The Relation between Hair-Cortisol Concentration and Various Welfare Assessments of Dutch Dairy Farms.

Many protocols have been developed to assess farm animal welfare. However, the validity of these protocols is still subject to debate. The present study aimed to compare nine welfare assessment protocols, namely: (1) Welfare Quality© (WQ), (2) a modified version of Welfare Quality (WQ Mod), which has a better discriminative power, (3) WelzijnsWijzer (Welfare Indicator; WW), (4) a new Welfare Monitor (WM), (5) Continue Welzijns Monitor (Continuous Welfare Monitor; CWM), (6) KoeKompas (Cow Compass; KK), (7) Cow Comfort Scoring System (CCSS), (8) Stall Standing Index (SSI) and (9) a Welfare Index (WI Tuyttens). In addition, a simple welfare estimation by veterinarians (Estimate vets, EV) was added. Rank correlation coefficients were calculated between each of the welfare assessment protocol scores and mean hair cortisol concentrations from 10 cows at 58 dairy farms spread over the Netherlands. Because it has been suggested that the hair cortisol level is related to stress, experienced over a long period of time, we expected a negative correlation between cortisol and the result of the welfare protocol scores. Only the simple welfare estimation by veterinarians (EV) (ρ = -0.28) had a poor, but significant, negative correlation with hair cortisol. This correlations, however, failed to reach significance after correction of p-values for multiple correlations. Most of the results of the different welfare assessment protocols had a poor, fair or strong positive correlation with each other, supporting the notion that they measure something similar. Additional analyses revealed that the modified Welfare Quality protocol parameters housing (ρ = -0.30), the new Welfare Monitor (WM) parameter health (ρ = -0.33), and milk yield (ρ = -0.33) showed negative correlations with cortisol. We conclude that because only five out of all the parameter scores from the welfare assessment protocols showed a negative, albeit weak, correlation with cortisol, hair cortisol levels may not provide a long term indicator for stress in dairy cattle, or alternatively, that the protocols might not yield valid indices for cow welfare.

Hypothalamic vasotocin and tyrosine hydroxylase levels following maternal care and selection for low mortality in laying hens.

BACKGROUND: Feather pecking and cannibalism are major concerns in poultry farming, both in terms of animal welfare and farm economics. Genetic selection and introduction of (aspects of) maternal care have been suggested as potential interventions to reduce feather pecking in laying hens. Altered brain development has been proposed to reflect welfare states in animals, and can provide more insight into the underlying processes involved in feather pecking. Both vasotocin (the avian homologue of vasopressin) and dopaminergic neural circuitry have roles in control of social behaviors as well as in the stress response, and may be linked to feather pecking. Thus, the hypothalamus of adult laying hens selected for low early mortality (LML), which show low feather pecking, was examined and compared with a control line of adult laying hens selected for production characteristics only (CL). The effect of foster hen rearing on the two genetic lines and their hypothalamic morphology was also investigated. RESULTS: We demonstrated an increase in the number of neurons positive for the rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine production, tyrosine hydroxylase, in the periventricular area of the hypothalamus in the LML hens compared to CL hens. Hen-reared chicks showed more vasotocin -positive neurons in the medial pre-optic area compared to the hens raised without a hen. No correlations were found between behavior in an open field at 5-6 weeks of age, and the histology of the same hens at adulthood. CONCLUSION: The hypothalamic dopaminergic and vasotinergic systems are altered in hens following genetic selection or maternal care, indicating a potential role for these systems in feather pecking.

Developmental competence of bovine oocytes after specific inhibition of MPF kinase activity: effect of estradiol supplementation and follicle size.

In the bovine, the concentration of 17beta-estradiol (E2) in the follicular fluid of the dominant follicle is high, indicating a possible role of E2 on the cytoplasmic maturation that occurs before the LH surge. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of E2 on the developmental competence of bovine oocytes originating from different sized follicles and temporarily maintained at the germinal vesicle stage with roscovitine (ROS). First, the efficiency of ROS to inhibit germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) in oocytes harvested from small (3-4 mm diameter) and medium (5-8 mm diameter) sized follicles was demonstrated. Next, the effect of E2 during temporary inhibition of GVBD by ROS on the subsequent nuclear maturation was evaluated. Oocytes from small and medium sized follicles were cultured in the presence of ROS, FSH and with or without E2 for 24 h. After this period, oocytes were cultured for another 24 h with FSH but without ROS and E2, after which the nuclear stages and the developmental competence of oocytes were assessed. In conclusion, it is demonstrated that exposure to E2, during temporary inhibition of the GVBD with ROS, affected neither nuclear nor cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes originating from small and medium sized follicles. It might be that in vivo, the increase of E2 during follicle growth is more related to selection of the dominant follicle than to the cytoplamsic maturation of the oocyte as such.

In vitro and in vivo culture effects on mRNA expression of genes involved in metabolism and apoptosis in bovine embryos.

Bovine blastocysts produced in vitro differ substantially from their in vivo-derived counterparts with regard to glucose metabolism, level of apoptosis and mRNA expression patterns. Maternal embryonic genomic transition is a critical period in which these changes could be induced. The goals of the present study were twofold: (1) to identify the critical period of culture during which the differences in expression of gene transcripts involved in glucose metabolism are induced; and (2) to identify gene transcripts involved in apoptosis that are differentially expressed in in vitro- and in vivo-produced blastocysts. Relative abundances of transcripts for the glucose transporters Glut-1, Glut-3, Glut-4 and Glut-8, and transcripts involved in the apoptotic cascade, including BAX, BCL-XL, XIAP and HSP 70.1, were analysed by a semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay in single blastocysts produced in vitro or in vivo for specific time intervals, that is, before or after maternal embryonic transition. Whether the culture environment was in vitro or in vivo affected the expression of glucose transporter transcripts Glut-3, Glut-4 and Glut-8. However, the critical period during culture responsible for these changes, before or after maternal embryonic transition, could not be determined. With the exception of XIAP, no effects of culture system on the mRNA expression patterns of BAX, BCL-XL and HSP 70.1 could be observed. These data show that expression of XIAP transcripts in expanded blastocysts is affected by in vitro culture. These findings add to the list of bovine genes aberrantly expressed in culture conditions, but do not support the hypothesis that maternal embryonic transition is critical in inducing the aberrations in gene expression patterns studied here.