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Use Of Molecular Genetics To Investigate Population Structure And Swayback In Horses, Navid Yousefimashouf

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

The present research incorporated molecular genetic methods to 1) investigate the genetic basis of Juvenile Onset Lordosis or Swayback in the American Saddlebred horses; and 2) conduct a population genetic study to compare the Persian Kurdish, Persian Arabian and American Thoroughbred horse populations.

Juvenile-onset lordosis, or swayback, is a condition in horses where the conformational topline back curvature drops significantly within the first two years of life. The trait has a higher prevalence in Saddlebreds (5%). Prior research on them quantified the trait using a Measurement of Back Contour (MBC), defining an MBC of >7.0 centimeters as swayback, and8.0) MBC …

Increasing Efficiency Of Finishing Beef Production: Strategies To Optimize Starch Digestion, Improve Flake Quality, And Reduce Methane Emissions, Ronald J. Trotta

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

To continue to meet the demands of increasing food production and environmental sustainability, new strategies are needed to enhance the efficiency of finishing cattle production. A review of the literature identified several nutritional and physiological constraints that limit the ability for cattle to digest starch and absorb glucose from the small intestine. Comparative sequencing analyses revealed a missing region of the sucrase-isomaltase protein which could affect the capacity for starch digestion in cattle. Post-flaking sampling and handling recommendations were generated based on a series of experiments to improve estimates of starch availability and flaking consistency for commercial feedlots and laboratories. …

Selenium Form-Induced Changes In The Early Luteal Phase Corpus Luteum, The Blood, And The Endometrium During Early Gestation In Beef Cows, Sarah Nancy Carr

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Selenium (Se) deficient soils and thus forages are widespread throughout the United States, necessitating supplementation of this trace mineral in the diet of grass-fed cattle to negate detrimental effects of a deficiency on immune function, growth, and fertility. Conventionally, Se is supplemented to cattle in a vitamin-mineral mix as an inorganic form (ISe) although the organic forms (OSe) are available when cattle consumer forage, and OSe has been shown to increase the bioavailability of Se in cattle. Previous research has demonstrated supplementation with 1:1 mixture (MIX) of ISe and OSe compared to ISe alone increases systemic concentrations of progesterone (P4) …

Personality Traits Of Dairy Calves And Their Relationship With Feeding Behavior, Activity, And Performance, Emily A. Michalski

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Detection of individual differences in personality traits of animals may prove beneficial for producers to help tailor management for individuals and to make selection decisions. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis were to

1) review and evaluate literature on relationships between individual cattle personality traits and feeding behavior, activity, and performance; and

2) evaluate and develop tests suitable for characterizing crossbred dairy-beef calves’ personalities and associations with behavioral patterns and performance.

The existing literature indicates that growth, intake, activity, and milk production measures from precision technologies have associations with cattle personality traits and behaviors identifiable through standardized tests. This indicates …

Evaluation Of Boron Supplementation In Swine And Poultry, Tyler B. Chevalier

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

The objectives of this dissertation were to evaluate dietary boron (B) supplementation as sodium borate in various swine models and broiler chicks through a series of experiments. The initial experiment evaluated supplemental B (0, 25, 50, and 100 ppm B) on serum insulin, glucose, and clinical chemistry panel of growing pigs. Serum insulin/glucose ratio tended to decrease linearly with increasing supplemental B in a fasting state (P = 0.08). These findings were more noticeable (linear effect, P = 0.02) in a postprandial state (~ 50 minutes following a meal). A series of follow-up studies further evaluating B supplementation (0, 5, …

Evaluation Of Increasing Levels Of Mycotoxin-Containing Corn Fines On Diet Choice And Growth Performance Of Nursery Pigs, Duncan B. Paczosa

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Pigs fed mycotoxin contaminated diets at high concentrations will result in a detriment to health and performance. An initial study and a follow-up study were conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding increasing levels of mycotoxin-containing corn fines on growth performance, diet preference of pigs, and two possible mitigants.

