Zsolt Matics

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Publications - 7

Eimeria Oocysts and Passalurus ambiguus Infection of Farmed Rabbits Depending on the Age

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Zoltán Német Erika Lencsés-Varga Boróka Bárdos Csongor Demeter Anett Demeter-Jeremiás Róbert Juráskó András Mayer

Publication Name: Journal of Animal Health and Production

Publication Date: 2025-03-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 1

Page Range: 178-184

Description:

The aim of the study was to investigate the Eimeria spp. and Passalurus ambiguus infections of rabbits by day of life. From 2018 to 2024, pooled faecal samples were collected from 29 Hungarian and 2 Slovakian rabbit farms. Low level of Eimeria oocysts infection was observed during lactation. In the week following the weaning the proportion of positive samples increased. Between day 43 and slaughter age, the proportion of positive samples was consistently high. The average OPG values (number of Eimeria oocysts per gram faeces), never reached 5,000 during the lactation period, but a critical period started at 42 days of age, with average OPG values above 10,000 in several cases. High number of oocysts were observed until the end of fattening period. The exponential smoothing model estimated the onset of Eimeria infection at 38-40 days of age (p=0.023). The proportion of P. ambiguus eggs positive samples reached 50% already in the lactation period. From day 29 to slaughter age, a relatively low rate of infected samples was detected. For P. ambiguus, the model estimated 7 days of age as the increase (p=0.001) of infection. It can be concluded that P. ambiguus eggs and Eimeria oocysts can be detected in the faeces of rabbits during their whole life cycle. During the fattening period (5-11 weeks of age), the Eimeria infection is on high level while the P. ambiguus infection is in low level.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.17582/journal.jahp/2025/13.1.178.184

Effect of heat stress on meat quality of growing rabbits divergently selected for body fat content

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Marco Cullere Antonella Dalle Zotte E. Pontalti Zsolt Szendrő

Publication Name: Italian Journal of Animal Science

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 24

Issue: 1

Page Range: 13-24

Description:

High ambient temperature represents an increasingly frequent challenge for animal farming, especially for those animal species more susceptible to heat stress (HS), like the rabbit. The present research studied the impact of different ambient temperatures (T: 20 °C—Control vs. 28 °C—High) on the meat quality of two rabbit lines (L: Fat line, Lean line) obtained after 5 generations of divergent selection for total body fat content. After slaughter, the ground meat of 60 carcases (15 rabbits/treatment) was used for physicochemical and sensory quality evaluation. Overall, high T affected hind leg weight (p < 0.001), pHu (p = 0.001), and oxidative status (p = 0.004) during a shelf-life trial. High T increased meat haem-iron (p < 0.001), decreased lipids (p < 0.001), MUFA (p < 0.001), and PUFA classes (p < 0.001), and consequently, increased water content (p < 0.001). Regarding L effect, Fat line was richer in lipids (p < 0.001) and ash (p = 0.008), but less rich in water (p < 0.001) than Lean line. The content of all fatty acid (FA) classes was therefore significantly higher in Fat line meat (p < 0.001). It can be concluded that the two genotypes differed for proximate composition, haem-iron, FA, and amino acid profiles of carcase meat. High T increased meat pHu, water, haem-iron, and reduced polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) amount. At high T the meat of the Fat line showed higher TBARS, whereas Lean line had higher lysine content. Sensory analysis revealed that high T improved tenderness and extinguished onion off-flavour.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1080/1828051X.2024.2438840

Study on Adult Chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) Preferences for Cages of Different Sizes

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Stanisław Łapiński Zsolt Szendrő

Publication Name: Animals

Publication Date: 2024-12-01

Volume: 14

Issue: 23

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The study aimed to investigate adult chinchillas’ preferences when choosing between cages with different floor areas, heights, or both. The size of the cages with a larger floor area was double that of the standard-sized cages in the farms (0.25 and 0.50 m2), while their height was 2.4 times that of the standard-sized cages (0.4 and 1 m). The chinchillas (10–14 in each cohort) were housed in blocks of cages where they could move freely between the smaller and larger cages. The chinchillas’ location preferences were monitored continuously over five days using infrared video recording. The chinchillas were observed in the cages with smaller floor areas 1.9 and 2.7 times more frequently than in the larger ones (p < 0.001) during the dark (active) and light (resting) periods of the day, respectively. When the cage height was 0.4 m, they chose it 3.4 and 6.7 times more frequently, respectively, than the cage that was 1 m high (p < 0.001). When both the floor size and the height were increased, the chinchillas still favored the smaller and lower cages (p < 0.001). The study findings suggest that adult chinchillas show a preference for smaller and shorter cages when the small and large cages are not environment enrichment barren, especially during the rest period of the day, even when the floor area, height, or both are increased. In the future, it would be important to investigate different forms of cage enrichment.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/ani14233368

Pedigree-Based Description of Danubia Alba Rabbit Breed Lines

János Posta Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Zoltán Német Csongor Demeter Máté Sándor

