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The aim of this study was to evaluate if the cottonseed intake during gestation and lactation affects the ovarian population in ewes and lambs. Therefore, 39 ewes were evaluated during 10 months under two treatments: Cottonseed and soybeans. The quantification of ovarian follicular dynamics was analyzed by ultrasound and the determination of progesterone and estradiol levels was interpreted by radioimmunoassay. After weaning, ovaries of lambs (n = 10) were collected by ovariectomy and fixed for the assessment of follicular parameters as normality, classification, diameter, ultrastructure, stereology, and as well as immunoexpression of the α-estradiol receptor α (ER-α). The results showed that the cottonseed consumption altered neither the ovarian nor the hormonal follicular dynamics of Santa Inês ewes after calving and did not affect the normality, classification, diameter, stereology and follicular ultrastructure of offspring. Nevertheless, the offspring of ewes fed with cottonseed showed high ER-α immunoexpression in the ovarian structures. It is concluded that cottonseed did not affect the maternal-descendant follicular dynamics. However, lambs' ovaries had highest α-ER immunoexpression in oocytes, granulosa and theca cells and corpus luteum. This fact warns of a possible change in the future steroidogenic response of these lambs that had progenitors consuming cottonseed in their reproductive period., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The early pregnancy diagnosis allows optimizing production and timely management correction, with a greater reproductive output of livestock. The Idexx Rapid Visual Pregnancy Test® consists of an ELISA for visual reading which does not require the use of readers in the laboratory, with satisfactory pregnancy diagnoses at 28 days of pregnancy in cattle. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate this rapid test and to verify the most appropriate day for the diagnosis of pregnancy in the ovine species. For this purpose, 98 serum samples from pregnant sheep and 36 from non-pregnant were used, with duplicate samples, and diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound examination, used as the gold standard. The numbers of positive samples obtained at 26, 28, and 30 days of pregnancy were 26, 27, and 45, respectively. The Rapid Visual Pregnancy Test correctly identified 100% of the samples as positive at pregnancy of days 26, 28, and 30. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were also 100%. The Idexx Rapid Visual Pregnancy Test, initially indicated for cattle, is effective for the detection of pregnancy in the ovine species, enabling diagnosis of pregnant sheep from the 26th day of pregnancy.

Background: The appearance of anthelmintic resistance has made it difficult to control verminosis in sheep, leading to increased research to find alternative nematode control. The use of homeopathy in veterinary medicine has been studied as an alternative for the treatment and control of some diseases. In this study, ewes received an anti-parasitic homeopathic complex medicine during the critical peripartum period of increased susceptibility to nematodes., Methods: Three randomized groups containing 16 animals each were assigned as follows: 'H10' received 10 g homeopathic complex added to concentrated food per day; 'H20' received 20 g homeopathic complex added to concentrated food per day; 'C' (control group) did not receive a homeopathic complex. Animals were tested to evaluate the effect of homeopathy on several health parameters during a period of 110 days., Results: The parasite that prevailed in the copro-cultures of both treatments throughout the experiment was Haemonchus contortus (78.26%). Packed cell volume averages did not present statistically significant differences between the treatments (24.5, 24.4 and 23.9% to C, H10 and H20, respectively; p  < 0.05). For total white cell count, lower mean values ( ±  standard error of mean) were observed for the H20 treatment (5,490.9 ± 0.02/µL; p  < 0.05), whereas the H10 (5,919.4 ± 0.02/µL) and control (6,098.5 ± 0.02/µL) presented higher and similar averages ( p  > 0.05). The values for erythrocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes did not show differences between treatments ( p  > 0.05). Body weight was greater in the H10-treated animals compared with control. For the fecal egg count (FEC) of Trichostrongylidae and Strongyloides spp., respectively, the averages of the H20 treatment (1,523.0 and 30.6) were not different from control (1,616.0 and 31.6) and H10 (1,038.0 and 27.6); for Trichostrongylidae , however, H10 presented a lower FEC than the control ( p  = 0.02). For Cooperia, H10- and H20-treated animals showed FEC reductions of 97% and 98%, respectively., Conclusions: H20 treatment in peripartum sheep resulted in greater body weight and lower leukocyte count. H10 was associated with lower FEC for Trichostrongylidae . Both H10 and H20 justify a label of 'effective anthelmintic' for Cooperia ., Competing Interests: None declared., (The Faculty of Homeopathy.)

