Six warm-blooded horses in the age of 6 till 16, were researched. The horses were divided into two groups: experimental and testing (each per 3 horses). In the first stage the trial was taken up to estimate the grade (rank) of sand accumulation in the alimentary canal of all horses with using the floatation test. In the second stage the experimental group with the given foragegot the supplement of Plantago Psyllium seeds in the amount of 210 g per horse per day during 7 days. The researches revealed that preventive supplement of Plantago Psyllium seeds three times increases the amount of sand excreted from the alimentary canal. So using the supplement of Plantago Psyllium seeds can prevent the excessive of sand concentration in horses alimentary canal and this way decreases the risk of occurring the intestinal colic diseases – in the matter.

The study involved 102 Holstein-Friesian cows imported from Sweden, kept on a farm in the West Pomerania Province. Beta-lactoglobulin (LGB) genotypes were determined using PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method according to Medrano and Aquilar-Cordova [1990]. It was found that cows with the LGB AA genotype had the highest milk yield in all analysed 305-day lactations. The differences were significant in the third lactation (P≤0.01, P≤0.05). For the same genotype, the highest milk protein yield and content for the three analysed lactations were recorded. The highest milk fat content and yield were found in the BB homozygotes for all the analysed lactations.

The effect of somatic cell count on the amount of daily milk yield and chemical composition of milk from 662 cows kept on 25 farms located in the region of southern Podlasie was analysed. A total of 5061 milk samples were evaluated. They were divided into four classes corresponding to the content of somatic cells in 1 ml of milk: <200,000; 201,000–400,000; 401,000–1,000,000; >1,000,000. It was found that, with an increase in the somatic cell count in 1 ml of milk, there was an increase in milk protein content from 3.36% to 3.54% and milk fat content from 4.02% to 4.16%, whereas the content of casein and dry matter in milk decreased from 2.56% to 2.45% and from 13.13% to 12.98%, respectively. Moreover, the percentage of casein in milk protein decreased from 76.2% to 69.2%. Also, milk yield was reduced, and the calculated losses in the milk yield resulting from an increase in the SCC were 10.6 to 17.3%.

The study was carried out with 51 game pheasants derived from parents that were fed during the reproductive period with a commercial feed mixture (25 birds) or feed mixture and whole maize grain (26 birds). Pheasants were kept in a confined facility, without regard to sex, in cages on plastic mesh floor for the first three weeks and in pens on straw later on. During the study, offspring received commercial feed mixtures for pheasants or turkeys. The introduction of whole maize grain in the ration of parent pheasants reduced the body weight of their offspring except at 12 weeks of age. In addition, it caused significant decreases in the length of trunk with neck, lower thigh and shank, and chest circumference in 4-week-old pheasants, and in the length of trunk with neck, trunk and lower thigh in 18-week-old birds. Dressing percentage was high in both groups and exceeded 72%. The proportion of breast muscles was higher in the carcasses of pheasants derived from parents fed a low-protein diet with whole maize grain (31.0 vs. 29.0%). A reverse relationship was found for the proportion of leg muscles in the carcass with neck (23.5 vs. 24.0%). The proportion of skin with subcutaneous fat was similar in both experimental groups (6.4 vs. 6.3%).

An analysis chemical composition of 33 samples of five cereal grains harvested in oneyear led to a conclusion that the greatest variations and statistically significant differences (P≤0.01) among cereals existed in their content of crude protein, crude fibre and the following fractions of dietary fibre: NDF, ADF, TDF, IDF and SDF. Analyzed winter wheat and winter rye varieties differ significantly (P≤0.01) from other cereal grains in their content of magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc and show a statistically significant difference (P≤0.05) in the content of calcium and copper. The average total content of amino acids was highest in wheat and lowest in winter barley. Lysine was found to be the first amino acid limiting (CS) the quality of protein in all analyzed varieties of cereal grains, with the exception of rye, while tryptophan was found to be such an amino acid for animals (WE). The high content of essential amino acids (EAA) was reflected in EAAI, which for WH ranged from 71% (spring barley) to 84% (winter triticale), and for WE from 51% (winter barley) to 60% (winter triticale).

The research material consisted of 87 Suffolk ewes divided into control (1) and experimental (2) groups. Both groups were fed farm feeds according to DLG standards. Animals from the experimental group were given an addition of the nutritional pectin concentrate with an immunological effect (KO) produced on the basis of apple pectins. Dams were given approx. 10 g per animal per day of the preparation mixed with concentrate every 7 days during tupping, every 3 days during pregnancy and everyday during the rearing of lambs. Lambs were reared with their dams. From 14 days of age their diet was supplemented with the evaluated preparation mixed with oat meal and then with concentrate at the amount of 10% of a given feed. Reproduction results of 87 ewes including fertility, prolificacy, rearing of lambs and reproduction indices were evaluated. Based on the body weight of lambs at 2 days after birth and at the age of 1 month, 56 and 90 days, as well as on the daily body weight gains in the individual examined periods, the evaluation of the growth of the offspring being reared was performed. In the statistical analysis of the obtained results, Student’s t-test (addition of preparation) was applied. It was found that dams from both groups were characterised by similar and very low fertility (54.7–58.2%). The applied pectin preparation significantly (P≤0.01) affected the value of the prolificacy index of the examined sheep. In this respect, the ewes from experimental group were over 32 per cent better than the ewes from the control group. Similar tendency was observed for the rearing of lambs and the values of reproduction indices. The offspring of both groups of dams weighed at 2 days after birth had similar body weight. From 1 month of age a significant advantage of lambs from experimental group was observed both in respect of body weight and daily body weight gains. At the last weighing at 90 days of age, lambs given the KO preparation were significantly heavier (P≤0.01) than their age mates from group 1. In the whole experiment, lambs from group 2 were characterised by approx. 26 g higher body weight gains (P≤0.05) compared to lambs from group 1 and the values of the growth rate indices for animals in both groups were similar.

