Czech Journal of Animal Science, 2014 (vol. 59), issue 2

Effect of DGAT1, BTN1A1, OLR1, and STAT1 genes on milk production and reproduction traits in the Czech Fleckvieh breedOriginal Paper

J. Rychtářová, Z. Sztankóová, J. Kyselová, V. Zink, M. Štípková, M. Vacek, L. Štolc

Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2014, 59(2):45-53 | DOI: 10.17221/7228-CJAS  

The impact of polymorphism of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1), butyrophilin (BTN1A1), oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor (OLR1), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) genes on milk production and reproduction traits in 419 Czech Fleckvieh cows was examined using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. The loci DGAT1 and BTN1A1 were observed simultaneously to affect milk production, estimated breeding value of milk production traits, as well as reproduction parameters. Significant differences were found also between genotypes...

Estimation of breeding values for functional productive life in the Slovak Holstein populationOriginal Paper

E. Strapáková, P. Strapák, J. Candrák

Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2014, 59(2):54-60 | DOI: 10.17221/7229-CJAS  

Genetic evaluation of length of functional productive life was carried out using a Weibull proportional hazard sire-maternal grandsire model. The database included 405 624 Holstein cows with 19.24% censoring. The analyzed effects were parity × stage of lactation, within-herd standard deviations of milk production, herd × year × season interaction, change of herd size with respect to the previous year, age at first calving, and sire and maternal-grandsire effects. Parity × stage of lactation had the most important influence on functional productive life. The results of the analysis confirmed more intensive selection at the beginning of each lactation,...

Bones quality indices in laying hens fed diets with a high level of DDGS and supplemented with selected feed additivesOriginal Paper

S. Świątkiewicz, A. Arczewska-Włosek, D. Józefiak

Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2014, 59(2):61-68 | DOI: 10.17221/7230-CJAS  

An experiment with 192 caged ISA Brown laying hens, fed a diet containing a high level of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), was conducted to determine the influence of selected feed additives on biomechanical and geometrical indices of tibia and femur bones. At 26 weeks of age hens were randomly assigned to 8 treatments with 12 replicates (cages of two hens). To week 55, hens were fed isocaloric and isonitrogenous experimental diets either containing or not containing a high level of DDGS (200 g/kg). The diet containing 200 g/kg of DDGS was supplemented or not supplemented with feed additives, i.e. enzymes (xylanase and phytase), sodium...

Energy content and amino acid digestibility of extruded and dehulled-extruded corn by pigs and its effect on the performance of weaned pigsOriginal Paper

D.W. Liu, J.J. Zang, L. Liu, N.W. Jaworski, Z.J. Fan, T.T. Wang, D.F. Li, F.L. Wang

Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2014, 59(2):69-83 | DOI: 10.17221/7231-CJAS  

Three experiments were conducted to compare raw corn, extruded corn, and dehulled-extruded corn in piglets' feeding. In Experiment (Exp.) 1, 8 barrows (19.9 ± 0.6 kg) were fed experimental diets containing one out of three corn samples and a rice-soybean meal basal diet in a double 4 × 4 Latin square design to determine the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in the corn samples using the difference method. The DE content in extruded (14.29 MJ/kg) and dehulled-extruded (14.42 MJ/kg) corn was greater (P < 0.05) than in raw corn (13.57 MJ/kg). In Exp. 2, 5 barrows (26.2 ± 1.3 kg) were fitted with ileal T-cannulas...

Foraging behaviour and occupation pattern of beef cows on a heterogeneous pasture in the Swiss AlpsOriginal Paper

M. Meisser, C. Deléglise, F. Freléchoux, A. Chassot, B. Jeangros, E. Mosimann

Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2014, 59(2):84-95 | DOI: 10.17221/7232-CJAS  

In the Alps, many summer pastures are under-used due to the decreasing number of livestock. Optimizing the grazing management of heterogeneous pastures implies a better understanding of foraging habits of cattle. The aim of this study was to precise the relationships between cattle behaviour and the characteristics of the vegetation. The experiment was carried out on a pasture encroached by shrubs (mainly Alnus viridis) and composed of four contrasted vegetation units at 1800 m a.s.l. Four beef cows were monitored in a paddock of 2.9 ha by Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) during three rotations, in order to analyze the spatial...