Relationship between milk composition estimated from mid infrared and methane emissions in dairy cows

Scientific conference (2012, December 03)

N/A

Estimation of Myostatin gene effects on production traits and fatty acid contents in bovine milk

in Book of Abstracts of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (2012, August)

Rapport d'activités final du premier mandat (du 1er janvier 2010 au 31 décembre 2011) : DairySNP, Etude de la variabilité génomique des bovins laitiers et mixtes en vue de mieux connaître leur biodiversité et d'initier une sélection génomique au sein de ces races

Report (2012)

Influence de l'apport de différentes sources lipidiques en fin de gestation sur les résultats techniques des truies allaitantes et de leurs porcelets

in IFIP; INRA (Eds.) 44èmes journées de la Recherche Porcine (2012, February 08)

From day 103 in gestation until farrowing, 4 successive groups of 15 sows received 70 g per day of one of the 3 following oils: 1) coconut oil (CO); 2) fish oil (FO) and 3) shark liver oil (SO). At day ... [more ▼]

From day 103 in gestation until farrowing, 4 successive groups of 15 sows received 70 g per day of one of the 3 following oils: 1) coconut oil (CO); 2) fish oil (FO) and 3) shark liver oil (SO). At day 102 of gestation, at farrowing and at weaning, backfat thickness of the sows was determined. The total number of piglets, the number of piglets born alive, stillborn and dead during the suckling period and the duration of gestation were measured. At birth as well as 24 hours, 14 days and 28 days (weaning) later, the piglets were weighed individually. Colostrum samples were collected at farrowing and 24 hours later for the determination of IgG and IgA contents and the fatty acid profile. Neither performance parameters of the sows nor IgG and IgA concentrations in colostrum were affected by the different dietary treatments. This was probably due to the short duration of trial period in which the oil supplements were administered. However, the colostral fatty acid profiles reflected very well the profiles of the supplemented oils. Furthermore, the different treatments affected the growth performances of the piglets. At weaning, the piglets from the FO treatment were respectively 263 and 329 g heavier than the piglets from the SO and CO treatments (P < 0.05). This corresponded to 4.2 % and 5.8 % increase of the ADG in comparison to the SO and CO treatments, respectively. These results show the importance of the fatty acid composition in colostrum on the performances of piglets and consequently the importance of the feeding of sows at the end of gestation. [less ▲]

Is there value in maintaining small populations ? Example of the Dual-Purpose Belgian Blue breed.

Conference (2011, July 13)

Current status of thinking on genomic selection in dairy cattle is mostly major breed centric (e.g., Holstein) and only for traditional traits (e.g., milk yields). Once you depart from this, it becomes ... [more ▼]

Current status of thinking on genomic selection in dairy cattle is mostly major breed centric (e.g., Holstein) and only for traditional traits (e.g., milk yields). Once you depart from this, it becomes obvious that different, often related, issues appear (e.g., lack of large training populations, need for expensive recording of new phenotypes). Also, there is an urgent need to rethink issues that are important for sustainability of dairy production (e.g., added value foods, animal robustness). In this context, small populations (breeds/lines) could represent a potential source of extra information to justify their maintenance. As marker densities increase, efficient dissection of different selection histories of divergent breeds or lines, potentially identifying pockets of unexploited variability will increase. A current example from the Belgian (Walloon) perspective is the Dual Purpose (DP) line of the Belgian Blue Breed (BBB), with presently around 4500 breeding females, for historical reason of which only 1500 have good pedigrees, and which is present in Belgium and northern France. Recent research, done on this line, showed its tendency to produce less saturated milk fat and to have better fertility. Results indicated that it could stay competitive in specific markets, especially because of largely increased meat value. Currently, the myostatin mutation is largely used for breeding purposes. To assess the genetic diversity of the breed, recently, over 200 genotypes (SNP50K) for nearly all breeding bulls of the last 20 years became available. HD genotypes should be available in the near future, also allowing to access selection history of this breed as being in between the 2 extreme breeds: Beef BBB (with which it shares a recent history) and Holstein-Friesian (which is related through its geographic proximity over centuries). Finally, genomic selection for DP-BBB will need to consider a single step type approach without the need of reference population and potentially relying heavily on SNP3K of cows, also with the objective to recreate relationships between animals of interest. [less ▲]