In vitro and in vivo parameters for identification of landrace pigs with low reproductive performance

In pig farming, measurements of production parameters play a fundamental role in the success of the activity. Minimal differences in fertility between breeders can lead to less reproductive efficiency and, less productivity. However, assessing the fertility of each male and the early identification of subfertile males is a difficult task to be performed. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the use of in vitro and in vivo parameters in the identification of subfertile males of the Landrace breed, aiming to collaborate with genetic improvement programs, routine optimization in the Genetic Diffusion Units (GDUs) and the results of performance. In experiment 1, an approach to identify males with subfertility was evaluated based on retrospective data. For this, the results (averages of birth rates, number of total births and average percentages of female and male piglets per litter) were evaluated for a total of 996 matings and 847 parturitions. The inseminations came from ejaculates of 32 males, who had at least 19 females inseminated with homospermic doses in the concentration of 2.5 x 109 total sperm from the same male. As for the birth rate (BR), an average of 85.47% ± 6.05 was observed with a group of median males, seven males that stood out and one individual (M32) with a performance of 58.06% ± 9.0. For the total number of piglets born (PB) the average was 13.41 ± 0.56, with three males with better performance and one (M32) with very poor performance (8.62 ± 0.59). In experiment 2, it was verified whether evaluations of inseminating doses (ID) of semen in vitro (motility and sperm morphology) after 96 hours of storage had correlations with fertility in vivo, which can be used to identify subfertile males. The evaluations were performed on 30 ejaculates regarding the means of BR and PB, considering only those who had at least 7 females inseminated. There were no correlations between the motility assessments and semen morphological changes and the reproductive parameters evaluated. The results obtained in vivo, referring to BR and PB, demonstrated that it was possible to identify differences between males, the individual (M32) had the worst results for the percentages of BR and PB. It is concluded that there are males of high and low fertility and that only the in vitro analyzes carried out in this study are not enough to categorize them, however, the evaluation of retrospective data was efficient for this purpose.

Development of genomic predictions for Angus cattle in Brazil incorporating genotypes from related American sires

Genomic prediction has become the new standard for genetic improvement programs, and currently, there is a desire to implement this technology for the evaluation of Angus cattle in Brazil. Thus, the main objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of evaluating young Brazilian Angus (BA) bulls and heifers for 12 routinely recorded traits using single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) with and without genotypes from American Angus (AA) sires. The second objective was to obtain estimates of effective population size (Ne) and linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the Brazilian Angus population. The dataset contained phenotypic information for up to 277,661 animals belonging to the Promebo® breeding program, pedigree for 362,900, of which 1,386 were genotyped for 50k, 77k, and 150k SNP panels. After imputation and quality control, 61,666 SNP were available for the analyses. In addition, genotypes from 332 American Angus (AA) sires widely used in Brazil were retrieved from the AA Association database to be used for genomic predictions. Bivariate animal models were used to estimate variance components, traditional EBV, and genomic EBV (GEBV). Validation was carried out with the linear regression method (LR) using young-genotyped animals born between 2013 and 2015 without phenotypes in the reduced dataset and with records in the complete dataset. Validation animals were further split into progeny of BA and AA sires to evaluate if their progenies would benefit by including genotypes from AA sires. The Ne was 254 based on pedigree and 197 based on LD, and the average LD (±SD) and distance between adjacent SNPs across all chromosomes was 0.27 (±0.27) and 40743.68 bp, respectively. Prediction accuracies with ssGBLUP outperformed BLUP for all traits, improving accuracies by, on average, 16% for BA young bulls and heifers. The GEBV prediction accuracies ranged from 0.37 (total maternal for weaning weight and tick count) to 0.54 (yearling precocity) across all traits, and dispersion (LR coefficients) fluctuated between 0.92 and 1.06. Inclusion of genotyped sires from the AA improved GEBV accuracies by 2%, on average, compared to using only the BA reference population. Our study indicated that genomic information could help to improve GEBV accuracies and hence genetic progress in the Brazilian Angus population. The inclusion of genotypes from American Angus sires heavily used in Brazil just marginally increased the GEBV accuracies for selection candidates.

