scholarly journals Factors affecting birth weight in sheep: maternal environment

Reproduction ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
D S Gardner ◽  
P J Buttery ◽  
Z Daniel ◽  
M E Symonds

Knowledge of factors affecting variation in birth weight is especially important given the relationship of birth weight to neonatal and adult health. The present study utilises two large contemporary datasets in sheep of differing breeds to explore factors that influence weight at term. For dataset one (Study 1;n=154 Blue-faced Leicester×Swaledale (Mule) and 87 Welsh Mountain ewes, 315 separate cases of birth weight), lamb birth weight as the outcome measure was related to maternal characteristics and individual energy intake of the ewe during specified periods of gestation, i.e. early (1–30 days; term ~147 days gestation), mid (31–80 days) or late (110–147 days) pregnancy. For dataset two (Study 2;n=856 Mule ewes and 5821 cases of birth weight), we investigated using multilevel modelling the influence of ewe weight, parity, barrenness, lamb sex, litter size, lamb mortality and year of birth on lamb birth weight. For a subset of these ewes (n=283), the effect of the ewes’ own birth weight was also examined. Interactions between combinations of variables were selectively investigated. Litter size, as expected, had the single greatest influence on birth weight with other significant effects being year of birth, maternal birth weight, maternal nutrition, sex of the lamb, ewe barrenness and maternal body composition at mating. The results of the present study have practical implications not only for sheep husbandry but also for the increased knowledge of factors that significantly influence variation in birth weight; as birth weight itself has become a significant predictor of later health outcomes.

1955 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
PG Schinckel

Observations are reported on factors affecting the ratio of secondary to primary follicles (SJP) in a flock of Merino sheep.It was found that all follicles were initiated prior to birth but that the number which finally came to maturity (production of fibre) was significantly affected by birth weight and growth from birth to 1 month. Growth at later ages appeared to be unimportant. There was a significant correlation (r = +0.29) between birth weight and log potential S/P at birth. This is interpreted to indicate that while pre-natal growth conditions affect the number of follicles initiated, other factors are also of considerable importance. It is concluded that the larger animals at birth also have a greater total number of primary follicles than smaller animals. It is further concluded that this difference in total primary follicles results primarily from differences in size a t the 90th day of pre-natal life rather than from differences in density a t that time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Singh ◽  
S. Singh ◽  
G. W. Garcia

Abstract The red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) produces precocial young and is the most hunted and farmed game species in several Neotropical countries. An understanding of the reproductive biology, including the relationship between litter size and teat functionality is crucial for conservation management of this animal. In precocial mammals, as the red-rumped agouti, maintaining maternal contact to learn foraging patterns may be more important than the energy demands and nutritional constraints during lactation and suckling may not play important roles when compared to altricial mammals. Therefore, in this study we evaluated the relationship between mammary functionality with litter size, litter birth weight, and parturition number in captive red-rumped agouti. Functionality was assessed by manual palpation of teats from un-sedated females (N=43). We compared the average birth weight of all newborns, male newborns and female newborns among agoutis with different litter sizes and different parturitions by one way ANOVA’s, while Pearson’s Chi-squared tests were used to detect relationships between teat functionality, litter size, and parturition number. Parturition number had no effect on the mean birth weight of all young (F0.822, P > 0.05), male young (F0.80, P > 0.05) or female young (F0.66, P > 0.05) in the litters. We found (i) no significant correlations (P > 0.05) between teat functionality and litter size and (ii) no significant correlations (P > 0.05) between teat functionality and parturition number. This suggests that whilst all teat pairs were functional, functionality was a poor indicator of litter size; suggesting that female agouti young may not have a high dependency on maternal nutrition; an possible evolutionary strategy resulting in large wild populations; hence its popularity as a game species.


