Czech Journal of Animal Science, 2022 (vol. 67), issue 3
Effect of extender on the quality and incubation resilience of cryopreserved Holstein bull semenOriginal Paper
Jan Pytlík, Filipp Georgijevič Savvulidi, Jaromír Ducháček, Radim Codl, Marek Vrhel, Szabolcs Nagy, Luděk Stádník
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2022, 67(3):75-86 | DOI: 10.17221/196/2021-CJAS 
There are still concerns over sperm quality when plant-based diluents are used instead of animal-based semen extenders. Therefore, in our study we compared the effects of one soybean lecithin-based (AndroMed®) and two egg yolk-based (BullXcell® and Optidyl®) commercially available extenders on post-thaw in vitro sperm quality. Fifty ejaculates collected from ten bulls were aliquoted into three parts and diluted with the above-mentioned extenders. Post-thaw sperm viability, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), plasma membrane integrity, and acrosome status were analysed immediately after thawing...
Association of rumination with milk yield of early, mid and late lactation dairy cowsOriginal Paper
Lenka Krpálková, Niall O'Mahony, Anderson Carvalho, Sean Campbell, Joseph Walsh
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2022, 67(3):87-101 | DOI: 10.17221/94/2021-CJAS
Identification of the associations of cow feeding behaviour with milk yield (MY) is important for supporting recommendations of strategies that optimize MY. The objective of this study was to identify associations between measures of rumination time (RT) and MY using data collated from 2 777 dairy cows on nine commercial dairy farms during the years 2017 to 2019. A database contained behaviour and daily MY data. Cows averaged (mean ± standard deviation) 2.7 ± 1.6 lactations, 153 ± 81 days in milk, and 23.2 ± 7.5 kg/day of MY during the observation period. Behavioural data included RT (504 ± 93 min/day), feeding time...
Prebiotics supplementation modulates pre-weaning stress in male cattle calves by improving growth performance, health scores and serum biomarkersOriginal Paper
Mohsin Raza, Muhammad Shahbaz Yousaf, Jamal Ahmad, Muhammad Afzal Rashid, Khalid Abdul Majeed, Sajid Khan Tahir, Shumaila Ashraf, Muhammad Numan, Abia Khalid, Habib ur Rehman
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2022, 67(3):102-113 | DOI: 10.17221/70/2021-CJAS
Neonatal calves are prone to gastrointestinal infections and microbial dysbiosis that lead to high morbidity and mortality. Prebiotics can be used to mitigate the adverse effects of gut diseases and microbial dysbiosis. Forty male Holstein-Friesian calves (2 ± 1 day old) were divided into four dietary treatments: control (milk without prebiotics), YCW-2, YCW-4 (milk containing 2 or 4 g/day/calf of yeast cell wall, respectively), and cMOS (milk containing commercial mannan-oligosaccharides 4 g/day/calf). Milk intake, feed intake, and health scores were recorded daily, whereas body weight, dry matter intake (DMI), and body measurements were recorded...
Effects of dried Portulaca oleracea supplementation to the laying hen diet on productive performance, egg physical traits, fatty acid composition, and cholesterol contentOriginal Paper
Antonella Dalle Zotte, Gianluca Pranzo
Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2022, 67(3):114-123 | DOI: 10.17221/9/2022-CJAS
Portulaca oleracea is a widespread herbaceous plant particularly rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), antioxidant compounds and characterised by a healthy omega-6/omega-3 ratio. The focus of this research was to evaluate the effects of Portulaca oleracea supplementation to the diet of laying hens on productive performance, egg physical traits, fatty acid composition and cholesterol content. Twenty-six 24-week-old Warren strain layers were randomly assigned to two different groups of 18 and eight birds, respectively: one group received a commercial diet (C) whereas the other group was given the same control diet supplemented...