Animal Sciences Commons^™

Rangeland Condition Assessment Of A Portion Of The Cal Poly Sheep Unit, Colin S. Mckim

Animal Science

This rangeland condition assessment was conducted as part of the Cal Poly Rangeland Condition Assessment Project. Five pastures comprising 31.7 acres at the Cal Poly sheep unit were assessed to collect baseline ecological information. Methods used were Line-point Intercept, Belt Transect, Residual Dry Matter, and the rangeland health indicators recommended by Pyke et al., 2002. Additionally, a preliminary species list was collected. The rangeland health assessment method found all pastures to have no to slight departure from the local reference area when evaluated for soil and site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity.

Regional Differences In Adipose Tissue Of The Sinclair Minipig, Suzanne Lauren Booker

Masters Theses

Adipose tissue is an endocrine organ, and its homeostatic mechanisms in normal weight, overweight and obese subjects must be elucidated. We sought to determine the basal adipose tissue biology of visceral (VIF) and subcutaneous (SQF) fat depots in 8 month old Sinclair minipigs, an animal that has been shown to be physiologically similar to humans.

Metabolic analysis showed a decrease in LDL, white blood cells (WBC), and lymphocyte percentages as the minipigs aged from 6 to 8 months (p <0.0001 and = 0.0046 and 0.0165 respectively). There were no significant changes in triglycerides, HDL, VLDL, and neutrophil percentages. There was a trend in insulin increase (P=0.0722).

Microarray analysis was performed to determine transcriptome differences between VIF and SQF. When VIF was compared to SQF, expression of a …

Spatial And Temporal Relationships Between Deer Harvest And Deer-Vehicle Collisions At Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee, Amanda Marie Pierce

Masters Theses

The Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and the nearby adjoining City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee had experienced a rise in deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) to the point where safety for employees and residents became a concern. I investigated the effect of hunting, land cover, road mileage, season, lunar phase, sex, and change in traffic patterns that coincide with work shifts on DVCs from 1975 - 2008. The study area was divided into grids of 1.5 km² each for administration and data recording by managing agencies. Statistical analyses were performed on the ORR (121 grids) and GIS analyses were performed …

Design, Planning, And Evaluation Of Upgraded Cattle Handling Facility, Lindsey Kaeli Tulloch

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design, planning, and evaluation of a livestock handling facility for Tulloch Ranches. The facility will be an upgrade to the facility currently used at the ranch in Pine Valley, California. The design parameters for the facility were narrowed down to the following: 1. Must reduce stress to animals during handling. 2. Must be cost effective to save labor and maintenance. 3. Must show improvement from the current set- up. The above parameters combine to form a system that enables the handlers of Tulloch Ranches to manage and work cattle in a more calm and humane …

Trial And Budget Analysis Of Two Synchronized Artificial Insemination Breeding Programs For Beef First Calf Heifers, John Nino

Agribusiness

This study was designed to compare the benefits and costs of two different synchronized artificial insemination programs on two groups of beef first calf heifers. A financial budget was developed that would include cost of synchronized insemination per animal and the added value of a bred heifer compared to an open one.

The two synchronized programs were called controlled internal drug release (CIDR) and Ovsynch. They used a specific timeline and drugs to complete the synchronization process. A single low birth weight high calving ease bull was used for both groups to enforce conformity between the groups. Costs of all …

Growth Hormone Alters Components Related To Differentiation, Metabolism And Milk Synthesis And Secretion In Mac-T Cells, Tasha Lynn Johnson

Master's Theses

The mammary alveolar cell-T (MAC-T) cell line is able to uniformly differentiate and secrete casein proteins in response to dexamethasone, insulin and prolactin and is extensively used to study bovine mammary epithelial cell function. Growth hormone (GH) has been shown to increase milk protein synthesis both in vivo and in mammary cell models, and induce cytoskeletal rearrangement in 3T3 fibroblast cell line and a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. Few studies have focused on identifying the mechanisms involved in differentiated MAC-T cells’ response to GH. We tested the hypothesis that MAC-T cells would respond directly to GH and that …

Identifying Alternative Waste Conversion Technologies For Use At California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Matthew R. Bono

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This project was undertaken to identify and study alternative technologies for converting waste streams available on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus into energy. As a large campus on the Central Coast of California Cal Poly not only produces lots of waste, but has limited options for its disposal. Furthermore, the campus is in the midst of an on-going green initiative, and more efficient use of its waste products would be a welcome development for the entire campus community. This report gathers information on waste streams originating at Cal Poly and information about waste to energy conversion technologies. The …

Transferencia Del Embrión A Diferentes Días De La Ovulación De La Receptora Y Su Impacto Sobre La Fertilidad En Protocolos De Transferencia De Embriones En Equinos, Diego Alejandro Quevedo Criollo