Orf virus (ORFV) causes contagious ecthyma (CE), a highly transmissible, zoonotic disease of small ruminants. CE most commonly affects lambs and unvaccinated sheep. This work reports epidemiologic, clinicopathologic, and virologic findings in a CE outbreak in a vaccinated sheep flock in Uruguay and failure to detect ORFV in a commercial vaccine.

Manipulation of oocytes enclosed in preantral follicles (MOEPF) allows for analyzing follicular development and use of this biotechnology in the pre-analysis of the beneficial or toxic effects of bio-products on granulosa cells and oocytes at different developmental stages. In this study, there was evaluation of the effects of gossypol by culturing granulosa cells and oocytes in ewe ovarian tissues. Ovarian tissues were cultured with gossypol at 37 °C, in humidified air and 5% CO 2 . Variables that were evaluated were morphology, morphometry, ultrastructure and abundance of estradiol receptor α (α-ER). There were no differences in developmental characteristics when there was treatment with any of the gossypol doses that were evaluated. Immunostaining indicated that when the gossypol dose increases, the abundance of α-ER also increases in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and granulosa cells. Findings with the ultrastructural analysis indicated that for granulosa cells there was fewer cells and greater disorganization and a lack of structural integrity of follicular cell layers as a result of all gossypol treatments. The culture of oocytes in preantral ovarian follicles in presence of gossypol did not affect the morphological-metric structure at the doses evaluated. The findings with evaluation of ultrastructural and immunohistochemical structures indicated granulosa cells and α-ER were affected by the treatments with gossypol indicating there were effects of this compound on ovarian function in sheep. This study indicated there is a toxic action of gossypol when using the biotechnology, MOEPF. Thus, gossypol negatively affects granulosa cell development and structural integrity of preantral follicles in sheep., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Because of the influence of genetics on animal production and the risk of losing genetic diversity of naturally adapted breeds, this study evaluated the genetic diversity of sheep of the Morada Nova breed belonging to an animal science institute in Brazil. The herd in question is one of the country's most representative of the breed. Samples of DNA extracted from the plasma of 61 animals were used for later analysis of the genotypes using microsatellite molecular markers., Results: The polymorphic information content was 0.66, the observed heterozygosity was 0.65 and the fixation index was 0.048. According to the results, there is moderate genetic diversity in the studied population, suggesting the implantation of breeding programs aimed at conservation of the observed genetic diversity., Conclusion: The results obtained in this study will be of great importance to decisions on herd structure, besides contributing to other work to be carried out at the research center.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of visual ELISA-PAG for early pregnancy diagnosis based on the presence of PAG (pregnancy-associated glycoprotein) using sheep blood serum. Experiment 1: 140 ewes were divided into three groups with different stages of pregnancy. In the first group, 41 pregnant ewes were sampled at 26, 28, 30, and 32 days of pregnancy; in the second group, 65 ewes (49 pregnant with 30 days and 16 non-pregnant) were sampled; in the third group, 34 non-pregnant ewes were sampled. Experiment 2: 10 pregnant ewes were sampled weekly from day 35 of gestation until day 70 post-partum to verify the total period in which PAG can be detected in the blood serum by the test. Transrectal ultrasound was used as a gold standard. The detection or non-detection of PAG was analyzed by the logistic model PROC GENMOD of SAS; differences were detected by the chi-squared test. In group 1, there were no differences between the results from 28, 30, and 32 days of gestation, but samples from 30 days were easier to interpret in comparison to 28 days, with a sensitivity of 97.56%. In the second group, using 65 sheep, visual ELISA-PAG showed 100% sensitivity and 93.75% specificity, which indicates the diagnosis of an animal as a false positive. In the third group, 97.06% of the sheep were confirmed as negative and 2.94% as positive, again indicating the presence of a false positive. In 100% of the sheep, the PAG remained in the blood circulation throughout the antepartum period until birth and seven days post-partum, declining thereafter. Based on our results, the visual ELISA-PAG is an effective method for the early diagnosis of pregnancy in sheep and can be performed from day 30 of gestation., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In sheep, there is a lack of information on the behaviour of hemodynamic indices and parameters of blood flow velocity of the uterine artery during pregnancy, making it impossible to determine the real meaning of the values found and their probable relevance in normal physiological or pathological states. