Contagious agalactia (C.A) is an infectious syndrome of sheep that is characterized by mastitis and subsequent failure of milk production, arthritis, abortion and keratoconjunctivitis. Mycoplasma agalactiae (M. agalactiae) is the main cause of the disease in sheep. The aim of this study was isolation and identification of M. agalactiae with culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay from...

AIM The current investigation aimed to evaluate ruminant raw milk as a reservoir source of Helicobacter pylori and analyze the diversity of cagA and vacA genotypes as H. pylori virulence factors to find any relationship between these genotypes in human and animal H. pylori strains. BACKGROUND The way of transmission of Helicobacter pylori as one of the most controversial bacteria in the world...

Genetic polymorphisms of the milk protein genes are important because of their effects on quantitative traits and technological properties of milk manufacturing. In the present study we identified the polymorphism of the beta-casein gene in two local sheep breeds (Racka n=98 and Turcana n=111) in Romania. The most studied variants at the ovine beta-casein (CSN2) locus are: A and G variants. Gen...

We evaluated the capacity of the Mycoplasma agalactiae p40 gene as a diagnostic marker for contagious agalactia in sheep by quantitative real-time PCR. The p40 gene encodes an immunodominant adhesin that plays a key role in cytoadhesion of M. agalactiae. The assay was 100% specific, with an analytical sensitivity of 1 genome equivalent (GE), a quantification that is highly linear (R(2) > 0.992)...

BACKGROUND Immunoglobulin E-mediated allergy to cow's milk protein represents a major problem for infants who are not breast fed. A search for substitute milks revealed a cross-allergenicity to milk derived from goat and sheep but not to milk from a mare. We noted that the cow, goat and sheep species are both artiodactyls and ruminants, defining them as kosher animals, in contrast to the mare. ...

Some animals consuming hay treated with anhydrous ammonia have developed neurological signs including hyperexcitability, circling and convulsions. A series of experiments was conducted to identify tentatively the toxin and determine its mode of action. Three out of four sheep fed ammoniated orchardgrass hay (approximately 4% ammonia on a dry basis) developed convulsions. Two of the three sheep ...

A screening survey of the presence of aflatoxin M(1) (AFM(1)) was carried out on 265 samples of cheese made from cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, sheep-goat milk collected in the Apulia region (Southern Italy). Selected samples included unripened, medium and long-term ripened cheeses. AFM(1) was found in 16.6% of the analyzed samples. The highest positive incidence was for medium and long-term ripene...

We describe two unusual cases in sheep of subclinical mastitis caused by Streptococcus parasanguinis. This bacterium has been associated with the development of experimental endocarditis; its presence at relatively high concentrations in apparently healthy sheep milk may pose a health risk in persons with predisposing heart lesions.

We investigated the effects of omitting one or two milkings weekly on milk yield and milk composition in dairy sheep. Ninety Spanish Assaf ewes were allocated to three experimental treatments: T0 (no milking omission; 14 milkings/week), T1 (omission of one evening milking per week; 13 milkings/week) and T2 (omission of two evening milkings per week; 12 milkings/week). The experiment was extende...

Selection for breeding animals as parents of next generation, based on genetic analyses of most important traits, became a standard for selection practices in most of the farm animal species in Slovakia. In this respect, about ten years of experience could be traced in Slovakian dairy cattle (Candrák et al., 1997) and pigs (Groeneveld and Peškovičová, 1999 and Peškovičová et. al., 1999). First ...