The aim of this study was to determine the effect of thermal manipulations during early embryogenesis (EE) and late embryogenesis (LE) on body temperature of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Incubation conditions from day 0 to day 17 were 37.78C and 55% relative humidity for control group. In the thermally treated eggs during EE (EE 6 , EE 7 and EE 8 days), incubation temperature was increased to 418C and relative humidity to 65% for 3 hours (12:00Á15:00) on the sixth, seventh and eighth days of incubation. Also, in the LE stage (EL 12 , EL 13 and EL 14 days), incubation temperature was increased to 418C and relative humidity to 65% for 3 hours (12:00Á15:00) on the 12th, 13th and 14th days of incubation. Average temperature, relative humidity and total heat of indoor air were changed from 28.71 to 30.448C, from 45.69 to 57.15% and from 14.67 to 16.16 kcal kg Á1 dry air, respectively. Higher total heat of indoor air in 10Á11 weeks than that of other weeks was found. Significant differences between the control (41.5290.268C) and manipulation groups were found, but no significant difference between the EE (41.2390.408C) and LE (41.2690.378C) groups with respect to body temperatures. Body temperatures of quails were measured as 41.5590.318C, 41.5690.268C; 41.1790.338C and 41.0790.308C at 10, 11, 12 and 13 weeks of age, respectively. In addition, differences among the weeks in point of body temperatures of quails were found to be significant (p B0.01).

Abstract. This study aimed to determine the effects of thermal manipulation during early embryogenesis (EE) and late embryogenesis (LE) on hatching weight, body weight at 5 weeks of age, hatchability and embryonic mortality rate in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Incubation conditions from day 0 to day 17 were; 37.7 °C and 55 % relative humidity for control group. In the thermally treated eggs during early embryogenesis (EE6-EE8 days), incubation temperature was increased to 41 °C and relative humidity to 65 % for 3 hours (12.00-15.00) at 3 consecutive days. Also, in the late embryogenesis stage (LE12-LE14 days), incubation temperature was increased to 41 °C and relative humidity to 65 % 3 hours (12.00–15.00) at 3 consecutive days. At hatch in each trial, all chicks were wing-banded and individually weighted. Thermal manipulations had significant effect on hatching weight, and lowest hatching weights were found in late embryogenesis (LE) group in terms of male and female. In addition, thermal manipulations and gender had significant effect on body weight at 5 weeks of age and lowest body weights at 5 weeks of age were dedected in late embryogenesis (LE) group for both gender.

The genetic polymorphism of the beta-lactoglobulin gene was investigated in three native Turkish sheep breeds. The study was carried out on 108 sheep (29 Kivircik, 38 Gökçeada, and 41 Sakiz) by means of PCR-RFLP methods. Two genetic variants (A and B) and three genotypes (AA, AB, and BB) of beta-lactoglobulin have been identified. The gene frequencies of beta-LG A and B were 0.7759 and 0.2241 in Kivircik, 0.7632 and 0.2368 in Gökçeada, and 0.9756 and 0.0244 in Sakiz breeds, respectively. The populations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all samples from the three breeds.

In the present study, genetic diversity and population structure of Holstein Friesian and three native cattle breeds of Turkey including Turkish Grey Steppe, Eastern Anatolian Red and Anatolian Black were assessed. Totally 120 individuals of 4 breeds were genotyped using 20 microsatellite markers and 204 different alleles, of which 31 were private alleles, were detected. The average observed and expected heterozygosity values were 0.63 and 0.74, respectively. Observed heterozygosity at the marker level ranged from 0.30 (DRBP1) to 0.88 (ILSTS011), while expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.51 (INRABERN172) to 0.88 (SPS113). Inbreeding coefficient values for Turkish Grey Steppe, Eastern Anatolian Red, Anatolian Black and Holstein Friesian were 0.216, 0.202, 0.128 and 0.069, respectively. The lowest pairwise F_ST value (0.030) was detected between Turkish Grey Steppe and Anatolian Black breeds, while the highest value (0.070) was detected between Turkish Grey Steppe and Holstein Friesian. Results of structure and factorial correspondence analysis revealed that Turkish native cattle breeds and Holstein Friesian were genetically different enough to separate the two breeds. Results of bottleneck analysis indicated heterozygosity deficiency in Turkish Grey Steppe (P < 0.05).

Balcioglu, M.S., Kizilkaya, K., Karabag, K., Alkan, S., Yolcu