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the blood flow velocity parameters and hemodynamic indices of the uterine artery in ewes (18) during pregnancy (33). Based on non-invasive colour Doppler sonography, we evaluated the peak systolic velocity (PS), end diastolic velocity (ED), time-averaged maximum and minimum velocity in a cardiac cycle (TAMAX and TAMEAN), pulsatility index (PI), resistance index (RI), systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D), heart rate (HR), arterial diameter (AD) and the blood flow volume (BFV). Examinations started on day 28 and continued at two-week intervals until parturition. The Doppler parameters and the diameter of the uterine artery underwent significant changes during pregnancy. In the evaluated animals, indices related to resistance of the uterine artery, namely the impedance of blood flow, decreased throughout the initial, middle and late stages of gestation (PI: 1.15, 1.04, 0.97; RI: 0.61, 0.59, 0.57; S/D: 2.68, 2.52, 2.39, respectively) (p < 0.05). In contrast, the contents related to higher uterine irrigation increased during gestation (PS, ED, TAMAX, TAMEAN, HR, AD and BFV) (p < 0.05). No differences were found between the means of the variables in relation to the right and left uterine arteries and between single and multiple pregnancies in the hemodynamic indices. The present study is the first to demonstrate changes in uterine hemodynamics throughout pregnancy in sheep., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Simple Summary: Infection by gastrointestinal nematodes is a major sanitary issue in sheep production. Therefore, improvements in the animal's health are important to reduce losses and improve animal welfare. Thus, this study investigated the feasibility of using easy-to-measure phenotypic traits to predict sheep resistant, resilient, and susceptible to gastrointestinal nematodes, compared the classification performance of different methods, and evaluated the applicability of the best classification model on each farm. The results revealed the multinomial logistic regression and linear discriminant analysis models presented the best classification performances for the susceptible and resistant animals. The results suggest that the use of readily available records and easily measurable traits may contribute to the identification of susceptible animals, supporting management decisions at the farm level and potentially reducing the economic losses due to parasitic infection. The animals identified as resistant can also be incorporated as selection candidates into breeding programs for the genetic improvement of sheep populations. This study investigated the feasibility of using easy-to-measure phenotypic traits to predict sheep resistant, resilient, and susceptible to gastrointestinal nematodes, compared the classification performance of multinomial logistic regression (MLR), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), random forest (RF), and artificial neural network (ANN) methods, and evaluated the applicability of the best classification model on each farm. The database comprised 3654 records of 1250 Santa Inês sheep from 6 farms. The animals were classified into resistant (2605 records), resilient (939 records), and susceptible (110 records) according to fecal egg count and packed cell volume. A random oversampling method was performed to balance the dataset. The classification methods were fitted using the information of age class, the month of record, farm, sex, Famacha© degree, body weight, and body condition score as predictors, and the resistance, resilience, and susceptibility to gastrointestinal nematodes as the target classes to be predicted considering data from all farms randomly. An additional leave-one-farm-out cross-validation technique was used to assess prediction quality across farms. The MLR and LDA models presented good performances in predicting susceptible and resistant animals. The results suggest that the use of readily available records and easily measurable traits may provide useful information for supporting management decisions at the farm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual feed intake (RFI) and residual intake and gain (RIG) are indices that measure ruminant feed efficiency. Their application has become alternatives to improve the profitability of intensive lamb production systems. