AnimalNet June 10/08

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Diet prior to pregnancy determines sheep's gender

GEORGIA: Research could prompt changes in growth-promoting methods for poultry

PHILIPPINES: Fish farmers want GM stocks

MONTANA cow tests positive for brucellosis

US: Local aquaculture industry eyes growth

Economics of aquaculture feeding practices in selected Asian countries

WASHINGTON: Hatchery fish could repopulate Salmon River's wild stock

S. KOREAN cabinet offers to quit after beef protests

NEW ZEALAND: Beef protester dies

Horses to have single passport in EU next year

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10.jun.08
iFSN
Doug Powell
barfblog.com
I've fallen behind on news distribution due to travel, interviews and stuff. For breaking news, subscribe to barfblog.com (there's an option on the left side about half-way down), or add barfblog to your RSS reader.
I realize the listserv format is becoming dated, and over the next few months I will be moving to integrate the four listservs into one publication, with RSS feeds so you can subscribe to the topics that most interest you.
Stay tuned.
dp



 
Diet prior to pregnancy determines sheep's gender
09.jun.08
BioMed Central
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/bc-ddp060508.php
Maternal diet influences the chances of having male or female offspring. Research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology has demonstrated that ewes fed a diet enriched with polyunsaturated fats for one month prior to conception have a significantly higher chance of giving birth to male offspring.
This study was carried out by a team of researchers from the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri and led by R Michael Roberts. Roberts explains how diet at the time of conception is the most important factor when it comes to influencing the sex of the offspring "Our study ruled out body condition, ewe weight, previous births, time of breeding, and likely dominance as reasons for the gender skewing. Rather, it was the composition of the diet consumed in the time period around conception that was responsible for this sex-ratio effect".
Polyunsaturated fats are essential nutrients. It is believed that the dietary ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fats has important biological effects, especially in terms of inflammation, immunity and central nervous system signalling. The omega-6 fats used in this study were protected from digestion by naturally occurring rumen bacteria to ensure that they would be absorbed through the intestines of the sheep.
In animal social groups where a small number of dominant males mate with a large number of females, it has been theorised that having male offspring would be of genetic advantage to a very healthy, well fed female, while females consuming a poorer diet would have greater genetic success by giving birth to female offspring. According to Roberts "Although this theory is attractive, former observations have often been contradictory, leading some to dismiss its relevance. This is the first experimental study in controlled conditions showing that supplementing maternal diet, in this case by increasing omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake, can skew the sex ratio towards males in a farm species."
These findings will be important to the livestock industry. As Roberts points out "Increasing the amount of fat in feed during the breeding period could provide a means of controlling the sex ratio of offspring born to a herd or flock."



 
GEORGIA: Research could prompt changes in growth-promoting methods for poultry
09.jun.08
Meatingplace.com
Ann Bagel Storck
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=20652
The best methods to produce healthy chickens without antibiotics have been called into question by a new University of Georgia study.
Lead author Adriana Pedroso, a post-doctoral researcher in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, and her colleagues incubated more than 300 eggs and dipped them into a light bleach solution before extracting the embryos using sterile tools. DNA analysis revealed a diverse community of bacteria within the intestines of the developing embryos. Pedroso and her colleagues hypothesize that the bacteria penetrate the surface of the shell to the egg white, which is then ingested by the developing embryo.
Study co-author John Maurer, professor of population health, said the finding could lead to better methods for promoting growth in poultry and for reducing the risk of food-borne illness. He explained that as the poultry industry has moved away from the use of growth-promoting antibiotics, it increasingly relies on administering probiotics to newly hatched chicks.
Establishing a community of healthy bacteria in the birds is thought to make it more difficult for pathogenic bacteria to establish themselves, but studies on the effectiveness of probiotics have shown mixed results. Maurer said it appears now that the timing of probiotic administration is important.
"Currently, most probiotics are administered after the chicks have hatched," Maurer said. "But our study suggests we might need to administer probiotics in ovo [in the egg] to get better results."



 
PHILIPPINES: Fish farmers want GM stocks
10.jun.08
Checkbiotech
The New Vision
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/2008-06-10/Fish_farmers_want_GM_stocks/
Commercial fish farmers want the Government to allow importation of genetically-modified (GM) tilapia stocks to counter the dwindling fish population in local waters.
Tugumisirize Digo, a fish farmer with Sunfish Farms in Wakiso, said many foreign companies had GM tilapia from Lake Victoria and were profiting from the trade.
"The Philippines are benefiting from tilapia got from Uganda, yet our government is making it difficult for us to access these technologies," Digo said.
The Philippines have branded the GM tilapia as gift fish. It grows faster, is bigger in size and contains more protein. Digo discarded fears that GM fish may undermine the market for our fish in the EU.



 
MONTANA cow tests positive for brucellosis
09.jun.08
Washington Post/Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060902340.html
BILLINGS, Mont. -- Montana officials were cited as saying Monday that a cow has tested positive for brucellosis -- a serious livestock disease that had been declared nonexistent in U.S. cattle earlier this year.
The infection means Montana ranchers must undergo an expensive testing program before shipping cattle out of state and will have to increase vaccinations. The state will lose its federal brucellosis-free status until it can demonstrate it has the disease under control.
Brucellosis is a disease carried by wild animals including bison and elk in the greater Yellowstone area. It can cause pregnant cows to abort their calves but transmission to humans is rare.
Consuming animals with the disease is not considered dangerous, state officials said.
In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared all 50 states to be brucellosis-free in their commercial herds -- the first time that had happened in 74 years.




