Bovine babesiosis is one of the destructive diseases affecting cattle worldwide especially in tropical and subtropical areas. In Egypt, small livestock holder represents the majority of livestock owners affected by the devastating impact of this disease including costs of diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention as well as limitations of production and reproduction of the affected animals. Early and accurate diagnosis of Babesia spp. infection plays an important role in treatment and control. The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Loop-Mediated Isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay as a new molecular technique used for diagnosis of bovine babesiosis in naturally infected cattle. The confirmation of this infection was depended on blood smears, LAMP and Nested-Polymerase chain Reaction (nPCR) assays, which confirmed the infection in 19%, 47.62% and 52.38% of the examined animals, respectively. Tick samples were collected and identified as Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus, which is the vector of Babesia spp. Evaluation of blood smears and LAMP assay was carried out against nPCR as a reference test. The obtained results revealed that LAMP assay is a sensitive, specific and cost effective test and will be one of the near future applicable tests in epidemiological and diagnostic studies on babesiosis especially in developing countries endemic with this disease.

This work was carried out to describe the morphological characteristics of the choanal slit of the turkey through gross, light, and scanning electron microscopy. The choanal slit measures 27.62 mm long, and constitutes 38.30 % of the total length of the palate. The edges of the narrow part of the choanal slit is smooth rostrally but slightly thickened caudally due to the presence of 2-3 small papillae. The edge of the wide part is thickened because of presence of 5-7 conical and wedge shaped papillae. SEM indicates the presence of median fold within the choana, which represents the direct continuation of the median palatine ridge. After a short distance, this fold bifurcates into right and left folds. Several openings of the palatine salivary glands are demonstrated on the palate at the level of the choanal slit. The epithelium of the oral roof at the level of the choanal slit is stratified squamous epithelium showing intraepithelial sensory corpuscles. This epithelium transforms at the edge of the choanal slit into pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium that interrupted by intraepithelial mucous glands surrounded by lymphatic infiltration and nodules. Altogether, this study provides inclusive information on the macroscopic and microscopic morphological features of the choana in the turkey in comparing with those of the other birds.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) and ß-glucan (BG) prebiotic (agrimos) on the behavioral and physiological parameters in heat stressed broiler chickens. One hundred sixty eight of one-day-old broiler chickens of Ross 308 strain were obtained from a local hatchery. The experiment was started at 28-day old; where birds were exposed to heat stress (HS) and were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments containing 0 (control), 0.5, 2, and 4 g/kg MOS and BG probiotic, respectively. Each treatment consisted of three replicates of 14 birds each. The results revealed that 0.5, 2 and 4 g/kg significantly increased walking, panting, wing elevation, and wing and leg but 4 g/kg agrimos only significantly increased drinking and preening, and decreased resting. Dietary inclusion of agrimos at a dose of 4 g/kg caused a significant increase in the percentage of lymphocyte, and decrease in phosphorus level. While at doses of 2 and 4 g/kg, treated chickens had a significant decrease in cortisol level together with a significant increase in hemoglobin level. Chickens fed with agrimos, regardless of dose, had significantly lower percentage of heterophils and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio. In conclusion, the current results support that MOS and BG prebiotic dietary supplementation may be considered as a protective management practice in the broiler chickens to control the negative effects of HS.