Zootecnia

Con esta investigación, se identificó el día más propicio para realizar la transferencia de embrión (T.E) de la yegua donante a la yegua receptora con el fin de incrementar el porcentaje de gestaciones obtenidas. Esta investigación se llevó a cabo en tres diferentes criaderos ubicados en la sabana de Bogotá: Potrillos (Cogua), La Ceiba (Facatativa) y Tikal (Tenjo); se compararon los porcentajes de gestaciones obtenidas, se realizó una proyección de crías al año y la relación costo / beneficio entre los diferentes días de transferencia de embriones. Para esto se trabajo con 20 yeguas donantes y 53 yeguas receptoras. Los …

Influencia Del Espesor De Grasa Dorsal Sobre Los Parámetros Reproductivos En Líneas Híbridas Y Puras De Hembras Porcinas En La Granja La Sarita En El Municipio De Ubaté, July Quintero, Eduardo Russi

Zootecnia

Como objetivo principal en el desarrollo del presente trabajo, se evaluó la relación entre el espesor de la grasa dorsal de diferentes razas y líneas genéticas porcinas en la etapa de gestación, con los principales parámetros reproductivos medidos al parto. Para el desarrollo de este trabajo se emplearon 211 hembras reproductoras de las razas: Large White, Duroc, Landrace y cerdas hibridas pertenecientes a estas líneas genéticas, en las cuales se efectuó cuatro tomas en el espesor de grasa dorsal: al servicio, a los 45, 85 y 115 días de gestación. En la primera parte de este estudio, se evaluó el …

Growth And Age At Reproductive Maturity Of The Carolina Pigmy Rattlesnake, Sistrurus M. Miliarius (Reptilia: Serpentes), Kevin Robert Messenger

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Growth and age at reproductive maturity are life history attributes that play an important role in the development of proper management strategies. The Carolina Pigmy Rattlesnake, Sistrurus m. miliarius, is one of two dwarf rattlesnake species. The subspecies ranges from eastern NC to nearly the southern tip of SC and into the northeastern portion of GA. In NC, where the species’ status is of Special Concern, fragmentation and land development have destroyed most of its historic range. Its small size also makes it highly susceptible to predation. In some parts of the range, commercial collection is another pressure the species …

Efecto De La Suplementación De Selenio Orgánico Sobre El Desempeño Reproductivo En Yeguas Criollas En La Sabana De Bogotá, María Fernanda Soriano Toloza, Carlos Alfonso Bulla Díaz

Zootecnia

Se evaluó el efecto de un suplemento comercial a base de Selenio Orgánico sobre el desempeño reproductivo en yeguas destinadas a la cría en edades que oscilan entre 3 y 6 años de la Raza Criolla Colombiana usando el diseño experimental de análisis de covarianza, empleando un modelo a una vía de clasificación con el peso inicial como covariable y la prueba estadística de Chi Cuadrado (p<0.05). La información se recolectó en el Municipio de Tenjo, Cundinamarca al Occidente de la Sabana de Bogotá. Se evaluaron 2 tratamientos nombrados como Lote A el cual constaba de la suplementación con selenio orgánico en una dosis de 0.3 gr/animal/día y 250 gramos de concentrado comercial, y el Lote B se tomó como lote control sin suplementación. El experimento duró 50 días en el primer semestre del 2010. Al analizar los resultados no se encontraron diferencias significativas en el desempeño reproductivo de los dos lotes, sin embargo la ganancia de peso en el lote A fue mayor que en el lote B tomando en cuenta la ganancia de peso durante el tratamiento. Con la prueba de Chi Cuadrado de independencia de información cualitativa para cada una de las palpaciones realizadas y la determinación de ciclos completos o no completos, se puede concluir que la suplementación con selenio orgánico bajo las condiciones del experimento no mejoraron la eficiencia reproductiva de las yeguas suplementadas en ninguno de los dos aspectos.

The Differential Roles Of D-Pax2 Variants In Regulating Drosophila Eye And Bristle Development, Colin J. O’Shea

Honors Theses

The ability to appropriately interact with the environment is crucial to an organism’s survival. The establishment of functional sensory systems, such as the bristles and eyes in Drosophila, is a critical event during the development of the organism. The transcription factor D Pax2 is involved in the differentiation of the shaft and glial cells in the developing bristle (Kavaler et al., Dev, 126:2261-2272, 1999) and of the cone and primary pigment cells in the developing eye (Fu and Noll, Genes Dev, 11:389-405, 1997). How D-Pax2 contributes to distinct differentiative pathways in different cell types is not known. Recent work by …