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of RFI and RIG to measure the non-carcase organ size and cavitary fat of lambs. Thirty non-castrated male lambs were fed for 92 days and slaughtered, and non-carcase organs were weighed. RFI and RIG were classified in low, medium and high efficiency groups, and correlated to carcase and non-carcase organ size. The average RFI values were 0.07, 0.00, and −0.07 kg DM/d and the RIG values were 1.86, −0.20, and −1.91, for high, medium and low, respectively. Low-RFI lambs had lower (p <.05) dry matter intake (DMI) and percentage of DMI standardised by metabolic weight. High-RIG lambs had a higher feed conversion ratio (p ≤.05) and tended (p <.10) towards higher average dairy gain. The efficient lambs (low-RFI and high-RIG) had a higher heart weight (p ≤.05). Trends (p <.10) towards higher blood volume and lower relative weight in omental and total cavitary fat deposits were found in lambs with low RFI. Lambs classified as low-RFI and high-RIG had larger hearts, which could be related to improved cardiovascular performance and feed efficiency. Heart size is related to feed efficiency. Lambs with improved feed efficiency have larger hearts. High-RIG lambs have higher intestinal mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pregnancy in all animal species requires special care and attention. During this period there is great variation in hematological and biochemical parameters. Many times these parameters are misinterpreted as being obtained from nonpregnant animals with unknown parasite status. Objective: To characterize the hematological, biochemical, and parasitological values within the peripartum period of Santa Ines sheep naturally infected. Methods: For this purpose, 45 ewes were used, with an average body weight of 50 kg. Data were collected during pregnancy, birth and, lactation. Measurements included body weight, body condition score (BCS), evaluation of conjunctive staining, and collection of blood and feces. Results: All variables changed throughout physiological stages. Weight and BCS were different between periods (p<0.05). Fecal egg counts (FEC) were higher in the peripartum period, with a predominance of Haemonchus ssp, 92.85%. Mean hematological and biochemical values varied throughout the study, (p>0.05). Conclusion: The influence of peripartum on the parameters studied should be considered and its use as a reference value. Regarding the physiological variations observed during peripartum, proper animal management could help minimizing the negative effects of parasitic infections on productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Twenty-eight pluriparous and non-lactating Santa Inês sheep were synchronized with vaginal sponge and an intramuscular (IM) injection of 37.5 μg of cloprostenol on random days of the estrous cycle (D0); day 6 (D6), at 7:00 am, the devices were removed, and after 24 h (D7), GnRH analog (25 μg of lecirelin) was administrated. Fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) with cervical traction by the transcervical route was performed 52 to 58 h after sponge removal. Doppler velocimetry of both uterine arteries was performed on D0, D2, D4, and the morning of D6 (every 48 h), and then every 12 h from D6 to D8 (7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.). We analyzed the peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EVD), time-averaged maximum and mean velocity (TAMAX, TAMEAN), pulsatility index (PI), resistance index (RI), systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D), arterial diameter (AD), and blood flow volume (BFV), with the objective of evaluating the hemodynamic behavior of blood flow velocity parameters of the uterine artery during a short-term progesterone synchronization protocol in ewes. With respect to phases, we noted increases in the means of TAMAX and TAMEAN and decreases of EDV, PI, and RI (P < 0.05). S/D, EDV, TAMEAN, PI, RI, SD, AD, and BFV showed differences between the time of progesterone insertion and the estimated time of ovulation (which was considered the last evaluation) (P < 0.05). The PI and RI values were different when comparing the times of insertion and withdrawal of the progesterone device (PI 2.53–1.54 and RI 0.76–0.68) (P < 0.05). The PI was different with respect to side (P < 0.001), but no side effect was seen in the RI. In conclusion, the two uterine arteries behave differently under the effect of progesterone (intravaginal sponges) and the effect of estradiol during the follicular phase, and estrous phase was responsible for increasing uterine blood flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Acute leptospirosis is an infrequent disease in sheep that can cause jaundice, haemolysis, haemoglobinuria, hepatitis and nephritis. In most reports the diagnoses have been made by clinical, pathological or serological evidence without isolation or direct identification of the agent. Here, we report one confirmed and one presumptive outbreak of acute leptospirosis in suckling lambs from two unrelated sheep farms in Uruguay with mortalities of 9/60 (15%) and 9/163 (5.5%) lambs. Both outbreaks occurred in Sep–Oct 2017 after heavy rainfall and flooding events. The main gross and histologic pathological findings in two autopsied lambs, one from each farm, included severe diffuse jaundice, haemoglobinuria, acute necrotizing hepatitis with cholestasis and interstitial