The main aim of this research was to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters for productive and reproductive traits of Esfahan native chickens. Traits included body weights at hatch (BW1), 8 weeks of age (BW8), 12 weeks of age (BW12), and at sexual maturity (WSM)], age at sex maturity (ASM), egg number (EN), average egg weight (AEW) in the first 12 weeks of production, and egg production...

Hemolin is a lepidopteran member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, initially isolated from the giant silkmoth Hyalophora cecropia. Hemolin is also induced by stimulation with microbial cell wall components and was recently shown to be strongly upregulated by baculovirus and double stranded RNA. An interesting characteristic of the protein is that it is not only highly expressed during infectio...

traditional poultry production has changed to a considerable industry after few decades. now, poultry industry is one of the main sectors to obtain the required protein for human consumption. prediction of the weight and number of eggs according to economic traits can improve the efficiency of production and the profit of producers. in present study, the weight and number of eggs in mazandaran ...

Predators exert strong top-down pressure on herbivorous insects, but research on how predators affect herbivore fitness often focuses on the more active juvenile and adult life stages while ignoring the pupal or cocoon life stage. Few studies have investigated predation of lepidopteran pupae or cocoons and even fewer have investigated species that are not forest pests. Here we present a study o...

The study was conducted to determine the effects of turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)egg weight on certain egg traits and hatching performance. A total of 178 turkey eggs comprising of three different egg weight groups below 60 g (G I), 61 to 69 g (G II) and above 70 g (G III) were used for this study. Average egg weight (g), egg length (cm), egg breadth (cm) and egg volume (cm3) values increased wi...

Differentially expressed microRNAs were detected to explore the molecular mechanisms of diapause termination. The total small RNA of diapause-destined silkworm eggs and HCl-treated eggs was extracted and then sequenced using HiSeq high-throughput method. 44 novel miRNAs were discovered. Compared to those in the diapause-destined eggs, 61 miRNAs showed significant changes in the acid-treated egg...