 
US: Local aquaculture industry eyes growth
10.jun.08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jeremiah McWilliams
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/FE3CD42DB65D349D86257464000B12F5?OpenDocument
Jim Call tends a 2,500-acre farm in western Minnesota, growing corn, wheat and soybeans. Earlier this year, he hopped on a flight to catch what he hopes is a glimpse of the future — a soybean meal fish feed plant near New Delhi, India.
The plant was gearing up to feed India's growing "aquaculture" industry — otherwise known as fish farming.
Aquaculture's growth in Asia — particularly in China, India and Vietnam — is conjuring visions of new markets for U.S. businesses, from soybean farmers to suppliers of animal supplements. Driven by declining stocks of wild fish and continued demand for fish, the $70 billion aquaculture industry is now the world's fastest-growing source of food production.
It also has local connections. The Chesterfield-based United Soybean Board is trying to open up new markets for soybean farmers by promoting fish feed based on soybean meal. That would be good news for soybean farmers in Illinois and Missouri— the nation's No. 2 and No. 7 soybean-producing states by bushels, respectively.



 
Economics of aquaculture feeding practices in selected Asian countries
09.jun.08
FAO
http://www.fao.org/fishery/nems/38272/en
Improved feed management strategy, including the use of optimal combinations of fertilizers, feed ingredients and manufactured feeds, could lower costs and optimize production of aquatic species. This calls for an increased understanding of the economics and cost-benefit analysis of these practices.The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Technical Paper, Economics of aquaculture feeding practices in selected Asian countries, is now available online.This document provides an analysis of the economic implications of, and the reasons for, adopting various feeding practices for different fish species and aquaculture systems in Asia. It includes six case studies from Asia (Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam), an overall synthesis and recommendations.



 
WASHINGTON: Hatchery fish could repopulate Salmon River's wild stock
09.jun.08
The Columbian
Erik Robinson
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_white_river.html
UNDERWOOD, Wash. -- In a little over a year, the sparkling emerald water of the lower White Salmon River will turn brown with a torrent of mud unleashed by the removal of Condit Dam.
The mountain of sediment that has accumulated against the back side of Condit over the past 95 years will bury the lower White Salmon until the river's natural flow can clear it away in two to five years. Before that happens, federal researchers wanted to get a better sense of any wild salmon spawning in the three miles between the dam and the White Salmon's confluence with the Columbia River.
Two years ago, they installed a rotary screw trap to scoop salmon fry skimming along the rivers surface after emerging from the rivers gravelly bottom in the spring.
They found fish by the thousands.
"A lot of people thought we wouldn't catch anything," said Rod Engle, a biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Even more revealing, subsequent genetic tests over each of the past three years show one of the two distinct wild populations identified in the river is closely related to tule fall chinook produced by the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery on the Columbia just downriver from the mouth of the White Salmon. The hatchery traces its roots to 1901, when it was built to offset the loss of wild salmon from overfishing and, later, mitigate for the natural habitat lost to a flurry of dam-building on tributaries such as the Yakima, Sandy and White Salmon rivers.



 
S. KOREAN cabinet offers to quit after beef protests
10.jun.08
New York Times
Choe Sang-Hun
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/world/asia/10korea.html?hp
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's entire cabinet offered to resign on Tuesday as President Lee Myung-bak struggled to find a breakthrough in the biggest political crisis to face his young government, one set off by fears that an agreement to reopen markets to American beef could expose the public to mad cow disease.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and other cabinet members submitted their resignations to Mr. Lee hours before tens of thousands of South Koreans were scheduled to rally in downtown Seoul in what organizers said would be the largest demonstration to be held against the president and his 107-day-old government.
For the past 40 days, downtown Seoul has been rocked daily by demonstrations. What had started as a rally by hundreds of teenage students holding candles to protest the importing of American beef has evolved into a broad demonstration against government policies, with students, homemakers and workers chanting "Out with Lee Myung-bak!"
On Tuesday Cho Hang-nam, a spokesman for Mr. Han, said, "The prime minister offered the resignations on behalf of cabinet members when he met President Lee this morning."



 
NEW ZEALAND: Beef protester dies
09.jun.08
The New Zeland Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10515375
A South Korean man died in hospital two weeks after setting himself ablaze in protest at a deal to resume US beef imports.
Lee Byong Ryol, 40, had received treatment for serious burns since he doused himself with paint thinner and set himself on fire.



 
Horses to have single passport in EU next year
10.jun.08
Xinhua News Agency (China)
Mu Xuequan
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/10/content_8335921.htm
Horses, donkeys and other members of the "equine" family in the European Union (EU) will have a single passport next year.
Under new rules adopted by the European Commission on Monday, all equidae will now have to acquire their individual passports within six months after their birth.
At the same time, when the passport is issued, the animal will be tagged with an electronic chip that would be injected to its neck. The chip will match the passport.
The EU's executive arm said the new identification system will help improve the health of horses, donkeys and other members of the "equine" family as the current one was outdated.
"The current system of identifying horses is outdated. It needs to be adapted to the new identification technologies," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in a statement.
"It creates a better identification system that in the end will help us fight possible animal diseases," she added.
 


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