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1 mg of GTE/100 mL extender produced the highest percentages of sperm viability (70.67 ± 1.75%), motility (69.17 ± 1.47%), and IPM (69.23 ± 1.21%) and the lowest percentage of DNA fragmentation (3.00 ± 0.50%). The pregnancy diagnosis revealed that all cows (36/36) inseminated using frozen semen in GTE addition extender were pregnant (pregnancy rate 100%), whereas the pregnancy rate of the control group was 83.33% (10/12). Conclusion It may be concluded that 0.1 mg GTE/100 mL extender yields the best quality of spermatozoa and that all variants doses of GTE in extender produce a higher pregnancy rate among recipient cows.Objective The objective of this study was to determine net energy (NE) of expeller-press (EP-RSM) and solvent-extracted rapeseed meal (SE-RSM) and to establish equations for predicting the NE in rapeseed meal fed to growing pigs. Methods Thirty-six barrows (initial BW：41.1 ± 2.2 kg) were allotted into 6 diets comprising a corn-soybean meal basal diet and 5 diets containing 19.50% rapeseed meal added at the expense of corn and soybean meal. The experiment had 6 periods and 6 replicate pigs per diet. During each period, the pigs were individually housed in metabolism crates for 16 days which included 7 days for adaption to diets. On day 8, pigs were transferred to respiration chambers and fed their respective diet at 2,000 kJ ME/kg BW0.6/d. Feces and urine were collected, and daily heat production was measured from day 9 to 13. On days 14 and 15, the pigs were fed at 890 kJ ME/kg BW0.6/d and fasted on day 16 for evaluation of fasting heat production (FHP). Results The FHP of pigs averaged 790 kJ/kg BW0.6/d and was not affected by the diet composition. The NE values were 10.80 and 8.45 MJ/kg DM for EP-RSM and SE-RSM, respectively. The NE value was positively correlated with gross energy (GE), digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), and ether extract (EE). The best fit equation for NE of rapeseed meal was NE (MJ/kg DM) = 1.14 × DE (MJ/kg DM) + 0.46 × CP (% of DM) – 25.24 (n = 8, R2 = 0.96, p less then 0.01). The equation NE (MJ/kg DM) = 0.22 × EE (% of DM) – 0.79 × Ash (% of DM) + 14.36 (n = 8, R2 = 0.77, p=0.018) may be utilized to quickly determine the NE in rapeseed meal when DE or ME values are unavailable. Conclusion The NE values of EP-RSM and SE-RSM were 10.80 and 8.45 MJ/kg DM. The NE value of rapeseed meal can be well predicted based on energy content (GE, DE and ME) and proximate analysis.Objective To investigate the improvement in utilization efficiency of total mixed ration (TMR) on Tibetan plateau, TMR were ensiled with different additives. Methods A total of 150 experimental silos were prepared in a completely randomized design to evaluate the six treatments (i) control (without additive); (ii) L. buchneri (B); (iii) acetic acid; (A); (iv) propionic acid, (P); (v) 1,2-propanediol, (E); and (vi) 1-propanol, (F). After 90 days of ensiling, silos were opened for fermentation quality and in vitro analysis, and then subjected to an aerobic stability test for 14 days. Results Treating with L. buchneri, acetic acid, 1,2-propanediol and 1-propanol decreased propionic acid contents and yeast number, whereas increased (P0.05) all in vitro parameters including gas production at 24 h (GP24), GP rate constant, potential GP, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in vitro neutral detergent fibre digestibility (IVNDFD). All additives improved the aerobic stability of ensiled TMR to different extents. Specially, aerobic stability of the ensiled TMR were substantially improved by L. buchneri, acetic acid, 1,2-propanediol and 1-propanol, indicated by stable pH and lactic acid content during the aerobic stability test. Conclusion L. buchneri, acetic acid, 1,2-propanediol and 1-propanol had no adverse effect on in vitro digestibility, while ensiling TMR with the additives produced more acetic acid and ethanol, subsequently resulting in improvement of aerobic stability. There is a potential for some fermentation boosting additives to enhance aerobic stability of fermented TMR on Tibetan plateau.Objective Kari sheep show a large variation in body size and gestation length. In this study, we have analyzed the genetic differences between the three subtypes of Kari (based on body size) and another small size breed ‘Madakhlasht’ inhabiting the Chitral district of Pakistan. Methods Animals belonging to small Kari, medium Kari, large Kari and Madakhlasht sheep breeds were sampled from their breeding region and were characterized genotypically at the DNA level using microsatellite markers. A total of 120 blood samples (30 each) were collected from the four breed types. DNA from these samples were used to amplify 31 ovine specific microsatellite loci through PCR. Results A total of 158 different alleles were detected across the 22 polymorphic loci with an average of 7.18 alleles per locus. Unique alleles were found in all four populations. Significant population differentiation was observed among all the populations. Madakhlasht sheep, phenotypically and geographically more distant from Kari, showed higher population differentiation and lower inbreeding and geneflow with Kari, compared to the values among Kari subtypes. Genetic distance revealed that Madakhlasht was the most distant population among the four populations, whereas, Small, Medium and Large subtypes of Kari sheep were relatively closer to each other. Medium and large Kari sheep were found in the state of mutation drift equilibrium, while small Kari and Madakhlasht showed the presence of bottleneck, indicating a reduction in their population sizes in the recent past. AS1517499 Conclusion s The results suggest that the three subtypes of Kari possess unique genetic identity and are potentially important for further exploration of their specific characteristics such as productivity and reproduction, andexploitation of their unique values. Madakhlasht needs conservation on a priority basis for future breed improvement programs.Objective The genetic evaluation of Santa Inês sheep was performed for resistance to gastrointestinal nematode infection and body size using different relationship matrices to assess the efficiency of including genomic information in the analyses. Methods There were 1,637 animals in the pedigree and 500, 980, and 980 records of resistance to gastrointestinal nematode infection (RGNI), thoracic depth (TD), and rump height (RH), respectively. The genomic data consisted of 42,748 SNPs and 388 samples genotyped with the OvineSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina Inc.). The (co)variance components were estimated in single- and multi-trait analyses using the numerator relationship matrix (A) and the hybrid matrix H, which blends A with the genomic relationship matrix (G). The BLUP and single-step genomic BLUP methods were used. The accuracies of estimated breeding values and Spearman rank correlation were also used to assess the feasibility of incorporating genomic information in the analyses. Results The heritability estimates ranged from 0.