Breeding for robustness in cattle

Breeding for robustness in cattle PDF Author: Marija Klopcic
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9086866573
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The past decade has revealed unfavourable trends in e.g. fertility, udder health and locomotion in some major dairy cattle breeds due to a large increase in production and insufficient consideration of functional traits in the breeding goals. Such unfavourable trends in some functional traits increase costs. Additionally, the enlargement of herds leads to less available labour time per individual cow. This asks for cows that are easy to handle. At the same time, society is demanding a higher welfare standard of animals. These contradicting developments have increased the desire for so called more robust animals. Robustness can be defined as 'the ability to maintain homeostasis in commonly accepted and sustainable herds of the near future'; or 'the ability of the cow to function well in the environment she lives in as well as in a wide range of climates and production systems'. This book contains a series of articles (26) dealing with the concept of robustness, including aspects like evolution, genetics, environment, animal health and welfare, and integrity. Besides the major functional traits also the links to energy balance, hot climatic conditions, and the attitude and input of stakeholders towards robustness as part of the breeding program are discussed. This book is the first attempt to summarise the available knowledge concerning this topic in cattle, making this book unique. The contributions are from authors of 16 countries from all over the world. However, the focus is presently on farm animal level, while in future robustness of the whole production system may also require additional attention.

Breeding for robustness in cattle

Breeding for robustness in cattle PDF Author: Marija Klopcic
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9086866573
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
The past decade has revealed unfavourable trends in e.g. fertility, udder health and locomotion in some major dairy cattle breeds due to a large increase in production and insufficient consideration of functional traits in the breeding goals. Such unfavourable trends in some functional traits increase costs. Additionally, the enlargement of herds leads to less available labour time per individual cow. This asks for cows that are easy to handle. At the same time, society is demanding a higher welfare standard of animals. These contradicting developments have increased the desire for so called more robust animals. Robustness can be defined as 'the ability to maintain homeostasis in commonly accepted and sustainable herds of the near future'; or 'the ability of the cow to function well in the environment she lives in as well as in a wide range of climates and production systems'. This book contains a series of articles (26) dealing with the concept of robustness, including aspects like evolution, genetics, environment, animal health and welfare, and integrity. Besides the major functional traits also the links to energy balance, hot climatic conditions, and the attitude and input of stakeholders towards robustness as part of the breeding program are discussed. This book is the first attempt to summarise the available knowledge concerning this topic in cattle, making this book unique. The contributions are from authors of 16 countries from all over the world. However, the focus is presently on farm animal level, while in future robustness of the whole production system may also require additional attention.

Breeding for Robustness in Cattle

Breeding for Robustness in Cattle PDF Author: Marija Klopčič
Publisher: Brill Wageningen Academic
ISBN: 9789086860845
Category : Cattle
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The past decade has revealed unfavourable trends in e.g. fertility, udder health and locomotion in some major dairy cattle breeds due to a large increase in production and insufficient consideration of functional traits in the breeding goals. Such unfavourable trends in some functional traits increase costs. Additionally, the enlargement of herds leads to less available labour time per individual cow. This asks for cows that are easy to handle. At the same time, society is demanding a higher welfare standard of animals. These contradicting developments have increased the desire for so called more robust animals. Robustness can be defined as 'the ability to maintain homeostasis in commonly accepted and sustainable herds of the near future'; or 'the ability of the cow to function well in the environment she lives in as well as in a wide range of climates and production systems'. This book contains a series of articles (26) dealing with the concept of robustness, including aspects like evolution, genetics, environment, animal health and welfare, and integrity. Besides the major functional traits also the links to energy balance, hot climatic conditions, and the attitude and input of stakeholders towards robustness as part of the breeding program are discussed. This book is the first attempt to summarise the available knowledge concerning this topic in cattle, making this book unique. The contributions are from authors of 16 countries from all over the world. However, the focus is presently on farm animal level, while in future robustness of the whole production system may also require additional attention.

Resource Allocation Theory Applied to Farm Animal Production

Resource Allocation Theory Applied to Farm Animal Production PDF Author: Wendy M. Rauw
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 184593394X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
This book is about resource allocation matters with the aim to further development thoughts and models on resource allocation applied to livestock production. It contains 18 chapters divided into 4 parts which discuss resources and resource allocation patterns, trade-offs, metabolic constraints to resource allocation and the process of homeorhesis with a special emphasis to homeorhesis during heat stress; the relationship between food intake and resources allocated to body maintenance, growth, reproduction and the immune response; the consequences of high production efficiency in pigs, poultry and dairy cattle and the consequences of improved production by means of biological engineering and options to include resource allocation matters in the breeding objective, animal welfare and in resource allocation modelling.

Problems of Evolution

Problems of Evolution PDF Author: G. F. Gauze
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Evolution
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


Regulation of Feed Intake

Regulation of Feed Intake PDF Author: Daan Heide
Publisher: Cabi
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Natural feeding, feeding modes, preferences and behaviour; Physiological regulation of feed intake: genetic, metabolic, hormonal and neural regulations; Environmental factors and feed intake: feeding behaviour, feed choice and feeding habits.

