Effect of electrical stimulation and others genetic and environmental factors on colour of lamb meat

The research aimed to assess the effect of breed, sex, age at slaughter, rearing system and electrical stimulation on some colorimetric characteristics measured on the muscles Longissimus dorsi (LD), Gluteobiceps (Gb), Semimembranosus (Sm) and Rectus femoris (RF) of lambs belonging to the genetic types Gentile di Puglia (GP), Ile de France (IF) and the cross-breeds F1, F2 and F3. The IF lambs provided meat with the highest value of hue and lightness and the lowest chroma and redness. The F1 lambs showed the highest values of redness while the F2 crossbreed significantly differed from the other three genetic types only in pH, which was always the lowest. The F3 crossbreed revealed similar behaviour to the other genetic types, except for the pH which was always higher than in GP, F1 and F2. The differences between sexes were restricted to L* and pH values, being higher in the male. The lambs slaughtered at 56 days showed high a* values, while b* and hue were on average higher in younger lambs (35 days). The lambs reared with maternal milk in comparison with the artificially reared ones provided meat with the highest a* chroma and b* and the lowest hue values. Electrical stimulation of the carcass seems to have produced the same effects as the usual ageing time in cold store. The RF muscle provided the brightest meat; Sm showed the highest values of b* and chroma; LD provided the “darkest” meat and the lowest values of b* and hue; Gb produced a lower a* value than muscles LD, RF and Sm

Sequential GTG-RBA banding pattern in prometaphase chromosomes of cattle (Bos taurus L)

International audienc

An application of the integrative method for extending part lactation milk record in Mediterranean Italian buffalo reared in Caserta province

This study was performed on 21,622 lactation of Mediterranean Italian dairy buffalo recorded by AIA with ICAR standard from 1992 to 1996 in Caserta province. The extending of lactation was performed using integrative methods (Pilla et al., 1979), taking into account the effect of lactation number per day, calving order and month of calving. The results showed that the obtained coefficient was able to extending the lactation at 270 days with good approximation also beginning from a part –lactation of 90 days. In this case, the correlation coefficient between real and estimate milk yield varied from 0.91 to 0.93 in the considered groups. Moreover, the percentage of difference between real and estimated average milk yield is not over 5%

A melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene polymorphism is useful for authentication of Massese sheep dairy products

Massese is an Italian sheep breed, with black or grey coat colour, mainly reared in the Tuscany and Emilia Romagna regions. Recently, the emerging interests in this breed have resulted in the production of Pecorino cheese obtained with only Massese milk. In order to be profitable, this marketing link between Massese breed and its products should be defended against fraudsters who could include milk of other sheep breeds or cow milk in Massese labelled productions. To identify the genetic factors affecting coat colour in sheep, we have recently analysed the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene and identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In this work, as a first step to set up a DNA based protocol for authentication of Massese dairy products, we further investigated the presence and distribution of one of these SNPs (c.-31G>A) in 143 Massese sheep and in another 13 sheep breeds (for a total of 351 animals). The Massese breed was fixed for allele c.-31A, whereas in all other breeds allele c.-31 G was the most frequent or with frequency of 0\ub750. At the same nucleotide position the cattle MC1R gene carries the G nucleotide. Using these data we developed a method to detect adulterating milk (from other sheep breeds or from cow) in Massese dairy products based on the analysis of the c.-31G>A SNP. We first tested the sensitivity of the protocol and then applied it to analyse DNA extracted from ricotta and Pecorino cheese obtained with only Massese milk or obtained with unrestricted sheep and cattle milk. To our knowledge, this system represents the first one that can be used for breed authentication of a sheep production and that, at the same time, can reveal frauds derived from the admixture of milk of an unreported species

Protein polymorphisms and coagulation properties of Cilentana goat milk

The study was carried out on 86 ‘Cilentana’ goats, distributed in four herds. Milk samples were collected during morning and evening milking, and pH, dry matter, fat, protein and lactose percentage as well as the lactodynamometric profile were detected to determine enzymatic phase duration, coagulation speed and curd consistency. Polymorphism of the s1-casein protein was detected. Four alleles (designated A, B, E and F) and nine genotypes were detected. The association of these nine genotypes with chemical composition and lactodynamometric characteristics was investigated. The BF genotype was the most frequent (35.5 %), followed by EE (15.1 %) and AF and BB (10.4%). The F allele showed the highest frequency and it negatively influenced cheesemaking as it was associated with a low s1-casein content. Goats with the AB genotype produced milk with higher dry matter, protein and fat content compared with the FF genotype. Moreover, milk from the AB genotype has a lower enzymatic phase duration and a higher coagulation speed than the BB genotype. Curd consistency is higher for milk from the AA genotype, when compared with the EF genotype. All the chemical and lactodynamometric characteristics varied with herd and months of control; furthermore, the milk obtained from morning milking showed better coagulation properties

Constitutive heterochromatin distribution in pig (Sus scrofa) chromosomes

Summary Constitutive heterochromatin (HC = C-banding) distribution was studied in pig (Sus 5crofa) chromosomes from 20 animals belonging to Cinta Senese and Calabrese breeds raised in southern Italy. The use of CBG-banding, sequential GBG/CBA-banding and sequential GBGA/g- NOR/CBA-banding techniques allowed more detailed characterization of C-banding patterns in pig chromosomes (SSC). The following features were noticed: (a) all autosomes and the X-chromosome showed centromeric C-positive bands; (b) the entire q-arm and proximal part of the p-arm y chromosome were C-positive: (c) clear interstitial C-positive bands were noticed in SSC1q17, SSC3p14 and SSC16q21; (d) the nucleolus organizer (NO) chromosome 10 showed two distinct HC-blocks very far apart in both arms with large, polymorphic (different size) NORs between the chromosome pair, while NO-chromosome 8 showed only one C-positive band (the smallest) in the q-arms; (e) C-band polymorphism was observed between and within chromosome pairs also in relat..

A first comparative map of copy number variations in the sheep genome

We carried out a cross species cattle–sheep array comparative genome hybridization experiment to identify copy number variations (CNVs) in the sheep genome analysing ewes of Italian dairy or dual-purpose breeds (Bagnolese, Comisana, Laticauda, Massese, Sarda, and Valle del Belice) using a tiling oligonucleotide array with ~385,000 probes designed on the bovine genome. We identified 135 CNV regions (CNVRs; 24 reported in more than one animal) covering ~10.5 Mb of the virtual sheep genome referred to the bovine genome (0.398%) with a mean and a median equal to 77.6 and 55.9 kb, respectively. A comparative analysis between the identified sheep CNVRs and those reported in cattle and goat genomes indicated that overlaps between sheep and both other species CNVRs are highly significant (Pb0.0001), suggesting that several chromosome regions might contain recurrent interspecies CNVRs. Many sheep CNVRs include genes with important biological functions. Further studies are needed to evaluate their functional relevance