An exterior comparison was made between 2 primitive horse breeds: the Konik and the Hucul breeds. Each animal was characterized using 25 measurements and 24 indices. Statistical methods employed in this study were principal components analysis and the Student’s t-test. It was found that in spite of both breeds being included in the group of horses with a primitive exterior, the Konik and the Hucul possess completely different metric properties of their body conformations. Although the mean height for the Hucul breed slightly exceeds that of the Konik, the latter has longer scapulae and metacarpi. The hind limb also features different proportions among its segments in the 2 breeds. The observed differences seem to be connected with different habitats for these breeds. In particular, mountainous conditions may have had an effect on the specific body conformation of the Hucul breed. Copyright © 2009. . Copyright 2009 Journal of Animal Science

The study included 249 horses belonging to 3 horse breeds. Konik horses, comprising the first group, is an example of a breed similar to the extinct Tarpan. In our study, these horses were taken to be a primitive anatomical model of the horse body. The other groups comprised the Polish Half-bred horse and Thoroughbred horse. The biometric characteristics of the horses were compared based on 24 indices. The aim of the paper was to find a reduced set of indices that can be used to determine group membership of the horses. To do this, we used statistical methods to find the most important indices that best discriminate breeds from each other. Chi-squared statistics, linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, and 1-way ANOVA showed that the discrimination among groups of horses is connected with these 5 indices: scapula, smaller trunk (distance between tubercle of humerus and coxal tuber), greater trunk (distance between tubercle of humerus and ischial tuberosity), metacarpus circumference, and hind autopodium-smaller trunk. Thoroughbred and Half-bred horses are clearly different in exterior conformation from Konik horses. The differences between Thoroughbred and Half-bred horses are more subtle. The conformation of Thoroughbreds is jointly determined by relatively small differences in a range of features. Copyright © 2013. American Society of Animal Science .

For the first time computed tomography has been used to analyze densitometric and geometric parameters in proximal metaphyses and the mid-diaphyses of tibiotarsal bones in broiler chickens in posthatching development as influenced by age and sex. The research was conducted on 60 tibial bones of 2-, 4- and 6-week-old broiler chickens (Ross 308) (10 males and 10 females in each age group). Statistical analysis has been conducted with the use of one-way ANOVA and Fisher's exact test. Calculations have been performed separately for each sex, with age as a differentiation variable and separately for each of the developmental stages, with sex as a differentiation factor. Pearson's correlation coefficient have been calculated. Also, relative bone density has been determined. It was observed that volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) in the diaphyses was two times higher (app. 550 cm³) than in the proximal metaphyses (app. 230 cm³) of the tibiae in broiler chickens. In the proximal metaphyses of the tibiotarsal bones, densitometric and geometrical parameters increased with age of the birds. Densitometric parameters (vBMD, BMC) in 6-week-old males displayed (slightly) higher values than in females. It is worth emphasising that in both sexes bone mineral content (BMC) was higher in the tibial proximal metaphyses than in the diaphyses. At the mid-diaphysis, most of the densitometric and geometrical parameters, i.e. bone mineral content (BMC), Strength-Strain Index (SSI), periosteal circumference (PERI_C), endosteal circumference (ENDO_C), cortical area (CRT_A), trabecular area (TRAB_A) and bone area (TOT_A), tended to grow with the birds' age. vBMD (volumetric bone mineral density in situ) is the only parameter that did not grow with age. It was also observed that in males in 4 wk, vBMD in the proximal metaphyses displayed the lowest values during posthatching development (217.47 cm³). Also between 2 and 4 wk of the development, vBMD in the diaphyses decreased from 637.64 cm³ to 539.12 cm³, (P≤0.05). What is important is that vBMD and BMC are parameters that play a key role in bone mineralization. However, there was no correlation observed between them. Analysis of Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that BMC in both bone sections displayed positive correlation with all the geometric and densitometric parameters (except for vBMD). It may be concluded that vBMD is independent of other parameters. The strongest correlations were observed between BMC and TRAB_A, and TOT_A in the proximal metaphysis, they were (r = 0.98) and (r = 0.98) respectively, P≤0.01, and between BMC and CRT_A at the mid-diaphysis (r = 0.99), P≤0.05. It was demonstrated that in the group of males, decreasing vBMD in the proximal metaphyses between 2 and 4 wk and in the diaphyses from 2 to 6 wk during posthatching development, as well as decreasing relative bone weight, from 1.03% to 0.79%, led to deformities and breaks of the tibiae, which may have a negative effect on the productivity of the broiler chickens flock.

The aim of the review is to present mechanisms of digestion in horses through a functional description of the digestive system’s structure with emphasis on nutrient digestibility. In the era of an increasingly intensive and specialised sport usage of horses, also the significance of balancing their dietary nutrient value in accordance with individual requirements of these animals is gaining in importance. At the same time, it is not possible to meet nutritional requirements of a sport horse without knowledge about feed utilisation. In many farm animal species, digestibility is measured postmortem or via complicated and expensive cannulation of the digestive system. In horses, these methods are not applied due to ethical approaches or other limitations (e.g. sport horses); therefore, the importance of marker-based techniques is growing, although not much data is published in the available literature (Sales, 2012). Moreover, in contrast to other non-ruminants, horses are naturally adapted to a constant intake of large quantities of roughages. However, during intensive sport training, they are primarily fed concentrated diets with high amounts of easily digestible, non-structural carbohydrates and reduced amounts of dietary fibre fractions. Therefore, the risk of metabolic diseases and behavioural disorders in the horse increases.

Essential oils can be used as preservatives in foods because of their ability to inhibit bacteria growth in low concentration, which does not influence on foods’ organoleptic properties and does not generate the resistance mechanisms in cells. The aim of that work was to compare the effectiveness of commercial oils from black pepper (Piper nigrum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) and juniper (Juniperus communis L.) with oils obtained in our laboratory. The typical cultivation method was supported by the flow cytometry to detect the cells of very low physiologic and metabolic activity. Our investigation demonstrated that both types of oils can effectively inhibit the growth of saprophytic bacteria P. orientalis. The oils distilled in our laboratory had a bacteriostatic effect at a lower concentration, which is important for application in the food industry. Flow cytometry analyzes and confirmed the thesis that essential oils do not have a germicidal effect on bacteria cells.