nephritis. Leptospira interrogans serogroup Pomona serovar Kennewicki was isolated from sheep in both flocks and the same genotype was identified directly in clinical samples from infected animals, including one of the deceased lambs subjected to autopsy, by amplification and partial sequencing of rrs and secY genes. This serovar has recently been identified in infected cattle and humans in Uruguay. The impact of Leptospira spp. infection in ovine health, and the epidemiologic role of sheep as reservoirs of leptospirosis for humans and animals need further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to investigate the feasibility of using easy-to-measure phenotypic traits to predict resistant, resilient and susceptible sheep to gastrointestinal nematodes via multinomial logistic regression (MLR). The database comprised 3,654 records on 1,250 Santa Ines sheep from six farms. The animals were classified into three responses to infection classes (resistant, resilient and susceptible) according to fecal egg count and packed cell volume. The MLR was used to predict such classes using the information of age, month of record, sex, Famacha degree, weight and body condition score as predictors, and a leave-one-farm-out cross-validation technique was used to assess prediction quality across farms. The MLR was able to predict with satisfactory performance the resistant and susceptible animals in two of the farms, with resistant precision equal to 79 and 77%, and susceptible recall equal to 68 and 83%, respectively. In addition, at least one of the classes was well predicted in four farms, with susceptible recall equal to 71 and 89% in two of these farms, and resistant precision equal to 86 and 100% in the other two farms. The model was not able to satisfactorily classify resilient class. The proposed approach could help attenuate the negative impacts related to infections caused by gastrointestinal nematodes, contributing to design deworming strategies that take into account the risk of an animal being contaminated, consequently reducing the costs with anthelmintic administration and laboratory analyses based on blood or fecal samples. The results suggest that the use of easily measurable traits may provide useful information for supporting management decisions on the farm level that could potentially contribute to reducing parasitic contamination and production costs. In addition, the animals identified as resistant can also be incorporated as selection candidates into breeding programs for genetic improvement of flocks. Supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grants #2020/03575-8, #2018/01540-2 and #2016/14522-7, SP, Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of period of the year, year of the birth, sex and age on morphometric indices, such as body capacity, body indices, body side indice, anamorphosis indice, compactness indice and body proportionality indice. The correlation between these characteristics was calculated. Santa Ines sheep offspring from the birth to 12 months-old, at the Estado do Rio de Janeiro were used. Measurements were obtained from animals under an extensive scheme within three years of study totaling 2,601 observations. In this work, the year of birth, sex, animal age and triple interaction between these effects have influenced (P<0.05) morphometric indices. According to body and compactness indices averages also was verified that the animals tended for a more compact conformation. Males were higher than females in all measurements and weight. Correlations between all measures were high and positive. The studied animals show a longilinear conformation, tending to compact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time ultrasound has been used as a tool to assist producers to classify sheep into homogeneous groups for slaughter. The aim of this study was to investigate the difference between the in vivo estimates of Longissimus dorsi muscle parameters and fat thickness of mature ewes obtained directly from ultrasound and determined after image analysis with ImageJ. Seventeen Dorper ewes were used, with age of 3.2 ± 1.5 years and body weight (B W) of 59.79 ± 8.81 kg. The estimates of the Longissimus dorsi muscle area (L DA , cm), depth (L DD , cm) and width (L DW , cm) and fat thickness (F T , mm) were performed by ultrasound images (first estimate), after which the images were analyzed using the ImageJ software (second estimate). A randomized design was used with two treatments (US = estimates obtained in vivo by ultrasound; I J = estimates obtained in vivo by ultrasound and evaluated with ImageJ). The data were submitted to analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Only M W was significantly different between the variables evaluated. No significant correlations were found between B W and the other variables when evaluated by ultrasound and when obtained with the aid of ImageJ. The correlation of L DA (0.91) was high (P < 0.001) in relation to the same estimate from ImageJ. The same pattern was