Search

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of sex on biometry and morphological indices of Japanese quails. A total of one hundred and fifteen finisher quails (115) comprising 30 males and 85 females of ten (10) weeks of age were used for this study. The quails were procured from the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Vom, Plateau State Nigeria. They were managed in a deep litter system of housing from day old to finisher phase (10 weeks). The sex of the quails were identified by the production of cloacal foam following the standard protocol. Female quails recorded higher (P<0.05) body weight, massiveness and appears to be better for long leggedness than their male counterpart. The lower values observed for the female quails for long leggedness is an indication of blockier appearance a characteristics for meatiness. The results of the Pearson correlation for the male quails indicates that there were strong positive correlation for Body weight(BW) and Body length(BL)(r=0.465 at P<0.01), BW and Breast circumference(BC), BL and BC, Foot length(FL) and Wing length(WL) (r=0.577, 0.429 and 0.451 at P<0.05). For the female quails, strong positive correlation were observed for BC and WL, FL and WL (r=0.339, 0.332 at P<0.01), BL and FL, FL and TLL (r=0.270, 0.263 P<0.05). There was also a strong negative correlation observed for Thigh circumference (TC) and FL (r=0.406 at P<0.01). The result of χ2 for the sex was also significant (P<0.05). This findings would aid in the selection and breeding programme for quails' improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat stress is one of the most challenging environmental conditions affecting livestock production especially in the tropical regions of the world. The present study was conducted to examine the physiological response and HSP70 secretion in four extensively managed indigenous sheep breeds with little access to shade. Rectal temperature (RT), Skin temperature (ST), Respiration rate (RR) and Heart rate (HR) were taken from 565 adult rams comprising 139 Uda, 88 Yankassa, 221 Balami and 117 West African Dwarf sheep in early morning and midafternoon at the peak of the dry season in Ibadan, South West Nigeria. Extracellular heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) concentration was determined by ELISA. At Temperature Humidity Index (THI) > 82 significant differences were observed between the early morning and midafternoon readings in ST in all the breeds, in RT for WAD and Yankassa and RR in Uda and WAD. In the pooled readings there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between Yankassa and other breeds studied in RR. The concentration of HSP70 ranged from 69.17 to 210.71 ng.mL-1 with the highest value recorded for Uda. The investigated breeds differ in their response to heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four clinically vital parameters (respiratory rate, pulse rate, heart rate and rectal temperature) were evaluated in 54 apparently healthy West African Dwarf goats both in the morning and evening. The mean (and range) of the values obtained for all goats were: respiratory rate, 25±1.9 (15-30) breaths per minute; pulse rate, 86±6.7 (70-102) pulsations per minute; heart rate, 90±6.7 (72-106) beats per minute and rectal temperature, 39.3±0.3°C (38.0-41.0°C). The sex of goats did not significantly (p>0.05) affect any of the four parameters studied. However, all the vital parameters were significantly (p<0.05) higher in kids than in adult goats. The evening values were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of the morning. The findings in this study suggest that the time of the day and the age of the animal are important factors in the determination of critical points of each of the studied parameters during the process of clinical evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tympanic thermometry has come as a suitable alternative to traditional thermometry because of its safety and ease of use. However, it is still yet to gain wide acceptance in African settings due to conflicting results on its accuracy, thus rectal thermometry remains the gold standard in the newborn. The aim of this study was to compare tympanic and rectal temperatures in term Nigerian neonates. Methods: Rectal and tympanic temperatures were measured simultaneously in 300 consecutive term neonates between the ages of 37 and 42 weeks gestation using mercury-in-glass and the Infrared tympanic thermometers respectively. Paired t test, Pearson correlation coefficient and the Bland-Altman plot were used to compute data. Using rectal thermometry as gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of tympanic thermometry at various rectal temperature cut-offs were determined. Receiver Operating Curves (ROC) were constructed and the Areas Under the Curves (AUC) were compared. Results: The mean rectal temperature (37.34 ± 0.55°C) was significantly higher than the mean tympanic temperature (37.25 ± 0.56°C) (p<0.001) with a mean difference of 0.09 °C ± 0.24 °C (95% CI: 0.06, 0.12). There was a strong positive correlation between the two measurements (r = 0.9; p<0.001). Tympanic thermometry showed sensitivities ranging from 65% to 86% and specificities of 95% to 99% at rectal temperature cut-offs of 37.5°C to 38°C. The positive and negative predictive values of the tympanic temperatures at the various temperature cut-offs ranged from 82% to 93% and 80% to 98% respectively. Accuracy was noted to increase with higher temperatures as shown by the Receiver Operating Curves with the highest accuracy at the temperature cut-off of 38°C and AUC of 0.91. Conclusions: The sensitivity of tympanic thermometry was relatively low in detecting rectal temperatures despite the good correlation and agreement between them. The specificities and predictive values of tympanic temperatures in detecting rectal temperatures were