Livestock Production and Climate Change

Livestock Production and Climate Change PDF Author: Pradeep K Malik
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 1780644329
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
In a changing climate, livestock production is expected to exhibit dual roles of mitigation and adaptation in order to meet the challenge of food security. This book approaches the issues of livestock production and climate change through three sections: I. Livestock production, II. Climate change and, III. Enteric methane amelioration. Section I addresses issues of feed quality and availability, abiotic stress (heat and nutritional) and strategies for alleviation, livestock generated nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and approaches for harnessing the complex gut microbial diversity. Section II discusses the effects of climate change on livestock diversity, farm animal reproduction, impact of meat production on climate change, and emphasising the role of indigenous livestock in climatic change to sustain production. Section III deals with the most recent approaches to amelioration of livestock methane such as breeding for low methane emissions, reductive acetogenesis, immunization/vaccine-based concepts and archaea phage therapy.

Adaptation and Fitness in Animal Populations

Adaptation and Fitness in Animal Populations PDF Author: Julius van der Werf
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402090056
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Fitness and adaptation are fundamental characteristics of plant and animal species, enabling them to survive in their environment and to adapt to the inevitable changes in this environment. This is true for both the genetic resources of natural ecosystems as well as those used in agricultural production. Extensive genetic variation exists between varieties/breeds in a species and amongst individuals within breeds. This variation has developed over very long periods of time. A major ongoing challenge is how to best utilize this variation to meet short-term demands whilst also conserving it for longer-term possible use. Many animal breeding programs have led to increased performance for production traits but this has often been accompanied by reduced fitness. In addition, the global use of genetic resources prompts the question whether introduced genotypes are adapted to local production systems. Understanding the genetic nature of fitness and adaptation will enable us to better manage genetic resources allowing us to make efficient and sustainable decisions for the improvement or breeding of these resources. This book had an ambitious goal in bringing together a sample of the world’s leading scientists in animal breeding and evolutionary genetics to exchange knowledge to advance our understanding of these vital issues.

Breeding for Disease Resistance in Farm Animals

Breeding for Disease Resistance in Farm Animals PDF Author: Stephen C. Bishop
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 1845935551
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Addressing principles associated with breeding animals for enhanced health and resistance to specific diseases, this book provides a review of the field illustrated with examples covering many diseases of importance to livestock production, across all major livestock species. Authored by experts in the field, this updated edition covers techniques and approaches, viruses, TSEs, bacteria, parasites, vectors, and broader health issues seen in production systems, including metabolic diseases. The book will be an essential reference for professionals in the field, scientists and researchers, students, breeders, veterinarians, agricultural advisors and policy makers.

Mastitis in dairy production

Mastitis in dairy production PDF Author: H. Hogeveen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 908686550X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 744

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Book Description
Worldwide, mastitis is still one of the most important diseases in the dairy sector. Being a multifactorial disease, caused by multiple pathogens, control remains a difficult issue. Mastitis not only affects the health of milk-producing animals, having consequences for the profitability of dairy farms, it also affects the animal welfare. Moreover, mastitis negatively influences the milk quality having consequences for the dairy processing industry. In other words: mastitis affects a large part of the dairy production chain. Due to ongoing scientific effort, insight in mastitis in the context of increasingly complex farming systems, is improving. This insight leads to better methods to control mastitis, either by prevention or by adequate measures (e.g. therapy) when a cow (or goat or sheep) gets mastitis. This book reflects the current knowledge from all over the world on mastitis as it was presented during the 4th IDF International Mastitis Conference, held in June 2005 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The papers of the 115 oral presentations and the 13 keynote presentations are reflecting not only the current knowledge of mastitis control but are also giving ideas for future solutions for control measures.

Biological Robustness

Biological Robustness PDF Author: Marta Bertolaso
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030011984
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
This volume reviews examples and notions of robustness at several levels of biological organization. It tackles many philosophical and conceptual issues and casts an outlook on the future challenges of robustness studies in the context of a practice-oriented philosophy of science. The focus of discussion is on concrete case studies. These highlight the necessity of a level-dependent description of robust biological behaviors.Experts from the neurosciences, biochemistry, ecology, biology, and the history and the philosophy of life sciences provide a multiplex perspective on the topic. Contributions span from protein folding, to cell-level robustness, to organismal and developmental robustness, to sensorimotor systems, up to the robustness of ecological systems.Several chapters detail neurobiological case-studies. The brain, the poster child of plasticity in biology, offers multiple examples of robustness. Neurobiology explores the importance of temporal organization and multiscalarity in making this robustness-with-plasticity possible. The discussion also includes structures well beyond the brain, such as muscles and the complex feedback loops involved in the peculiar robustness of music perception. Overall, the volume grounds general reflections upon concrete case studies, opening to all the life sciences but also to non-biological and bio-inspired fields such as post-modern engineering. It will appeal to researchers, students, as well as non-expert readers.