to determine how lead feeding containing concentrates affects cow’s metabolism, dry matter intake, reticular function, milk yield and milk composition. The experimental feeding of concentrate mixture was based on grass silage, straw and a homemade concentrate (barley 26%, oat 40%, rapeseed meal 13%, faba been 10%, molasses 10%, propylene glycol 1%). The study was a randomized complete block design. The study conducted with 16 Ayrshire cows and it started 3 weeks before calving and ended 8 weeks after calving. Cows were divided into two groups: the lead feeding group and control group. Before the start of the experiment both groups received ad libitum feeding that contain grass-silage (64% of dry matter; D-value 700 g/kg DM), straw (28% of DM) and rapeseed meal (8% DM). Starting from three week before the expected calving date, the lead feeding group received ad libitum a total mixed ration (TMR) of grass silage (49% of DM), straw (21% of DM) and concentrate mixture (30% of DM). The group without lead feeding received still the same ad libitum feeding that contained grass-silage, straw and rapeseed meal. After calving both groups received a similar TMR where roughage/concentrate -ratio was 65:35 (DM). Roughage in TMR included grass-silage and oat whole crop silage mixture (60:40 DM). In addition, the cows received commercial concentrate (max. 6 kg/d) and protein supplement (max. 2 kg/d). The lead feeding did not affect dry matter intake, body condition score, blood composition, milk yield or milk composition of the cows. Average dry matter intake (DMI) nearly doubled in both groups (time p<0,001) to 24 kg/d. Average milk yields were 44 kg/d and 46 kg/d in non-lead feeding and lead feeding groups. Reticulum minimum pH-values (6,2 vs. 6,1, p=0,09) and average pH-values (6,6 vs. 6,5, p<0,05) were greater in the non-lead feeding group and lead feeding group. In conclusion, lead feeding with concentrate did not affect feed intake, milk yield, milk composition or blood concentrations in dairy cows. In this study, lead feeding showed no significant positive effects. However, lead feeding lowered the pH of the cow’s reticulum, suggesting acidification of the rumen.
-
(2020)Animal population can be improved by domestic selection and/or with importation of foreign genotypes. The aim of this study was to find out how big impact import of genetic material from different countries has had on genetic trends of different traits in Finnish Holstein and Ayrshire populations. The data were received from FABA co-op. The analyzes utilized breeding values and pedigree information from over 1 million Holsteins and over 2 million Ayrshires born between 1986 – 2019. Genetic trends were calculated annually and partitioned to country contributions using R-software’s package ‘AlphaPart’. Used method is based on partitioning the breeding values to Mendelian sampling terms and the genetic effect of the base population founder animals. The largest proportion of Holstein genes in Finnish population was from the USA. Animals from the USA had the greatest positive impact on the total merit, yield, longevity and udder conformation. By contrast they also had the biggest negative impact on fertility and general health. Gene proportion from Denmark was the third largest from the foreign countries, but it had the greatest positive impact on fertility, udder health, calving ease (maternal) and general health. It also had the second biggest positive impact on all the other traits among foreign countries. Foreign animals have had a smaller impact on the Finnish Ayrshire population compared to Holstein. In many traits the contribution of Finnish breeding animals stayed the greatest. For foreign countries importations from Sweden had the greatest contribution to genes and most of the traits. Gene proportion from Denmark has increased rapidly after year 2010. Both Swedish and Danish importations have had a similar impact, improving the total merit, yield, longevity, calving ease (maternal) and udder conformation. Both Swedish and Danish animals have had a negative contribution to general health. According to the results of this study, we can conclude that importations of genetic material from foreign countries have had a major impact on the Finnish populations during the last decades. Especially for Holstein, the importations from USA and Denmark have had a significant impact on the local genetic trends.
-
(2018)Since 2004 the Finnish Ayrshire Breeders' Society has offered a Canadian conformation classification system to its members via the cooperation with Ayrshire-Canada. The Canadian classification system differs from the Nordic system and has e.g. udder texture as a new trait describing udder softness and elasticity. The research objective was to estimate the genetic variation of udder texture and its correlation to production traits and somatic cell count and udder conformation traits in the Finnish Ayrshire cows. The data from the Finnish Ayrshire Breeders contained phenotypic records on the 1st lactation cows in 2011–2017. Finnish Animal Breeding Association (Faba osk) provided pedigree, herd, yield, insemination and calving information for the cows. The final data set for statistical analyses contained records on 3303 cows. The fixed effects of the traits were investigated by analysis of variance (R program lm). The variance and covariance components of the traits were analysed with Bayesian methodology resorting to the R program MCMCglmm. The heritabilities for the first lactation traits were 0,34 for milk yield, 0,26 for protein yield and 0,26 for fat yield and 0,10 for logarithmic somatic cell count (SCS). The heritability of udder conformation traits were from 0,13 for fore udder up to 0,47 for teat length. The heritability of udder texture was 0,15. The genetic correlation of udder texture with production traits were all negative: -0,36 – -0,34, and zero with SCS. The genetic correlations of udder texture with other udder conformations traits were positive with the highest being with mammary system (0,52), median suspensory (0,51) and udder depth (0,45). The data was representative and sufficiently large, as the heritabilities for production traits were similar to those found earlier and the accuracy of estimates was satisfactory. The longevity can be measured by the total number of lactations. The variation in this number was mainly explained by the milk yield and SCS of the first lactation records. Among the respective udder conformation traits, also the median suspensor and udder depth were significant. Because the udder texture is correlated with the latter ones, its contribution to the variation was not significant. Udder texture has a reasonable amount of genetic variation and is positively genetically correlated with other udder conformation traits, in particular with mammary system, median suspensory and udder depth. The use of the udder texture as an indicator trait for longevity would require a larger data volume. People who use the Finnish Ayrshire Breeder's AF-class-system should have all their cows assessed so the research and selection would have access to records covering a representative variation range.
Now showing items 21-29 of 29