high and accuracy increased with higher temperatures. Though using the tympanic route for measuring temperature in the newborn is relatively safe and non-invasive, its low sensitivity limits its use. Further studies would be required to further assess the accuracy of tympanic temperature measurements in the newborn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to determine the differences in rectal and body surface temperatures and their extent of conformity using digital and infrared thermometers, respectively, in piglets during the hot-dry season in a tropical guinea savannah of Nigeria. Thirty Large White piglets of both sexes, aged 10–14 days, served as the experimental subjects. The rectal and surface body temperatures were recorded concurrently with those of the ambient dry- and wet-bulbs, during the day at 06:00, 09:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 18:00 h (GMT +1). There were significant (P < 0.05) diurnal variations in all body and ambient temperature readings, with the highest values obtained in the afternoon (at 15:00 h GMT + 1). The mean diurnal rectal and body surface temperatures in the piglets at 09:00–18:00 h were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than the corresponding values at 06:00 h. The overall mean rectal temperature (39.00 ± 0.04 °C) was higher (P < 0.01) than body surface temperature recorded for the eye (38.05 ± 0.04 °C), ear (38.10 ± 0.07 °C), head (37.97 ± 0.05 °C), nose (35.68 ± 0.13 °C), scapula (38.16 ± 0.06 °C), thigh (38.00 ± 0.06 °C), back (38.02 ± 0.06 °C) and hoof (36.83 ± 0.07 °C). The largest and smallest mean difference between rectal and body surface temperatures was -3.32 ± 0.12 °C and -0.84 ± 0.06 °C for the temperature of the nose and scapula, respectively. The positive correlation (P < 0.05) between body temperatures (rectal and surface) of the piglets with ambient temperature implied that the later had a tremendous effect on the former. Body surface temperatures at the region of eye, ear, head, nose, scapula, thigh, back and hoof had significantly (P < 0.0001) linear and positive relationships with rectal temperature. In conclusion, the similar diurnal trends, highly significant correlation coefficients and linear relationships between the rectal and body surface temperatures suggest that the later may serve as valid and reliable estimates of the former in piglets. • Diurnal variations in body and environmental temperature measurements with peak values recorded at 15:00 h. • Body surface temperature in piglets is a good estimate of core rectal temperature. • The largest mean difference between rectal and infrared thermometer was recorded in the nose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newcastle disease and heat stress reduce the productivity of local chickens of Nigeria (LCN). This study compared the antibody response to Newcastle disease and heat tolerance among different LCN genotypes in hot humid tropics using multivariate discriminant analysis. A total of 299 birds were used for the study. Geometric mean titre against Newcastle disease before vaccination (GMTB), geometric mean titre against Newcastle disease after vaccination (GMTA), rectal temperature at week 4 (RT4), pulse rate at week 4 (PR4), respiratory rate at week 4 (RR4), heat stress index at week 4 (H4), rectal temperature at week 13 (RT13), pulse rate at week 13 (PR13), respiratory rate at week 13 (RR13) and heat stress index at week 13 (H13) were measured. All the traits were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the genotype while sex differences were only observed in GMTB, GMTA and RR13. The stepwise discriminant analysis revealed RR4, PR13, RT13, H4, GMTA, GMTB, H13 and RT4 to be effective in differentiating the three chicken genotypes. Two canonical variables that accounted for 60.21% and 39.79% of the total variation were revealed. Linear discriminant functions for differentiation of the three chicken genotypes were also developed. 87.39% of normal feather, 76.58% of naked neck and 100% of frizzle feather chickens were correctly assigned into their genotypes. The longest Mahalanobis distance was observed between normal feather and frizzle feather chickens. The discriminant functions developed in this study could be used to differentiate the three genotypes of LCN using antibody response to Newcastle disease and heat tolerance.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the depth of insertion and environmental parameters on the rectal temperature (RT) in donkeys during the hot-dry season in a tropical savannah zone of Nigeria. The experimental subjects were comprised of thirty donkeys divided into three groups based on age: group I, 10 foals (40.67 ± 2.20 kg; 1.50 ± 0.02 months); group II, 10 yearlings (91.53 ± 0.54 kg; 1.51 ± 0.01 years); and group III, 10 adults (140 ± 0.71 kg; 8.03 ± 0.06 years). Each group was divided into 5 male and 5 female donkeys. Measurements of the RT were recorded with a digital thermometer probe (model HI935007, Hanna Instruments), which was inserted into the rectum at varying depths of 3.5, 7, 10.5, and 14 cm in the same animal in each group. There was a gradual increase in the RT in donkeys as the depth of insertion was increased from 3.5 cm (36.60°C) to 14 cm (38.40°C). Data obtained from the study were subjected to repeated-measures analysis of variance, followed by Tukey's post-hoc test to compare mean values between different depths of RT measurements. Overall, there was a variation in the RT by the depth of insertion with the shallow depth of 3.5 cm having a lower RT than the depths of 7, 10.5, and 14 cm. The variation of the RT observed in donkeys showed that there is need to standardize the probe-insertion depth in veterinary clinical practice for accurate measurement of the RT in donkeys in the Northern Guinea savannah zone of Nigeria., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)