Job Satisfaction and Alcohol Consumption: Empirical Evidence from China

Despite growing attention to job satisfaction as a social determinant of alcohol-related behaviors, few studies focus on its diverse impacts on alcohol consumption. Using data from the China Family Panel Study in 2018, this study uses logistic regression analysis to examine how job satisfaction affects alcohol consumption in China, finding that people who were satisfied with their jobs were more likely to be regularly drinking. Employed people who were satisfied with their working environment and working hours were more likely to regularly drink, but those who were satisfied with their wages and working security were less likely to be regularly drinking. Findings suggest that the link between job satisfaction and alcohol consumption is dynamic. Employment policies, working wellbeing improvement programs, and alcohol policy improvement should, therefore, be designed on the basis of a comprehensive account of entire job-related attitudes.

Agroecology Is Affecting Village Chicken Producers’ Breeding Objective in Ethiopia

This study assessed factors that determine village chicken producers’ trait preferences in different agroecologies of Ethiopia. Three hundred and eighty village chicken producers were sampled for individual interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Inbreeding coefficients of chicken populations in the three major agroecologies were estimated. In addition, the multivariate regression model was employed to evaluate the degree to which agroecological difference and socioeconomic and institutional factors impact village chicken producers’ trait preferences. Egg and meat production for consumption and income generation were the three major village chicken production functions in the study. Plumage color and weight were ranked first for male and female chicken, respectively. Red plumage color (52.4%) was the primary choice followed by white color (24.5%). Agroecology and livestock holding (TLU) significantly ( P < 0.05 ) affected farmers’ preference toward economic traits, while land holding significantly ( P < 0.05 ) affected reproductive traits. Distance to market significantly ( P < 0.05 ) affected farmers’ preference toward adaptive traits. The inbreeding coefficient of 0.25, 0.23, and 0.06 was recorded in low, mid, and highland agroecologies, respectively. The agroecological difference is affecting village chicken producers’ breeding objective in Ethiopia. A higher inbreeding coefficient was observed in the low and mid agroecologies. Future breed improvement programs should give due consideration to village chicken producers’ socioeconomic characteristics and agroecological differences.

Molecular Characterization Revealed the Role of Thaumatin-Like Proteins of Bread Wheat in Stress Response

Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) are related to pathogenesis-related-5 (PR-5) family and involved in stress response. Herein, a total of 93 TLP genes were identified in the genome of Triticum aestivum. Further, we identified 26, 27, 39, and 37 TLP genes in the Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays genomes for comparative characterization, respectively. They could be grouped into small and long TLPs with conserved thaumatin signature motif. Tightly clustered genes exhibited conserved gene and protein structure. The physicochemical analyses suggested significant differences between small and long TLPs. Evolutionary analyses suggested the role of duplication events and purifying selection in the expansion of the TLP gene family. Expression analyses revealed the possible roles of TLPs in plant development and abiotic and fungal stress response. Recombinant expression of TaTLP2-B in Saccharomyces cerevisiae provided significant tolerance against cold, heat, osmotic, and salt stresses. The results depicted the importance of TLPs in cereal crops that would be highly useful in future crop improvement programs.

Exploring the Genetic Diversity among Weedy Rice Accessions Differing in Herbicide Tolerance and Allelopathic Potential

Increasing agricultural productivity is indispensable to meet future food demand. Crop improvement programs rely heavily on genetic diversity. The success of weeds in the ecosystem can be attributed to genetic diversity and plasticity. Weedy rice, a major weed of rice, has diverse morphology and phenology, implying wide genetic diversity. Study was conducted to genotype weedy rice accessions (n = 54) previously phenotyped for herbicide tolerance and allelopathic potential using 30 SSR markers. Cultivated rice (CL163, REX) and allelopathic rice (RONDO, PI312777, PI338047) were also included in the study. Nei’s genetic diversity among weedy rice (0.45) was found to be higher than cultivated rice (0.24) but less than allelopathic rice (0.56). The genetic relationship and population structure based on herbicide tolerance and allelopathic potential were evaluated. Herbicide-tolerant and susceptible accessions formed distinct clusters in the dendrogram, indicating their genetic variation, whereas no distinction was observed between allelopathic and non-allelopathic weedy rice accessions. Weedy rice accession B2, which was previously reported to have high allelopathy and herbicide tolerance, was genetically distinct from other weedy rice. Results from the study will help leverage weedy rice for rice improvement programs as both rice and weedy rice are closely related, thus having a low breeding barrier.