Publication Name: Animals

Publication Date: 2024-09-01

Volume: 14

Issue: 18

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The diversity of livestock animal breeds is an integral part of global biodiversity and requires careful management for sustainability and future availability. Avoiding inbreeding is a crucial aspect of mating of breeding animals. Our aims were to describe the quality of the pedigree, generation interval, gene origin, inbreeding, and effective population size of Danubia Alba rabbit lines. Line “D” is the maternal, whereas lines “C” and “X” are used as the paternal lines. The pedigree information was followed back from the actual breeding rabbits up to the founder animals. The rabbits having offspring in 2023 were chosen as reference populations for each line. The complete generation equivalent (GenCom) was 17.68 for line “C”, 18.32 for line “D”, and 17.49 for line “X”, respectively. The maximum number of generations (GenMax) was above 30 for each line. The estimated bottleneck effect is mostly the result of selection and not a real genetic loss. The Wright inbreeding coefficient (F_Wright) was the highest for the “X” line rabbits, whereas it was the lowest for the line “D”. Kalinowski’s decomposition of inbreeding showed that it originated mostly from the past; the current fixation of alleles was quite similar for the line “C” and “D”. Based on the predicted effective population sizes, it seems that there is no problem in maintaining of Danubia Alba lines.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/ani14182740

Effect of dietary butyrate supplementation on the production performance and parasitology of growing rabbits

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Zoltán Német Balázs Húth Csongor Demeter Anett Demeter-Jeremiás Róbert Juráskó Máté Sándor András Mayer

Publication Name: Bio Web of Conferences

Publication Date: 2024-08-23

Volume: 125

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The effect of a dietary butyrate supplementation on the production of fattening rabbits was examined. The control group (n=70 rabbits) was fed with granulated diet whereas the diet of butyrate group (n=70 rabbit) was supplemented with 0.2% of butyrate. The mortality rate was examined on a larger population (n=1050 rabbits/group). Butyrate group had lower weight gain at the ages of 46-52 and 60-66 days (-20 and - 17 %, respectively; P>0.001) but higher weight gain at 53-59 days of age (+13%; P<0.05). Butyrate group consumed less feed than the control group between 38-45, 46-52 and 60-66 days (-2.4%, P<0.001; -5.7%, P<0.01; - 4.9%, P<0.05, respectively). The feed conversion ratio of the butyrate group was worse between 46-52 days of age (+19%; P<0.01) but favourable at the ages of 53-59 and 67-73 days (-15% and -9%, respectively; P<0.05). Concerning the whole fattening period the weight gain, the feed intake and the feed conversion ratio of the groups did not differ. In the larger examined population, 4.0% and 6.3 % mortality was observed in the control and butyrate groups, respectively. The parasitological tests resulted only negative samples independently of groups. It can be concluded that dietary butyrate supplementation has not improved the performance of the growing rabbits.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1051/bioconf/202412502006

Effects of Enclosure Size on the Preferences of Juvenile Chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera)

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Stanisław Łapiński Zsolt Szendrő

Publication Name: Animals

Publication Date: 2025-09-01

Volume: 15

Issue: 17

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This study investigated the cage size preferences of juvenile chinchillas using enclosures that allowed free choice between different dimensions. Three comparisons were tested: (1) small floor area (0.15 m2) vs. double floor area (0.30 m2) at constant height; (2) low height (0.4 m) vs. high height (1.0 m) at constant floor area (0.15 m2); and (3) small–low cage (0.15 m2 × 0.4 m) vs. large–high cage (0.30 m2 × 1.0 m). The juveniles consistently preferred the smaller or lower enclosures across all trials. In the floor area tests, chinchillas spent about 66–75% of their time in the small cage compartments (p < 0.001). In the height comparison, the low cage was preferred by 70% (p < 0.001). When both floor area and height were increased, the small–low cage was preferred by 79% (p < 0.001). Differences in preference were most evident during the daytime period. At night, however, cage utilization was more even. These results indicate that young chinchillas strongly prefer smaller, lower spaces. Based on these preference tests alone, simply providing larger cages (without other modifications) did not result in greater use by juvenile chinchillas. These unexpected results suggest that factors such as safety or familiarity drive juveniles to choose smaller enclosures. Further research is needed to clarify the motivation behind these preferences and to determine how best to incorporate them into improved welfare-oriented housing designs.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/ani15172483

Effect of heat stress and feed restriction on performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of growing rabbits

Zsolt Gerencsér Zsolt Matics Marco Cullere Antonella Dalle Zotte Bianca Palumbo E. Pontalti Zsolt Szendrő

Publication Name: Livestock Science

Publication Date: 2025-12-01

Volume: 302

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The effects of heat stress and feed restriction were evaluated on a total of 180 weaned rabbits divided into three experimental groups (60 animals/group): 2 groups were fed ad libitum and reared under different temperatures (20 °C – 20AD and 30 °C – 30AD), while a third group was housed under controlled temperature (20 °C) but pair-fed to 30AD rabbits, thus feed restricted (20FR). During the trial, both 30AD and 20FR groups exhibited reduced growth performance, including body weight and daily weight gain (both, P < 0.001), although feed conversion ratio improved (P = 0.016). The reference carcasses of 20FR and 30AD rabbits were lighter and leaner (both, P < 0.001) than that of 20AD rabbits, while the slaughter yield decreased only in 20FR rabbits (P = 0.001). Regarding meat physical traits, 20FR rabbits exhibited the highest pHu (P < 0.001) and the lowest total losses (P < 0.001), whereas the meat-to-bone ratio decreased in both 20FR and 30AD groups (P = 0.007). As for meat proximate composition, protein and lipid contents were lower (P = 0.008 and P = 0.0002, respectively) in 20FR and 30AD rabbits, while water content was greater (P < 0.001) compared to 20AD rabbits. At the lipid level, higher TBARS (P = 0.001) were found in both 20FR and 30AD groups. The 20FR and 30AD groups showed some differences in their carcass and meat quality traits, however the majority of changes induced by chronic heat stress were mostly attributed to the reduced feed intake.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2025.105836