Maternal nutrient intake during early- and mid-gestation can alter fetal growth and development with long-term consequences on the postnatal productivity and health of offspring. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal nutrition level during mid-gestation on postnatal growth rate, carcass composition, muscle fibre characteristics and meat quality in lambs. Ewes were fed from Days 30 to 80 of gestation as follows: 100% (control group, C), 50% (undernutrition, UN) or 175% (overnutrition, ON) of their daily requirement. During the rest of the gestation, the ewes in all groups were fed 100% of their daily requirements. Birth and weaning (at Day 90) weights of lambs born to ewes in nutritional groups were similar, but slaughter weights (at Day 150) and daily weight gain during finishing period of lambs born to the UN group were lower (P < 0.05). Similarly, a decrease in weights of semitendinosus (ST), semimembranosus and gastrocnemius muscles was observed in the lambs born to the UN group (P < 0.05). Lambs born to the ON group had a higher (P < 0.05) concentration of DNA in longissimus dorsi (LD) and ST muscles than UN groups, but they had a lower (P < 0.05) total protein and other proteins concentrations in LD and ST muscles than those to C and UN groups. Protein to DNA ratio in LD and ST muscles of lambs born to ON group were lower than those to C and UN groups (P < 0.05). However, lambs born to the ON group had a higher number of Type IIA and IIB muscle fibres in ST muscles but not in LD muscles than those in the C and UN groups (P < 0.05). Additionally an increase in the number of fibres/mm2 muscle area in lambs born to the ON group was observed in LD and ST muscles (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between treatment groups in terms of meat quality parameters studied. This study confirms that maternal nutrition level during mid-gestation alters the postnatal growth and muscle fibre development of lambs.

The study conducted a comparison of meat quality, fatty acid profile, and cholesterol amounts of longissimus dorsi (LD) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles of male lambs born to Turkish indigenous sheep breeds raised under intensive conditions. A total of 36 singleton male lambs were used as experimental animals of the Akkaraman (A), Morkaraman (M), Awassi (IW), Karayaka (KR), Kıvırcık (KV), and Middle Anatolian Merino (MAM) pure breeds. All lambs were fed the same diet until they reached a target weight of 40 kg weight. After the feeding period, all lambs were slaughtered and LD and ST muscle samples were collected to determine meat quality traits, fatty acid profile, and cholesterol amounts. Although there were no significant differences between lambs in terms of the fatty acid profile of LD and ST muscles, KR lambs had a higher cholesterol content in both muscles in comparison with the lambs born to other breeds (p<0.05). While water-holding capacity, dripping loss, pH, color, dry matter, ash, and intramuscular fat values of ST muscles showed differences among breeds (p<0.05), dripping loss, pH, cooking loss, color, dry matter, ash, protein, and intramuscular fat values of LD muscles differed between breeds (p<0.05). The data of the current study indicated that meat quality characteristics and cholesterol contents of Turkish indigenous breeds showed differences, and these differences may be used for alternative lamb meat production for the consumer.

Anatolian buffalo is an important breed reared for meat and milk in various regions of Türkiye. The present study was performed to estimate body weight (BW) from several body measurements, such as tail length (TL), shoulder height (SH), withers height (WH), body length (BL), chest circumference (CC), shank diameter (SD) and birth weight (BiW). The data set was taken from Muş Province of Türkiye. In this respect, 171 Anatolian buffaloes were used. To estimate the BW, different proportions of the training and test sets were used with the MARS algorithm. The optimal MARS was determined at a proportion of 70–30%. The MARS model displays the heaviest BW that can be produced by Anatolian buffalo according to tail length, body length, chest circumference and shoulder height. In conclusion, it could be suggested that the MARS algorithm may allow animal breeders to obtain an elite population and to determine the body measurements affecting BW as indirect selection criteria for describing the breed description of Anatolian buffalo and aiding sustainable meat production and rural development in Türkiye.

The aim of this study was to classify placental characteristics of Akkaraman, Morkaraman, Karayaka, Awassi, Malya, and Bafra sheep breeds using the hierarchical clustering method. In total, 240 individual data records were used as experimental material. Placental characteristics such as total cotyledon surface area, small and large cotyledon length, small cotyledon depth, etc. were used as explanatory variables to classify the breeds’ characteristics. Hierarchical clustering was used with the nearest neighbour method with Euclidean distance in order to classify the sheep breeds’ variations. As a result, six breeds were separated into three clusters: the first cluster consisted of Bafra, Karayaka, and Awassi breeds; the second consisted of Akkaraman and Malya breeds; and the third cluster included only the Morkaraman breed. Bafra and Karayaka were pointed as the nearest breeds, with a similarity of 98.7% in terms of placental characteristics. The similarity rate of the Akkaraman and Malya breeds was at a level of 97.5%, whereas it was 96.8% for Bafra, Karayaka, and Awassi breeds. The similarity of Akkaraman, Karayaka, Awassi, Malya, and Bafra sheep breeds was estimated as 95.7%. The overall similarity was found to be at a level of 93.2% among sheep breeds. The outcomes of the study might be useful as a selection tool for reproductivity and can be used to select the breed to be reared.

In vitro maturation (IVM) of mammalian oocytes, which influences subsequent in vitro development of embryos, is affected by the macromolecule content in culture media for the success of oocyte maturation competence, in which the cytoplasmic and nuclear reprogramming events occur. The insulin-like growth factor family (IGFs) promotes the maturation of bovine oocytes and the expansion of cumulus cells and also inhibits apoptosis. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the effects of macromolecules (bovine serum albumin, BSA; fetal calf serum, FCS; and polyvinyl alcohol, PVA) on in vitro nuclear maturation, total cellular protein, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme activity, and the gene expression level of IGF1, IGF2, and their receptor in bovine oocytes. Oocytes obtained from bovine ovaries were cultured in bicarbonate-buffered medium 199 supplemented with 4 mg/mL BSA, 10% FCS, 1 mg/mL PVA, and without macromolecule supplement (control) during 22 h in the air with a humidified atmosphere and 5% CO₂ at 38.5 °C temperature. Supplementation of BSA and FCS increased (χ² = 9.84; p < 0.05) the percentages of oocytes that reached metaphase II compared to the control and PVA. The amount of protein per ml of cell extracts of oocytes matured in FCS supplemented culture media was higher (p < 0.05) than the oocytes in the PVA and control. The levels of GPx enzyme activity in cell extracts isolated from oocytes in each experimental group did not change over time, but the GPx enzyme activity in oocytes matured in PVA-supplemented culture media was lower (p < 0.05) than in oocytes in the other experimental groups. Transcript for the IGF1 gene was not detected in all experimental groups, but the supplementation of BSA and FCS significantly elevated the transcript level of the IGF2 gene. In addition, the maturation of oocytes with BSA-supplemented media increased the transcript level of the IGF1R gene, whereas the transcript level of the IGF2R gene was similar among macromolecule supplementation groups. The current study concluded that BSA and FCS could improve in vitro bovine oocyte development due to supporting nuclear maturation and increasing the total cellular protein content, GPx enzyme, and transcript activity.