Phenology and fruit set of peach trees cultivated in Dois Vizinhos, Paraná State, Brazil

Understanding the dormancy phases and dynamics of commercial cultivars in the regions where they are grown allows for the implementation of different cultural practices and aids in the understanding of the temperature requirements for collaboration with genetic improvement programs. The objective of this study was to determine the budding, flowering, and fruit set rates of peach trees cultivated in the municipality of Dois Vizinhos, Southwestern Paraná, Brazil. The present work was developed using the collection of peach trees in the fruit growing sector of the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná. Sixteen peach cultivars were evaluated: Rubimel, Leonense, Coral, Marli, Charme, Riograndense, Douradão, Chimarrita, Granada, BR-1, Bonão, and Eldorado (all planted in 2009), as well as Regalo, Kampai, Fascínio, and Zilli (planted in 2014). The experimental design was completely randomized with four replications of one plant each, in a 16 × 2 bifactorial arrangement (cultivars × year/harvest). Phenology evaluations were performed weekly by counting open (anthesis) and sprouted flower buds, and the fruit set rate was measured just before fruit thinning. Flowering (%), budding (%), and fruit set (%) rates were calculated. It was found that the year/harvest 2016 promoted the highest rates of sprouting and fruit set. The Bonão cultivar showed greater flowering intensity and regularity in the crop years evaluated (2016 and 2017). Coral and Kampai present fruit sets with greater intensities and regularities when compared to the other cultivars evaluated under the climatic condition of the municipality of Dois Vizinhos. The Riograndense cultivar showed greater irregularity in flowering and fruit production.

Development and characterization of novel wheat-rye 1RS•1BL translocation lines with high resistance to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici

Wheat-rye 1RS•1BL translocations from Petkus rye have contributed substantially to wheat production worldwide with their great disease resistance and yield traits. However, the resistance genes on the 1RS chromosomes have completely lost their resistance to newly emerged pathogens. Rye could widen the variation of 1RS as a naturally cross-pollinated related species of wheat. In this study, we developed three new 1RS•1BL translocation lines by crossing rye inbred line BL1, selected from Chinese landrace rye Baili, with wheat cultivar Mianyang11. These three new translocation lines exhibited high resistance to the most virulent and frequently occurring stripe rust pathotypes and showed high resistance in the field where stripe rust outbreaks have been most severe in China. One new gene for stripe rust resistance, located on 1RS of the new translocation lines, is tentatively named YrRt1054. YrRt1054 confers resistance to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici pathotypes that are virulent toward Yr9 and YrCn17. This new resistance gene, YrRt1054, is available for wheat improvement programs. The present study indicated that rye cultivars may carry additional untapped variation as potential sources of resistance.

Factors related to productivity and persistence of lucerne (Medicago sativa) genotypes with different fall dormancy levels: a review

The lucerne productive and nutritional potential make it the most used forage legume worldwide. This wide use leads genetic improvement programs to increasingly select the main requirements for a given edaphoclimatic condition. However, in Brazil, the research on genetic improvement of lucerne has been limited over the years, which has hindered the production of this species and the domination of other legumes in animal production, as estilosantes and pigeon pea. This literature review aimed to present results from countries such as New Zealand and Australia that lead the world ranking, as weel as Argentina, in the cultivation of this crop and that can be used as showcase to understand the management of lucerne. From extensive bibliometry analyses in the period between 1963 and 2021, variables as persistence and phyllochron in these countries indicate that it is possible to produce lucerne with similar productivity, longevity and quality in Brazil. Nevertheless, to leverage this production, not only genetic improvement should be aimed, but also research and dissemination of knowledge on the ideal management of defoliation and, mainly, on the choice of the genotype and dormancy level to be cropped by the producer.