Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2011
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In Norway, most lambs are slaughtered at the end of the grazing season in September. An increased demand for fresh meat during the off-season may change this pattern. Castration of male lambs is not permitted, and off-season slaughtering may affect the acceptability of the meat. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of gender and the interaction between gender and diet on meat quality from Norwegian White Sheep lambs slaughtered in September. In two different experiments, 22 and 29 males compared with 22 and 46 female lambs, respectively, were used. Loin samples of M. Longissimus dorsi were analysed for sensory profile and fatty acid composition. Meat from male lambs in Experiment 2 had higher scores for cloying and rancid flavour, and lower scores for sour and sweet taste compared to meat from female lambs. It is concluded that even at the normal slaughtering time in September, significant differences between genders may occur.
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Authors
Snorre Stuen Lise Grøva Erik Georg Granquist Karin Sandstedt Ingrid Olesen Håvard SteinshamnAbstract
A comparative study of clinical manifestations, haematological and serological responses after experimental infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum in two Norwegian sheep breeds Background: It has been questioned if the old native Norwegian sheep breed, Old Norse Sheep (also called Norwegian Feral Sheep), normally distributed on coastal areas where ticks are abundant, is more protected against tick-borne infections than other Norwegian breeds due to a continuously high selection pressure on pasture. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis in an experimental infection study. Methods: Five-months-old lambs of two Norwegian sheep breeds, Norwegian White (NW) sheep and Old Norse (ON) sheep, were experimentally infected with a 16S rRNA genetic variant of Anaplasma phagocytophilum (similar to GenBank accession number M73220). The experiment was repeated for two subsequent years, 2008 and 2009, with the use of 16 lambs of each breed annually. Ten lambs of each breed were inoculated intravenously each year with 0.4 ml A. phagocytophilum-infected blood containing approximately 0.5x106 infected neutrophils/ml. Six lambs of each breed were used as uninfected controls. Half of the primary inoculated lambs in each breed were re-challenged with the same infectious dose at nine (2008) and twelve (2009) weeks after the first challenge. The clinical, haematological and serological responses to A. phagocytophilum infection were compared in the two sheep breeds. Results: The present study indicates a difference in fever response and infection rate between breeds of Norwegian sheep after experimental infection with A. phagocytophilum. Conclusion: Although clinical response seems to be less in ON-lambs compared to NWlambs, further studies including more animals are needed to evaluate if the ON-breed is more protected against tick-borne infections than other Norwegian breeds.
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2010
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Scenarios of climate changes indicate longer and more frequent spells of mild weather during winter in northern latitudes. De-hardening in perennial grasses could increase the risk of frost kill. In this study, the resistance to de-hardening of different grass species and cultivars was examined, and whether the resistance changes during winter or between years, was tested. In Experiment 1, two cultivars of timothy (Phleum pratense L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) of contrasting winter hardiness were grown under ambient winter conditions, transferred from the field in January and April 2006 to the laboratory for 9 d with controlled de-hardening conditions of 3°C, 9°C and 15°C. The timothy cultivars were tested at 3°C, 6°C and 9°C in a similar experiment (Experiment 2) in January 2007. De-hardening, measured as decrease in frost tolerance (LT50), was less in timothy than in perennial ryegrass and increased with increasing temperatures. The northern winter-hardy cultivar Engmo of timothy de-hardened more rapidly than the less-hardy cultivar Grindstad, but had higher initial frost tolerance in both experiments, whereas there was less difference between cultivars of perennial ryegrass in Experiment 1. Cultivar Grindstad of timothy lost all hardiness in early spring at all temperatures, whereas cultivar Engmo maintained some hardiness at 3°C. Cultivar Engmo de-hardened at a lower rate in 2007 than in 2006, in spite of similar frost tolerance at the start of de-hardening treatment in both years. This indicates that the rate of de-hardening was controlled by factors additional to the initial frost tolerance and that autumn weather conditions might be important for the resistance to de-hardening.