The present short communication presents a comparison between the milk fat composition of four old sheep breeds. From all studied candidates, and when compared with modern breeds employed in the dairy industry, the Walachian breed was determined to have the most suitable milk composition regarding human health. Hide

In recent years considerable attention has been focused on the use of natural compounds in animal feeding due to consumer demand. This study shows that the natural extract of Lippia citriodora (main compound verbascoside) has the potential to improve rabbit meat in order to produce functional food, without altering the chemical and physical characteristics of meat. Hide

Caprines belong to the most endangered group of mammals suffering from many negative human impacts. We detected a depleted genetic variability in Capra falconeri and Capra cylindricornis in European ex situ populations; unrelated individuals are therefore needed for improving genetic variability parameters, as they are for the extralimital population of Capra aegagrus in the Vřísek game reserve (Czech Republic), for which we identified no genetic introgression from the domestic goat. Hide

Dietary plant oil sources and supplementation with L-carnitine have interaction effects on the physiological response and growth performance of broiler chicks. Addition of L-carnitine to diets which contained soybean oil showed the best growth performance of chicks in comparison to sunflower oil mixes. Hide

Milk produced by two non-dairy breeds, i. e., Żelaźnieńska and Wrzosówka sheep, maintained under the same nutritional conditions, did not differ in terms of the amount of basic components. Higher amounts of PUFAs n-3, a more favorable ratio of n-6/n-3 and a lower level of cholesterol were observed in milk of the more primitive breed (i.e. Wrzosówka). We suggest that non-dairy breeds can provide high-quality milk that can positively affect the carcass quality of lambs slaughtered at low weight. Hide

We aimed to evaluate the effects of premating ewe weight and age on ewe reproductive performance and lamb growth and survival in Central Anatolian Merino sheep. Multiple birth rate, birth weight, and growth performance of the lambs increased proportionally with the increase in live weight of the ewes prior to mating. Therefore, it is important to increase the live weight of lambs at puberty and to select ewes that attain a higher premating weight for breeding. Hide