ZOOTEC ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Debora K.I. Bunok ◽  
M.Th.R. Lapian ◽  
V.R.W. Rawung ◽  
G.D.G. Rembet

RELATIONSHIP OF WEIGHT BIRTH PIGLET WITH ADDITION OF AGENCY WEIGHT, WEANING WEIGHT, MORTALITY, AND LITTER SIZE WEANING IN LIVESTOCK PT. KARYA PROSPEK SATWA. This study aims to determine how much the relationship of birth weight with weight gain, weaning weight, mortality, and litter size of weaning in animal husbandry companies owned by Animal Prospects. The material used is 7 pregnant sows from Yorkshire and Landrace, with an average body weight of 140 kg which will be taken by 54 children randomly. Furthermore, this research data obtained from weighing piglets during parturition, weighing weekly during weaning and weighing when weaned and taking data on live and dead piglets during the study. The data is then processed by procentage descriptive method and evaluated by simple correlation (r) and determination (R) tests. The variables measured in the study were body weight gain, weaning weight, mortality, and weaning litter size. Birth weight has a very close relationship with weight gain and weaning weight, but litter size weaning has a very weak relation. While mortality is not related. Key words: Piglets, Birth weight, Weight gain, Weaning weight, Mortality, Litter size weaning.


Author(s):  
Hala Abou Arraj

Purpose The present paper tries to assess empirically the level of professionalism. In addition, this paper tries to analyze the factors affecting professionalism. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide an empirical assessment of professionalism in a bureaucracy, and second, to assess the relationship of age and education, on the one hand, and bureaucratic professionalism, on the other hand. Because whims make a poor basis for change, an objective empirical assessment of the level of professionalism is provided and that is where the strength of this paper lies. Design/methodology/approach The data for this study are obtained from a survey administered to employees. Findings The findings of this paper are as follows: low professionalism among civil servants in Lebanon, no relationship between professionalism and age of employees and the direct relationship between professionalism and education of employees. Practical implications It is true that the woes of the administration lie in the confessional political system of the country; however, concentrating on contextual and behavioral variables that can be controlled could alleviate the problem. Social implications Recruiting educated employees based on their competency levels may alleviate the behavioral problem and may lead to improved professionalism. Originality/value No previous work was done in this regard.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 537-543
Author(s):  
Marie C. McCormick ◽  
Sam Shapiro ◽  
Barbara Starfield

A mother's expectations about the development of her infant have been found to be a strong determinant of child development, but little is known about the factors that may affect maternal assessment of development. In this study, the relationship of the mother's opinion of the development of her infant with several sociodemographic, antenatal, intrapartum, and infant health variables was examined for a large sample of 1-year-old infants for whom gross motor observations were also obtained at the time of the interview. Among those observed to be developing at an appropriate rate, 4.0% were perceived by their mothers as developing more slowly than the mothers considered normal; among infants developing more slowly, 28.6% were considered to be developing slowly by their mothers. In both groups, the major determinants of maternal opinion of slow development concerned the infant's health: low birth weight, congenital anomalies regardless of severity, hospitalization during the first year of life, and high ambulatory care use. These results indicate that maternal perception of infant development may not reflect the infant's level, but past or present illness, and raise questions about the influence of infant health on maternal-infant interactions and the effect of such interactions on subsequent development in the child.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ellen Avery ◽  
William H. Tooley ◽  
Jacob B. Keller ◽  
Suzanne S. Hurd ◽  
M. Heather Bryan ◽  
...  

Chronic lung disease in prematurely born infants, defined as the need for increased inspired oxygen at 28 days of age, was thought to be more common in some institutions than in others. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed the experience in the intensive care nurseries at Columbia and Vanderbilt Universities, the Universities of Texas at Dallas, Washington at Seattle, and California at San Francisco, the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, and Mt Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The survey included 1,625 infants with birth weights of 700 to 1,500 g. We confirmed the relationship of risk to low birth weight, white race, and male sex. Significant differences in the incidence of chronic lung disease were found between institutions even when birth weight, race, and sex were taken into consideration through a multivariate logistic regression analysis. Columbia had one of the best outcomes for low birth weight infants and the lowest incidence of chronic lung disease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Ng Cheng San ◽  
Choy Johnn Yee