observed for L DD US and L DD IJ, in which positive correlations of high magnitude (0.95) were also found. The in vivo estimates of L DD and F T of Dorper ewes obtained by ultrasound and those after ImageJ treatment were similar. The high correlations found indicate that the ImageJ program has potential use for the in vivo estimation of Longissimus dorsi muscle parameters and fat thickness in Dorper ewes. • The study evaluated in vivo carcass measurements. • The width of the Longissimus dorsi muscle was different between in vivo estimates. • ImageJ serves to estimate area and depth of the Longissimus dorsi muscle and fat thickness. • The ImageJ has potential use for in vivo carcass estimates in Dorper ewes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macadamia cake (MC) is a waste product from the macadamia nut industry with high nutritional value for animal nutrition. It has the potential to modify rumen fermentation, increase the efficiency of rumen microorganisms, and reduce methanogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate how the dietary lipid supplementation with MC modulates the methane (CH 4) emission and nutrients digestibility of finishing lambs. Thirty-one lambs, approximately 90 days old and mean initial body weight of 26 ± 3.4 kg, were allocated to individual metabolic cages and subjected to in vivo digestibility assays for 24 days (17 days of adaption and 7 days of data collection). The four treatments included a Control group with no MC addition, and three groups with varying amounts of MC inclusion in the diet: 4.5%, 8.5%, and 14% on a dry matter basis. The ruminal content was collected individually at the last day of the digestibility assay 2 to 3 h after the morning feed, to measure pH, protozoan count, and short-chain fatty acids. The animals were then moved to semi-open respirometry chambers for the in vivo measurement of CH 4 emission. A completely randomized design was used in the study assuming MC intake (MCI) as fixed effect and each animal as random effect. The variables were submitted to tests of normality and homoscedasticity. The data was submitted to analysis of variance at a 5% significance level using the F test (P < 0.05) and polynomial regression analysis. Pearson's correlation coefficient test was also applied to all variables. Daily dry matter intake or apparent total tract digestibility parameters were not affected by MCI (P > 0.05), while ether extract and gross energy intake showed the widest range of values, from 0.01 to 0.09 (kg/day) and 9.3 to 22.5 (MJ/day), respectively, increasing (P > 0.05) according to MCI. In addition, total digestible nutrients increased linearly with MC supplementation (P = 0.037). MCI had a significant suppressive effect on enteric CH 4 production from 21.9 to 8.6 (L/day) (P < 0.05) and protozoan count (P < 0.001) from 291875 to 69500 (n/mL), while a cubic (P = 0.03) and linear (P = 0.05) effect was observed for ammonia nitrogen and butyric acid, respectively. Macadamia cake may be used as an ingredient in sheep diets and its inclusion up to 14% has shown promise in reducing daily emissions of enteric CH 4 without compromising nutrient digestibility and ruminal fermentation, in addition to contributing to reducing the environmental impact by avoiding the disposal of this industrial by-product. • Macadamia cake presents potential as an alternative nutrient source as a by-product. • The lipid content in macadamia cake did not decrease the dry matter intake of lambs. • Add the macadamia cake in the diet significantly increased lambs' gross energy intake. • Macadamia cake enhanced the percentage of total digestible nutrients in lambs. • The macadamia cake intake significantly suppressed enteric CH4 emission by lambs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify genomic regions, pathways, and putative candidate genes associated with resistance to gastrointestinal nematode in Santa Ines sheep. The phenotypic information comprised 5529 records from 1703 naturally infected animals. After genomic data quality control, 37,511 SNPs from 589 animals were available. The weighted single-step approach for genome-wide association study was performed to estimate the SNP effects and variances accounted by 10–SNP sliding windows. Confirming the polygenic nature of the studied traits, 20, 22, 21, and 19 genomic windows that explained more than 0.5% of the additive genetic variance were identified for fecal egg counts (FEC), Famacha© (FAM), packed cell volume (PCV), and total plasma protein (TPP), respectively. A total of 81, 122, 106, and 101 protein-coding genes were found in windows associated with FEC, FAM, PCV, and TPP, respectively. Several protein‐coding genes related to the immune system and inflammatory response functions were identified within those genomic regions, such as ADCY9, ADRB2, BRAF, CADM1, CCL20, CD70, CREBBP, FNBP1, HTR4, IL16, IL22, IL26, MAPK8, NDFIP1, NLRC3, PAK5, PLCB1, PLCB4, ROCK1, TEK, TNFRSF12A, and VAV1. Functional enrichment analysis by DAVID tool also revealed