Introduction: The prevalence of arrhythmias in dogs and the influence of sex, breed, age, and body weight were analysed over a seven-year span.

Over the last years a growing demand for ratite meat, including ostrich, emu, and rhea has been observed in the world. Ratite meat is recognised as a dietetic product because of low level of fat, high share of PUFA, favourable n6/n3 ratio, and higher amounts of iron content in comparison with beef and chicken meat. The abundance of bioactive compounds, e.g. PUFA, makes ratite meat highly susceptible to oxidation processes. Moreover, pH over 6 creates favourable environment for fast microbial growth during storage conditions affecting its shelf life. However, availability of information on ratite meat shelf life among consumers and industry is still limited. Thus, the aim of the present review is to provide current information about the effect of ratite meat packaging type, i.e. air packaging, vacuum packaging with skin pack, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), on its shelf life quality during storage, including technological and nutritional properties.

Current knowledge about the function of the reproductive tract and appropriate use of hormonal drugs affords control of the oestrus cycle of cows. One of the hormonal protocols is OvSynch, which enables artificial insemination (AI) to be performed at the precise optimum time without control of the ovaries and uterus. Use of such protocols in reproductive management allows oestrus cycles to be synchronised and cows to be effectively inseminated without oestrous detection, which is time-consuming and difficult in farms with numerous cows. Therefore, OvSynch has become the first management tool for AI and is an alternative method to heat detection. Over the 20 years since its first implementation, OvSynch has been modified many times to improve its reproduction outcomes and widen its use. Besides its original use for heat synchronisation, it is also used in many ovarian disorders as a therapeutic method. This review article describes the possibilities which OvSynch provides, its current modifications, various applications, and the advantages and disadvantages of its use in practice.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the dependence between ejaculate traits, sperm morphology, and ejaculate volume in Duroc boars.

Introduction: Abortion in cattle is a major source of economic losses for the agriculture sector. It can be due to infectious or non-infectious factors. Among infectious factors, parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi can be involved. The present work investigated the prevalence of the main infectious agents of abortion in Algerian cattle. Material and Methods: Altogether 278 non-aborting and 82 aborting cows were analysed. Results: The prevalence ranged from 0% for Tritrichomonas foetus to 15% for Neospora caninum. Additionally, a case-control study was performed to find the association between the presence of the pathogens and the occurrence of abortion in cows. The odds ratios were significant for Neospora caninum, bovine herpes virus 4, BVD virus, Brucella abortus, Salmonella Dublin, Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjo, and Coxiella burnetii. Conclusions: The pathogens enumerated here could be major causes of abortion among Algerian cattle.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to determine microbiota in the cloacal samples of European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and to compare a variety of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance in cultivable and non-cultivable bacteria.

Tenderness is the most important characteristic of meat, determining consumer approval. There are numerous methods of its improvement, although of diverse effectiveness. addition of vitamin D3 to the feed for a short period before slaughter (7–10 days) is one of the natural ways to enhance the tenderness. Vitamin D3 is responsible for Ca2+ mobilisation in serum and increase in activity of proteolytic enzymes belonging to calpains, which results in significant improvement of beef tenderness and reduction of ageing time. The use of vitamin D3 is an application tool determining tenderness improvement of beef with substantial reduction in processing costs. Moreover, shorter post mortem ageing process will exceed the retail display time, which will consequently reduce losses due to unsold meat being returned from shops to the manufacturers. Based on the results of studies conducted over the last 15 years, this paper presents the possibility and the effects of the use of vitamin D3 to improve beef tenderness.

Introduction: Eight microsatellite loci were used to define genetic diversity among five native water buffalo breeds in Pakistan.

Introduction: Reindeer are adapted to long distance migration. This species can cope with variations in substrate, especially in ice and snow environment. However, few detailed studies about reindeer hoof are available. Thus this article describes the results of studies on macro- and micro-structures of reindeer hoof.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus and the sole member of the Asfarviridae family. ASFV infects domestic pigs, wild boars, warthogs, and bush pigs, as well as soft ticks (Ornithodoros erraticus), which likely act as a vector. The major target is swine monocyte-macrophage cells. The virus can cause high fever, haemorrhagic lesions, cyanosis, anorexia, and even fatalities in domestic pigs. Currently, there is no vaccine and effective disease control strategies against its spread are culling infected pigs and maintaining high biosecurity standards. African swine fever (ASF) spread to Europe from Africa in the middle of the 20th century, and later also to South America and the Caribbean. Since then, ASF has spread more widely and thus is still a great challenge for swine breeding. The genome of ASFV ranges in length from about 170 to 193 kbp depending on the isolate and contains between 150 and 167 open reading frames (ORFs). The ASFV genome encodes 150 to 200 proteins, around 50 of them structural. The roles of virus structural proteins in viral infection have been described. These proteins, such as pp220, pp62, p72, p54, p30, and CD2v, serve as the major component of virus particles and have roles in attachment, entry, and replication. All studies on ASFV proteins lay a good foundation upon which to clarify the infection mechanism and develop vaccines and diagnosis methods. In this paper, the roles of ASFV structural proteins in viral infection are reviewed.