This study aimed to compare the antibiotic resistance levels of the indicator bacteria Escherichia coli in wastewater samples collected from two hospitals and two urban communities. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on 81 E. coli isolates (47 from hospitals and 34 from communities) using the disc diffusion method according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) methodology. Ten antibiotics from nine different classes were chosen. The strains isolated from the community wastewater, compared to those from the hospital wastewater, were not resistant to gentamicin (p = 0.03), but they showed a significantly higher susceptibility—increased exposure to ceftazidime (p = 0.001). Multidrug resistance was observed in 85.11% of the hospital wastewater isolates and 73.53% of the community isolates (p > 0.05). The frequency of the presumed carbapenemase-producing E. coli was higher among the community isolates (76.47% compared to 68.09%) (p > 0.05), whereas the frequency of the presumed extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli was higher among the hospital isolates (21.28% compared to 5.88%) (p > 0.05). The antibiotic resistance rates were high in both the hospital and community wastewaters, with very few significant differences between them, so the community outlet might be a source of resistant bacteria that is at least as important as the well-recognised hospitals.

The aim of the current research was to evaluate the effects that temperament has on production and reproduction performances in Simmental dual-purpose cattle breed. Behavioral reactivity of cows significantly influenced (P ≤ 0.05) the body weight, milk yield, fat yield, protein yield, protein content, and the calving interval of the cows included in the study-head, having more substantial effects (P ≤ 0.001) on the milking speed and the number of steps per day, with calmer cows outperforming the nervous counterparts. However, temperament did not influence (P > 0.05) traits such as days open, number of inseminations per gestation, fat percentage, somatic cell count, body condition score, cleanliness of udder and cleanliness of hindquarter. Significant negative phenotypic correlations were found between temperament and cows body weight (−0.19), milk yield (−0.19), fat yield (−0.14), protein yield (−0.18), and milking speed (−0.18). Current results suggest that selection for calm temperaments will translate into increased milk, fat, and protein yields in Simmental cattle, as well as shorter the calving interval and improved milk ejection

The Eastern European Grey cattle are regarded as the direct descendants of the aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius). Nowadays in Romania, less than 100 Grey animals are being reared and included in the national gene reserve. We examined the genetic diversity among Romanian Grey, Brown, Spotted and Black and White cattle breeds, with a particular focus on Romanian Grey through the use of (i) 11 bovine specific microsatellite markers on 83 animals and (ii) 638 bp length of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region sequence data from a total of 81 animals. Both microsatellite and mtDNA analysis revealed a high level of genetic variation in the studied breeds. In Romanian Grey a total of 100 alleles were found, the mean number of observed alleles per locus was 9.091; the average observed heterozygosity was 0.940; the Wright’s fixation index (F_IS) was negative (-0.189) and indicates that there is no inbreeding and no selection pressure. MtDNA analysis revealed 52 haplotypes with 67 variable sites among the Romanian cattle breeds without any insertion or deletion. Haplotype diversity was 0.980 ± 0.007 and ranged from 0.883 ± 0.056 (Brown) to 0.990 ± 0.028 (Spotted and Black and White). The highest genetic variability of the mtDNA was recorded in the Grey breed, where 18 haplotypes were identified. The most frequent mtDNA D-loop region belonged to T3 haplogroup (80.247%), which was found across all studied breeds, while T2 haplotypes (16.049%) was only found in Grey, Spotted and Black and White genotypes. The T1 haplotypes (3.704%) were found in the Grey and Spotted. The current results contribute to the general knowledge on genetic diversity found in Eastern European cattle breeds and could prove a valuable tool for the conservation efforts of animal genetic resources (FAnGR).

The objective of the current pilot study was to evaluate the reproductive performance and health indicators in Dorper, White Dorper, and Tsigai breed ewes managed semi-intensively under European temperate conditions. A total of 544 ewe-year units were observed, with ewes (ranging from 1.5 to 8 years of age) managed under identical rearing conditions for a period of two consecutive production cycles (2012 through 2013 and 2013 through 2014). In general, significant (p≤0.001) genotype-related disparities were found in occurrence rates for all health parameters taken into study. Clinical mastitis incidence was significantly lower (p≤0.05) in Dorper (9.4%) and White Dorper (10.8%) breeds compared to that of Tsigai ewes (17.4%). Significant differences (p≤0.05) for lameness were found between Dorper and Tsigai breeds, with occurrence rates of 8.0% and 2.9%, respectively. Incidence for pneumonia and abortion was not influenced (p>0.05) by the ewes' genotype. Litter size was significantly lower (p≤0.05) in White Dorper breed than for Dorper and Tsigai ewes, of 1.21, 1.40, and 1.45, respectively. Conception rates and lambs survival were not affected (p>0.05) by genotype. Results suggest that South African Dorper and White Dorper sheep breeds have adapted well to the specific rearing conditions.

In the present study, we investigated one polymorphism of the PRL gene (rs211032652 SNP) and assessed its influence on milk production and chemical composition in two Romanian cattle breeds. A total of 119 cattle from two breeds reared in Western Romania (64 Romanian Spotted and 55 Romanian Brown) were included in the research herd. A PCR-RFLP genotyping assay was used for the identification of the rs211032652 SNP variants. Shapiro’s test and Levene’s test were used to verify ANOVA assumptions and ANOVA and Tukey’s test were employed to test the associations between PRL genotypes and five milk traits. Among the studied breeds, our results showed that PRL genotypes were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with fat and protein percentage in the milk of Romanian Brown cattle. The AA genotype was associated with a higher fat percentage in milk (4.76 ± 0.28) compared to the GG genotype (4.04 ± 0.22, p = 0.048), as well as a higher protein percentage (3.96 ± 0.32% vs. 3.43 ± 0.15%, p = 0.027) in Romanian Brown cattle. Moreover, the PRL locus favored a significantly higher fat (p = 0.021) and protein (p = 0.028) percentage in the milk of Romanian Brown cattle compared to the Romanian Spotted breed, with a difference of 0.263% and 0.170%, respectively.