The initial study was a 3 x 2 factorial containing three levels of fines (0, 10, and 20%, Diets 1-3, respectively) and either 0 ppm (Diets 1-3) or 40 ppm boron (Diets 4-6; Diets 4-6 were Diets 1-3, respectively, plus boron) as sodium tetraborate decahydrate as a possible mitigant. In this …

Utilizing Precision Technologies To Validate A Real-Time Location System For Dairy Cattle And Monitor Calf Behaviors During Heat Stress, Emily Rice

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

With the increase in on-farm precision dairy technologies (PDT) utilization, large quantities of information are readily available to producers. A more recently available technology for use in livestock species is the real-time location system. These technologies offer dairy producers the opportunity to monitor and track real-time locations of cows, track locomotion patterns, and summarize specific area usage. However, the usefulness of these insights is heavily dependent on the performance of the technology. Therefore, the first objective of this dissertation was to assess the positioning recording performance and the usefulness of the data recorded of a real-time location system (Smartbow GmbH; …

Profiling The Cell Wall Polysaccharides Of Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) Inflorescence And Hempseed And Exploring Their Application As Ruminant Feed Ingredients, Miranda Agbana

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is used in the United States as a source of CBD oil, fiber, and grain. While hempseeds are consumed whole or as dehulled hemp hearts, hempseed oil is also a desirable seed oil in human nutrition. The process of collecting hempseed oil leaves behind hempseed cakes that are abundant in protein and fiber. Feeding of hempseed cakes to animals, including ruminants, has only initially been explored. Extraction of CBD from hemp inflorescences generates organic waste that may find a second purpose as a fiber feed for cattle. Little is known about the exact fiber composition …

The Effects Of Exogenous Enzyme Supplementation On The Performance, Bone Quality, And Nutrient Utilization Of Broiler Chickens, Megan Bauer

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of Allzyme® Spectrum supplementation to a reduced nutrient diet on the growth performance, energy and nutrient digestibility and utilization, bone quality, and jejunal digesta viscosity in broiler chickens. Each experiment used 300 one-day old Cobb by-product breeder chicks with 5 treatments, 10 replicates, and 6 birds per replicate cage in a randomized complete block design. The only differences between the two experiments were experiment 1 lasted for 21 days using a corn-soybean meal-based diet and experiment 2 lasted for 22 days using a wheat-soybean meal-based diet. The 5 treatments included a positive …

Precision Livestock Farming And Personality As Tools To Understand Dairy Calf Individual Variation In Performance, Behavior, And Response To Stress, Megan Marie Woodrum Setser

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Individual differences impact animal responses to their environments and can be observed with animal personality (stable behavioral differences with populations) and food neophobia (avoidance of unfamiliar feeds). These individual differences can influence cattle performance and welfare. Precision technologies, such as automatic feeding systems (AFS) and accelerometers continuously measure feeding behaviors and activity and may allow us to relate individual differences to behaviors in the home environment. Therefore, the first objective was to determine if food neophobia was associated with feeding behaviors measured by AFS. Food neophobia was associated with rewarded visits to the AFS, but to no other feeding behaviors. …

Effects Of Biosynthesized Bromoform On Enteric Methane Production, Animal Performance And Tissue Residues In Cattle, Sydney Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been implicated in global warming and extreme climate change conditions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified agriculture, more specifically cattle production, as a major contributor to global GHG production. When expressed as liters of gas, CO2 is considered the primary GHG produced, however, in terms of global warming potential (GWP), CH4 has 25-times greater potential than that of CO2. Due to the elevated GWP of CH4, we have constructed a series of experiments to investigate the use of a halogenated CH4 analogue derived from kelp (i.e., bromoform) as an inhibitor of enteric CH4 production …

Effects Of High-Speed Training On Messenger Rna Expression In Two-Year-Old Thoroughbred Racehorses, Mackenzie Grace Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