many significant (P < 0.05) pathways and Gene Ontology terms that could be related to resistance to gastrointestinal nematode in Santa Ines sheep, such as chemokine signaling pathway (oas04062), cAMP signaling pathway (oas04024), cGMP-PKG signaling pathway (Oas04022), platelet activation (Oas04611), Rap1 signaling pathway (oas04015), and oxidoreductase activity, acting on paired donors, with incorporation or reduction of molecular oxygen (GO:0016705). These results contribute to improving the knowledge of the genetic architecture of resistance to gastrointestinal nematode in Santa Ines sheep. • 380 genes were found in genomic regions associated with nematode resistance traits. • Several genes related to the immune and inflammatory response were detected. • 14 biological processes, 10 molecular functions and 17 pathways were identified. • Chemokine, cAMP, cGMP-PKG and Rap1 are significant signaling pathways highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The in vivo evaluation of body tissue development on meat production sheep can be used both to identify and select animals with the best characteristics and to make choices regarding marketing the products of these animals. Aims: The objective of this work was to evaluate, using computed tomography, the dynamics of body tissue development and composition of male and female Santa Inês sheep in vivo. Methods: The carcass tissue evaluation by computed tomography of 38 sheep (21 male and 17 female) was performed after weaning, at the ages of 90, 120, 180 and 300 days. Based on the Cavalieri method, regression equations were generated for estimates of total weight and proportions of bone, muscle and fat. For the Cavaliere method five males and five females were selected at random and in the four times. In the evaluation of the reference points, all the animals of the study were evaluated in the four times (21 males and 17 females). Key results: The mean fat weight was highest at 300 days (2.74 ± 0.99 kg) and lowest at 90 (1.88 ± 0.88 kg) and 120 days (1.91 ± 0.83 kg), indicating that the mean fat area increased with age at all the points evaluated. At age 300 days, the females accumulated more fat than the males whereas the proportions of bone and muscle were higher in the males. Conclusions: Computed tomography allowed the evaluation of the body tissues of live animals and was efficient at detecting the changes during the growth phase, besides revealing differences in tissue composition between males and females. Implications: The in vivo evaluation by computed tomography of body traits on meat production animals can be used both to identify and select animals with the best productive characteristics, allowing advances in sheep meat production. The adaptive potential of the Santa Inês breed to extensive grazing is recognised, so these sheep are widely used in this system. The Santa Inês is important mainly due to its environmental resistance and ability to produce under adverse climate conditions, as well as the potential as a maternal lineage for commercial production. The in vivo evaluation by computed tomography of the of body traits on meat production animals can be used both to identify and select animals with the best productive characteristics and to make choices regarding marketing the products of these animals, allowing advances in sheep meat production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Santa Inês (SI) and Morada Nova (MN) are hair breeds with potential for the production of lambs for early slaughter. However, they tend to show low carcass quality and meat production. On the other hand, this could be overcome by crossing these sheep with highly productive breeds. This study aimed to evaluate parasitic infection as well as reproductive and productive performance in 51 MN ewes with an average weight 33.1 ± 4.98 kg and 52 SI ewes averaging 51.8 ± 7.07 kg, mated with rams of their own breed or crossed with Dorper (D). The animals were raised on Aruana grass ( Panicum maximum cv. Aruana) pasture and in the final third of gestation and lactation kept in collective pens receiving corn silage ad libitum and 400 g/animal/day of concentrate. During mating, gestation (every 28 days), at parturition and at 30 and 60 days postpartum the ewes were weighed, assessed for body condition score (BCS), Famacha © score, fecal egg counts (FEC), coproculture and hematological variables (packed cell volume, hemoglobin, total plasma protein and fibrinogen). β-Hydroxybutyrate levels were determined at 115 and 130 days of gestation, at parturition and 10, 20, 30, 45 and 60 days postpartum. Conception rates, prolificacy, multiple births, return to estrus, gestation length, litter weight at birth and at weaning and the ratio of theses relative to the weight of the dam in the same periods were calculated. In both breeds, FEC ( Haemonchus contortus ) increased ( P < 0.05) pre and postpartum and Morada Nova ewes showed lower infection 30 days postpartum ( P < 0.05). Both breeds showed good reproductive performance, with