Czech Journal of Animal Science, 2017 (vol. 62), issue 12
Genetic relationship between type traits, number of lactations initiated, and lifetime milk performance in Czech Fleckvieh cattleOriginal Paper
Luboš Novotný, Jan Frelich, Jan Beran, Ludmila Zavadilová
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2017, 62(12):501-510 | DOI: 10.17221/60/2017-CJAS 
Genetic relationship was analyzed between type traits and longevity measures in dual-purpose cattle. Data from 91 486 Czech Fleckvieh cows first calved between 2003 and 2009 were used. Longevity was defined as the actual number of lactations initiated per cow and also as functional longevity, which incorporated an adjustment to account for variation in voluntary culling based upon milk production. Lifetime performance was defined as cumulative milk production through the 6th parity. All cows were scored for conformation traits during their first lactation. Genetic correlations between these traits and longevity measures were estimated by...
Nutritional value and health-promoting properties of mare's milk - a reviewReview
Ewa Jastrzębska, Ewa Wadas, Tomasz Daszkiewicz, Renata Pietrzak-Fiećko
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2017, 62(12):511-518 | DOI: 10.17221/61/2016-CJAS
Recent interest in mare's milk is associated with the fact that it contains a wide variety of valuable nutrients with health-promoting properties. Among milks of many mammal species, it is the mare's milk that is highly appreciated for similarity to human milk in terms of chemical composition allowing its use as a substitute for mother's milk in infant feeding. It can also be used in feeding people with various health conditions. The global market offers still more food products and cosmetics containing mare's milk. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the nutritional value and health-promoting properties of mare's milk.
Species difference in the expression of Fas and Fas ligand in mature mammalian spermatozoaOriginal Paper
Youwei Li, Mingju Sun, Jiang Zhu, Guangzhong Jiao, Juan Lin, Haibo Dong, Jinghe Tan, Jiabo Zhou
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2017, 62(12):519-526 | DOI: 10.17221/18/2017-CJAS
Although it has been proposed that the Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) may protect ejaculated spermatozoa against apoptosis induced by lipoperoxidative damage and against lymphocytes present in the female genital tract, studies reported conflicting results on the presence of Fas receptors in ejaculated human spermatozoa. Furthermore, the expression of Fas/FasL on mature spermatozoa has not been observed in several important mammals. Using seven species, we observed the possibility for species difference in Fas/FasL expression on mature spermatozoa by both immunofluorescence microscopy and western blot analysis. Whereas intensive signals of Fas immunolabelling...
Supplementation of rapeseed and linseed oils to sheep rations: effects on ruminal fermentation characteristics and protozoal populationsOriginal Paper
Małgorzata Paulina Majewska, Renata Miltko, Grzegorz Bełżecki, Jacek Skomiał, Barbara Kowalik
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2017, 62(12):527-538 | DOI: 10.17221/9/2017-CJAS
The study was performed on six sheep fitted with a cannula in the rumen and re-entrant cannula in the duodenum; divided into three groups, two sheep in each. The animals were fed meadow hay and the concentrate alone or the same diet supplemented with rapeseed or linseed oils at a dose of 5% of the basal diet. Ruminal degradation of protein and acid detergent fibre were lower when sheep were fed rapeseed compared to linseed oil (P < 0.05). The addition of oils to diets caused increased ruminal degradation of fat (P < 0.01). The density of protozoa in the rumen at 2 or 4 h after feeding was lower than before feeding in each experimental...
Retinoic acid attenuates oxidative injury in bovine mammary epithelial cells induced by hydrogen peroxideOriginal Paper
Lu Jin, Sumei Yan, Binlin Shi, Huiyu Shi, Xiaoyu Guo, Junliang Li
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2017, 62(12):539-548 | DOI: 10.17221/42/2016-CJAS
The objective of this study was to explore how retinoic acid (RA) attenuates oxidative injury induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMEC). Subconfluence BMEC were randomly divided into four groups with six replicates: the control group (incubated in serum-free medium without RA or H2O2 for 30 h), H2O2 group (pre-incubated for 24 h without RA, then for another 6 h with 600 μM H2O2), RA group (incubated with 1 mg/ml RA for 30 h without H2O2), and RA + H2O2 group (RA prevention group,...