Among all the transgenic mammalians produced so far, goats have represented an excellent model of transgenesis when considering the factors such as the market demand for protein, volume of milk produced per lactation and reproductive rate. Various recombinant proteins have been obtained from the transgenic and non-transgenic goats, and among these, human antithrombin, produced by the transgenic...

Goats are economically important in many countries, and little is known of caprine toxoplasmosis in Brazil. Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were assayed in the sera of 143 goats from 3 Brazilian states, using modified agglutination test (MAT titer > or = 1:25); 46 (32.2%) tested positive. Samples of brain, heart, diaphragm, and masseter of seropositive animals were pooled, digested in pepsin, a...

A trial was carried out to investigate the possible role of Ostertagia circumcincta, coccidiosis and level of protein in the diet in the development of swelling disease in Angora goat kids. Eighty Angora goat kids were bought from 5 producers whose flocks had a history of swelling disease. These kids were kept in enclosures at Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute near Middelburg (Eas...

BACKGROUND In ruminants, lower ruminal pH causes massive disruption of ruminal epithelial structure during periods of feeding high-concentrate diets. However, the influence of excessive organic fatty acids in the lumen of hindgut on the epithelial structure is unclear. In this study, twelve mid-lactating goats were randomly assigned to either a HC diet group (65% concentrate of dry matter; n = ...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy toxaemia (PT) is a disease that affects pregnant goats during their last month of gestation and is characterized by a high case fatality rate. This study involved 32 does maintained on a commercial dairy goat farm that were diagnosed with PT. A physical examination was performed on and haematology parameters obtained from each doe, at the time of diagnosis. The data from th...

Our objective was to identify the primary site of the reduced adrenal function in South African Angora goats (Capra aegagrus) that causes a decrease in cortisol production and leads to severe losses of Angora goats during cold spells. Angora goats, Boer goats (Capra hircus), and Merino sheep (Ovis aries) were assigned to three intravenous treatments: 1) insulin, 2) corticotropin-releasing facto...

BACKGROUND T.gondii is a global zoonotic disease and is considered as the most neglected tropical disease in sub-Saharan countries. The exact seroepidemiological distribution and risk factors for the infection of food animals and humans in Ethiopia was less studied although, such studies are important. The objective of the current study was to determine the seroprevalence and potential risk fac...

To identify regions of the caprine diencephalone and pituitary gland related to transportation stress, the expression of c-fos protein was examined immunohistochemically as an indicator of neural activation. Ten castrated Shiba goats (Capra hircus), five transported and five controls, were used. Transported goats were trucked for 1 h and killed by transcardiac perfusion 1 h after the end of tra...

Red-colored bones were found initially in some Guishan goats in the 1980s, and they were designated red-boned goats. However, it is not understood what causes the red color in the bone, or whether the red material changes the bone geometry, architecture, and metabolism of red-boned goats. Pseudopurpurin was identified in the red-colored material of the bone in red-boned goats by high-performanc...

A research study was carried out on the indirect selection efforts amongst small scale holders of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats based on coat pigmentation and wattle types in Ogbomoso, Nigeria using personal interviews and structured questionnaires given using simple random on-farm techniques. The questionnaires were focused on the ownership distribution, preferred pigmentation and wattle type...