Accumulating high-speed exercise has been identified as a significant risk factor for catastrophic injuries in racing Thoroughbreds. Injuries, regardless of severity, are a main cause of withdrawal from the racing industry, raising animal welfare concerns and resulting in significant economic losses. While most of the current literature focuses on catastrophic injuries incurred during racing rather than training, the present study aims to help fill this gap as well as discuss the associated risk factors. The evaluation of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression changes provides an efficient and straightforward approach to identifying horses at risk for catastrophic injury. While alternative injury risk …

Molecular Genetic Studies Of Horses, Especially With Reference To Aggrecan And Dwarfism, John Edmund Eberth

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

This work consists of studies on dwarfism in Miniature horses and a study on breakdowns in Thoroughbreds in relation to gene aggrecan. A correction of the description and designation of D3 dwarf variant in aggrecan (ACAN) from the master’s thesis Chondrodysplasia-like dwarfism in the Miniature horse (2013). Commercial sequencing showed previous sequencing reads presented an artifact and not a single base deletion. Analysis showed a single base missense mutation in exon 8 identified as D3* was the actual cause. Multiple alleles of ACAN associated with chondrodysplastic dwarfism in Miniature horses by Eberth et al. (2018), corrected the …

Effects Of Forest Reclamation And Landscape Features On Avian Occupancy, Species Richness, And Abundance In Appalachia, Rebecca N. Davenport

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) is a recently developed coal mining reclamation method that emphasizes best management practices in forestry, such as the planting of native trees and shrubs. Although the FRA is expected to benefit wildlife, no studies have empirically examined the effects of the FRA on avian species. My study aimed to identify which reclamation approaches and/or landscape features promote breeding songbirds, particularly mature forest avian guilds and species of conservation need. I conducted point count surveys in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern West Virginia and assessed differences in avian occupancy, species richness, and species abundance between four …

Chemical Immobilization Of Helicopter-Captured Elk (Cervus Canadensis) And Survival Of Elk Calves In Southeastern Kentucky, Kathleen E. Williams

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Safe and effective chemical immobilization is critical to minimize stress and risk of injury when capturing free-ranging, wild ungulates. Many traditionally favored high potency opioids have been phased out or become unavailable because of increased regulations, leading to the development of two pre-mixed combination drugs, butorphanol-azaperone-medetomidine (BAM) and nalbuphine-medetomidine-azaperone (NalMed-A). Both drugs have been used to chemically immobilize ungulates, but their efficacy has not been documented in elk captured and transported via helicopter. During 2020 – 2022, we chemically immobilized helicopter-captured female elk (Cervus canadensis) with a single IM-injection of BAM (n = 41) or NalMed-A (n = …

Improving Indoor Arenas For The Equine Industry, Staci Mcgill

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Equine indoor arenas are a unique infrastructure investment found at equine farms and facilities. They are semi-indoor structures for exercising horses, exhibiting skills during competitive events, and other equine related activities. These spaces do not always include mechanical ventilation or stirring fans and occupancy by horses and humans can be sporadic and inconsistent, which creates a challenging space for understanding and predicting airflow. Typically, indoor arenas have a sand-based footing over which the horse travels. The impact of the hooves can cause dust to become a concern within the facilities. Environmental concerns within these facilities (temperature, respirable dust, moisture, and …

Plant Cell Wall Composition And In Vitro Fermentation Characteristics Of Cool-Season Forage Grasses From Two Growing Seasons In Central Kentucky, Sophia Danielle Newhuis

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Grass cell walls are rich in cellulose, hemicellulosic arabinoxylan (AX) polysaccharides, and lignin. AX structural differences such as degree and pattern of branching and the ester-linked phenolic acid content could affect plants’ digestibility when used as forage for livestock. However, there is little information about how these structural elements change over the growing season in the vegetative tissue of cool-season perennial grasses. Enhanced information about the cell wall composition and carbohydrate structure of forage material will provide a foundation for expanding our knowledge of how forage cell wall carbohydrate structures are utilized by ruminants. The objectives of this study were …