Purpose: The research aim to clarify the relationship of brand loyalty: attitudinal and behavioral loyalty with the Malaysian purchase intention on pirated clothing and footwear in order to gain better understanding in developing advance countermeasure.Design/ Methodology/ Approach: A quantitative research is used to obtain the first hand information. 380 sets of personally- administrated questionnaires were distributed in Malaysia -Penang’s Batu Ferringhi Night Market. A variety of statistical analysis techniques were used.Findings: The findings suggested brand loyalty: attitudinal and behavioral have a significant relationship with the purchase intention of counterfeit products. Under the two brand loyalty concepts, the behavioral loyalty had a greater negative association with the consumer intention on counterfeit.  Practical implications: The paper provided in dept knowledge about the consumers motivation on counterfeit products and the information of marketing intelligence strategy-branding which available for the marketers and genuine manufacturers in better eradicate the counterfeit activities.Research Limitations: The paper was primarily focus on the counterfeit clothing and footwear. Although the focus and sample size is adequate and accepted but the generalizability of study may be limited and cannot consider as representative collectively for the whole of Malaysia and other pirated products. Secondly, the quantitative research used had limited the further insight of other unknown variables or factors that do not included. 


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (5) ◽  
pp. 340-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Loret De Mola ◽  
Giovanny Vinícius Araújo De França ◽  
Luciana de Avila Quevedo ◽  
Bernardo Lessa Horta

BackgroundThere is no consensus on the effects that low birth weight, premature birth and intrauterine growth have on later depression.AimsTo review systematically the evidence on the relationship of low birth weight, smallness for gestational age (SGA) and premature birth with adult depression.MethodWe searched the literature for original studies assessing the effect of low birth weight, premature birth and SGA on adult depression. Separate meta-analyses were carried out for each exposure using random and fixed effects models. We evaluated the contribution of methodological covariates to heterogeneity using meta-regression.ResultsWe identified 14 studies evaluating low birth weight, 9 premature birth and 4 SGA. Low birth weight increased the odds of depression (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.21–1.60). Premature birth and SGA were not associated with depression, but publication bias might have underestimated the effect of the former and only four studies evaluated SGA.ConclusionsLow birth weight was associated with depression. Future studies evaluating premature birth and SGA are needed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 3-3
Author(s):  
Lindsey G Wichman ◽  
Colby A Redifer ◽  
Natalie B Duncan ◽  
Craig A Payne ◽  
Allison M Meyer

Abstract To determine effects of cow BCS and calving season on calf vigor and size and the relationship of calf size with vigor, 310 multiparous and primiparous beef cows (age: 4.6 ± 2.2 yr; BW: 663 ± 86 kg; BCS: 5.3 ± 0.6) from 3 spring (2015, 2016, 2017) and 4 fall (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019) calving seasons were observed during parturition. Time to stand (n = 191) was determined as minutes from birth to standing successfully for 5 sec. Within 24 h, calf BW (n = 187) and size [shoulder to tailhead length (STL), heart girth (HG), and abdominal girth (AG; n = 154)] were recorded. Data were analyzed using a mixed model containing effects of calving season (spring and fall), BCS category (< 5, =5, ≥6), and their interaction. Correlations were determined between time to stand and calf measurements separately for spring (n = 79) versus fall (n = 111). Cows with BCS < 5 gave birth to lighter (P = 0.02) calves that tended to have a faster (P ≤ 0.13) time to stand than =5 and ≥6. Calves from cows with BCS ≥6 tended to have greater (P ≤ 0.09) STL than =5 and < 5. Calves from cows with BCS < 5 had smaller (P = 0.13) HG than =5. Fall-born calves tended to have smaller (P ≤ 0.06) BW, HG, and AG than spring-born calves. Within fall calves, there tended to be a positive relationship (r = 0.16; P = 0.09) between time to stand and calf BW. Despite this, spring calves had a negative relationship (r = -0.26; P = 0.02) between time to stand and calf BW. In conclusion, cow BCS and calving season affect calf size and may affect calf vigor. These data suggest that calving season may dictate the relationship between calf vigor and size.


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