The aim of the study was the analysis of the condition of goat breeding and husbandry in the Kujawy-Pomerania Province and in country. The results concerning milk and reproduction performance of goats from this region can be used for working out a regional breeding programme. The following was taken into account in this study: the number of White and Coloured Improved goats covered by the performance recording, number of goats entered in the flockbooks, milk performance results for the Kujawy-Pomerania Province as well as for Poland for the years 1996–2009, using the information published by the Central Animal Breeding Station and the documentation of the Regional Association of Sheep and Goats Breeders in Bydgoszcz. The number of flocks of White Improved goats covered by the performance recording in our country decreased from 170 in 1996 to 0 in 2009. A similar downward tendency was observed for the number of goats under milk recording. In the Kujawy-Pomerania Province, the number of goats under milk recording increased from 45 in 1996 to 289 in 2007, and fell to zero from 2008. Analysing the population of Coloured Improved goats, it turned out that, on average, in the whole country, the number of flocks of this breed increased from 17 in 1997 to 23 in 2004, and then decreased to 1 flock in 2009. Similarly, the number of goats under milk recording increased from 175 in 1997 to 917 in 2004 and then fell to 22 in 2009. In the analysed period, the extension of lactations, increased yields of milk, fat and protein and similar contents of these components in milk were found in White and Coloured Improved goats.

The aim of the study was the analysis of the effect of calving season on the course of parturition and rearing results of Polish Holstein-Friesian calves of Black-and-White strain from birth to 3 months of age. Easy calvings (1;2) predominated on the farm. In spring, they accounted for 91.2% of all calvings occurring in this season. The respective values for summer, winter and autumn were 89.7%, 88.6% and 87.6%. The highest mean birth weight was characteristic of calves born in winter (40.8 kg and 44.2 kg for heifer calves and bull calves, respectively). The highest mean daily body weight gains in the whole rearing period were achieved by heifer calves born in winter (704 g) and bull calves born in spring (750 g). In the group of heifer calves and bull calves, statistically significant differences during the analysed rearing period were found (P≤0.01, P≤0.05). The highest percentage of ill calves was found in the autumn-winter season and the lowest one in spring and summer.

The investigations were carried out in a sheepfold located in the Pomeranian Province, Poland. Sheep were evaluated in terms of reproduction traits of ewes, nursing success, and the weight at birth of their lambs. The herd achieved a generally high level of reproduction traits, similar to reference values for the breed published by the Polish Sheep Breeding Association for the years 2005–2009. The mean fertility index for the studied period remained at a level 78.2%, prolificacy 133.8%, and lamb nursing success 86.8%, whereas the mean index of reproduction performance was 90.8%. Equally high values were observed for the growth of the offspring. Until 75 days of age, both body weight and daily gains of singles were higher compared to those of lambs born from multiple births. The ram lambs attained higher body weight and daily gains as compared to the ewe lambs of the same age.

The research material consisted of 101 primiparous cows born from Chaloraise sires. Cows were divided into four genotype groups: 1) pure-bred Charolaise, 2) crossbreds with 75% Charolaise and 25% Black-and-White, 3) crossbreds with 50% Charolaise and 50% Black-and-White, 4) crossbreds with 50% Charolaise and 50% Simmental. An analysis of the body weight of primiparous cows and calves at weaning was performed. The measurements of the height at withers, hip height and chest girth were taken and the assessment of conformation, size and production traits was carried out. The crossbred cows obtained results similar to or somewhat worse than those for the pure-bred Charolaise cows. The obtained results indicate that cows crossbred with Black-and-White breed are a very good material for the production of beef calves with the fattening traits similar to those of the beef breed used for absorptive crossing or the crossbred cows of pure beef breeds.

The aim of this study was to detect heifers with dystocia using artificial neural networks (ANN). A total of 531 calving records of Holstein-Friesian heifers of Black-and-White strain and 8 diagnostic variables were used. The output variable was the class of calving difficulty: difficult or easy. Perceptrons with one (MLP1) and two (MLP2) hidden layers and radial basis function (RBF) networks were investigated. The root mean square error and the structure of selected ANN (number of neurons in the input, hidden and output layers) were 0.22, 10-4-1; 0.25, 10-17-17-1 and 0.19, 10-25-1 for MLP1, MLP2 and RBF, respectively. The percentage of correctly recognized heifers with difficult and easy calvings and that of correctly diagnosed heifers from both categories for the training and validation sets were approx. 90%. The same values for the test set were 75-83%, 82–88% and 82–86%, respectively. In both cases, no significant differences in these proportions were found. The following variables contributed most to the detection of heifers with dystocia: gestation length, BCS index, CYP19-PvuII and ERα-BglI genotypes and percentage of HF genes in heifer’s genotype.