Advances in Animal Welfare and Health: Linking Physiology, Reproduction and Management

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Farm Animal Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 1074

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Large Animals Diseases and Clinic, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: reproduction; cattle; swine; oocytes; ovum pick up; welfare; herd management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology and Veterinary Diagnostics, Nowoursynowska 159c Street, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: horses; exercise; race; reproduction; immunology; sport; welfare
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathology and Veterinary Diagnostics, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Interests: immunology; veterinary immunology; veterinary pathology; small animal internal medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The welfare and health status of animals is an important aspect of rational herd management. Breeding, welfare and health problems have huge impacts on the farm economy.

For this Special Issue, original and review manuscripts covering all aspects of the link between physiological and pathological processes and reproduction and management in farm animals are welcome. We welcome research and review studies or meta-analyses concerning farm animals’ welfare, reproduction, behavior and health, as well as environmental factors which may impact different aspects embrace different scientific areas.

We invite all experts in the fields of welfare, reproduction, disease treatment and diagnostics, animal feeding, and neonatology to submit manuscripts for peer review. If the manuscript suits the scope of the Special Issue and meets the editorial criteria, it will undergo preliminary evaluation by the Guest Editors.

Dr. Bartosz Pawliński
Dr. Olga Witkowska-Piłaszewicz
Dr. Magdalena Żmigrodzka
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reproduction
  • immunology
  • exercise
  • cattle
  • horses
  • pigs
  • poultry
  • health
  • veterinary medicine

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 2564 KiB  
Article
Are Proteins Such as MMP2, IGF1, IL-13, and IL-1ra Valuable as Markers of Fitness Status in Racehorses? A Pilot Study
by Jowita Grzędzicka, Izabela Dąbrowska, Paula Kiełbik, Maciej Perzyna and Olga Witkowska-Piłaszewicz
Agriculture 2023, 13(11), 2134; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agriculture13112134 - 12 Nov 2023
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Abstract
In a recent study, in which more than a thousand racehorses were evaluated, three potential blood markers were selected. It was concluded that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) may enable the early detection of [...] Read more.
In a recent study, in which more than a thousand racehorses were evaluated, three potential blood markers were selected. It was concluded that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) may enable the early detection of horses at risk of injuries. However, in other studies, it was suggested that cytokine concentrations indicate the athlete’s status better than mRNA expression in blood cells. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in IGF1, MMP-2, and novel markers such as interleukin-13 (IL-13) after exercise in horses at different fitness levels as well as after different intensities of exercise. ELISA tests were performed on thirty-one racehorses [n = 31], who were divided into an inexperienced [beginner] group [n = 20] and an experienced [advanced] group [n = 6]. In addition, differences between race and training session were evaluated to see the influence of different intensities of exercise. Blood samples were taken before and after exercise. The basal IGF1 concentration was lower in an inexperienced group (p < 0.01) as well as IL-13 (p < 0.05) in comparison to the experienced group. There were no differences between pre- and post-exercise samples, changes in multiples or between training, and racing exercises. In conclusion, the basal values of some cytokines may appear to be more beneficial in forecasting horse fitness level. Full article
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