Russian Journal of Biological Research

116-123

Authors: Firas R. Al-Samarai, Fatten A. Mohammed, Nasr N. Al-Anbari, Falah H. Al-Zaydi, Yehya K. Abdulrahman

This study was carried out on the research station of sheep and goat (Abo Gharib, west of Baghdad, Iraq) to investigate the effects of some environmental factors on some growth traits in Awassi lambs as well as estimating heritability of these traits. Records of Awassi lambs included 1318 birth weights (BW), 821 weaning weights (WW) and 821 pre-weaning daily gains (DG) as recorded over three years (2007–2009). Records belonged to 120 sires. Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) method in a mixed model (paternal half sib) was utilized to estimate the heritability (h²) for above mentioned traits. The general statistical model included fixed effects due to parity, sex, year and month of birth, type of birth and age at weaning as covariate. The Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) values of sires for all studied traits were estimated. Results showed that the means of BW, WW and DG were 3.85, 26.64 and 0.181 kg respectively. Studied traits were significantly (P < 0.01) affected by all fixed effects except the effect of sire on WW and DG, which was significant (P< 0.05). Heritability estimates (h²) of BW, WW and DG were 0.23, 0.12 and 0.19 respectively. The lowest and highest BLUP values for the mentioned traits were -0.325, 0.255 kg, -1.142, 1.284 kg, and -0.103, 0.053 kg respectively.

143-172

Authors: Oleg Mosin, Ignat Ignatov, Dmitry Skladnev, Vitaly Shvets

In this paper the biological influence of deuterium on cells of various taxonomic groups of prokaryotic and eucaryotic microorganisms realizing methylotrophic, chemoheterotrophic, photo-organotrophic, and photosynthetic ways of assimilation of carbon substrates (methylotrophic bacteria Brevibacterium methylicum, chemoheterotrophic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, photo-organotrophic halobacteria Halobacterium halobium, and green algae Chlorella vulgaris) was investigated at the growth on media with heavy water (2H2O). For all investigated microorganisms are submitted data on growth and adaptation on growth media containing as sources of deuterated substrates 2H2O, [2H]methanol and hydrolysates of deutero-biomass of methylotrophic bacteria B. methylicum, obtained after the multistage adaptation to 2H2O. The qualitative and quantitative composition of intra- and endocellular amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates and fatty acids in conditions of adaptation to 2H2O is investigated. It is shown, that the effects observed at adaptation to 2H2O, possess a complex multifactorial character and connected to physiological, morphological and cytological alterations – the magnitude of the lag-period, time of cellular generation, output of biomass, a parity ratio of synthesized amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, and also with an evolutionary level of the organization of the investigated object and the pathways of assimilation of carbon substrates.