Fatty acids and nutritional indices in meat were studied in La Belle and White Plymouth Rock birds at 9 and 18 weeks of age. The study is the first in Bulgaria to assess the potential of lines of the national gene pool to produce slow-growing chickens with a high quality of meat in regard to its lipid profile, affected by line and age of the birds. Total monounsaturated fatty acids decreased, but polyunsaturated acids increased with age, leading to beneficial changes in the nutritional indices.

The advantages of increasing lactation persistency in dairy cattle are indisputable on the practical herd level. More persistent lactation brings a longer high-production period. In this study estimate the breeding values of lactation persistency, test day of milk yield, somatic cell score, reproductive traits (calving interval, days open), and longevity in Slovak Holstein dairy cattle were estimated and the relationship between persistency of lactation and other selected trait was analyzed.

Body traits (16 body measurements and 18 qualitative traits) have been analysed in 183 adult sires belonging to nine West African cattle breeds via multifactorial methods to ascertain breeding preferences of African farmers. No clear patterns of homogenisation of the appearance of individuals within cattle breed could be assessed. Since no selection programmes exist and unsupervised matings are the rule, differentiation among African livestock breeds cannot be assessed in European terms.

In this study, the effects of a diet including fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seed on feed consumption and milk performance were examined. A total of 24 buffaloes were randomly divided into two groups. The diet containing ground fenugreek seed improved total dry matter and daily concentrated feed consumption and significantly increased milk production in Anatolian water buffaloes (AWBs). In future work, the use of other herbs in AWB may be investigated.

Nanog is an important pluripotent transcription regulator, and its overexpression leads to a high expression of the growth and differentiation factor 3, affecting animal growth traits. The aim of this study was to explore the genetic variations within the Nanog gene and their effects on phenotypic traits in cattle. Six novel exonic single nucleotide polymorphisms were found in six cattle breeds and indicated that Nanog could be a candidate gene for marker-assisted selection in cattle breeding.

This study aimed to determine the effect of cow breed, season and type of diet on the fatty acid profile of raw milk. The study was conducted on bulk milk samples collected in winter and summer from 4 herds of Czech Fleckvieh and 4 herds of Holstein cows. One half of the herds was grazed while the other half was not. Effect of breed was found in odd-chain, branch-chain and hypercholesterolemic FA while season and type of diet mainly influenced the proportion of saturated and polyunsaturated FA.

This study aimed to use survival analysis and examine the factors affecting functional herd life (FHL) of cows in Isfahan using the Weibull proportional risk model in Isfahan to estimate of breeding values for functional herd life. The SC, milk production, age at first calving and milk period showed significant effects on LPL (P < 0.001) according to the likelihood ratio test. Although there were some fluctuations in genetic trends, an overall increase was observed which leads to a longer FHL