no differences ( P > 0.05) in conception rate, return to estrus, multiple births and prolificacy. Crossing with Dorper rams produced heavier litter at birth in both maternal breeds ( P < 0.05). At weaning the litter from Dorper × Santa Inês were heavier than the other groups ( P < 0.05), with Morada Nova ewes crossed with Dorper rams showing similar weights to Santa Inês females ( P > 0.05) and producing proportionally higher ( P < 0.05) litter weight at weaning than the other groups, showing the potential of these animals for use in intensive meat production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Body weight is a good indicator of meat production. • Body weight may be the main selection criterion to improve genetically the meat production. • Indirect selection for morphometric traits may be important for indirect selection of body weight. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters between body weight and morphometric traits to choose selection criteria to improve genetically the body weight and body conformation using Bayesian inference. Body weight, body length, chest girth, croup height, croup width, withers height, and body condition score of 645 Santa Ines meat sheep were used to estimate the genetic parameters in a multi-trait animal model with Bayesian approach. The heritability estimates ranged from 0.19 ± 0.05 to 0.32 ± 0.07 (croup width and body condition score respectively), which allow them to respond to genetic selection. The genetic correlations between body weight and morphometric traits were positive and ranged from 0.18 ± 0.17 to 0.98 ± 0.02. The genetic correlation between body weight and chest girth (0.98 ± 0.02) indicates that selection based on one trait will result in genetic gain for the other. The body weight is the main selection criterion to increase the meat production via genetic selection of the animals due to its moderate heritability and moderate to high genetic correlation with the other traits studied. However, if calibrated electronic scales are not available for the sheep producers, they can use the morphometric measurements to carry out the selection of animals to result in indirect genetic gains for body weight. If the breeders want to choose only one morphometric trait to indirectly improve the genetic body weight, chest girth is recommended due to its extremely high genetic correlation with body weight. The next step would be to develop an index that takes into account all the morphometric measurements to use it as indirect indicator of body weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The use of water by sheep needs more attention from researches and sheep breeders. • Residual water intake (RWI) is a new trait for sheep selection. • Residual feed and residual water intake is a new trait for sheep selection. • Sheep more efficient in water use are more efficient in food use. • Sheep more efficient in water and food use are desirable in a sustainable industry. The objective of this study was evaluate the efficiency in water and food use in sheep production, using two new traits (residual water intake - RWI; residual feed and residual water intake - RFRWI). For this purpose, we evaluated the relationships between the traits total water intake, RWI and RFRWI with water measures, productive performance and carcass traits (ultrasound). We used 32 lambs with age of 3 months: 16 Santa Ines breed (8 males and 8 females) and 16 crossbred 7/8 Dorper x Santa Ines (8 males and 8 females). They were fed at an automated feed and water station (Intergado®), where the food and water intake by each animal was measured automatically. Residual water intake (RWI), residual feed intake (RFI) and residual body weight gain (RWG) were calculated using the MIXED procedure in SAS®. Correlation coefficients between total water intake (TWI), RWI and all traits (water measures, performance and carcass traits) were calculated using the CORR procedure (P ≤ 0.05). Total water intake showed mean 3.15 L/day during the study and the RWI ranged from 0.66 L to -0.89 L, which represents a difference of 1.55 L between the most and least efficient animal. There was positive correlation between less efficient animals in water consumption (positive RWI) and water intake (r = 0.31); total water intake in relation to dry matter intake (r = 0.36); total water intake in relation to mid-trial metabolic body weight (r = 0.26); residual feed and residual water intake (r = 0.99) and gain/feed ratio (r = 0.44). There was negative correlation between less efficient animal and dry matter intake in relation to body weight (r= -0.33) and feed conversion ratio (r= -0.44). The evaluation of the new variables, RWI and RFRWI, proved effective in identifying the most efficient animals in water use. Moreover, these findings open the possibility of considering the traits RWI and RFRWI in sheep selection, because performance and carcass traits are not adversely affected by selecting for these new traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]