Características de la cabaña de bovino de cría en las comarcas catalanas de montaña

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Feeding entrainment of locomotor activity rhythms, digestive enzymes and neuroendocrine factors in goldfish

©2007. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Accepted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of PHYSIOL BEHAV. To access the final edited and published work see http://doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.10.017L.M. VERA, N. DE PEDRO, E. GÓMEZ-MILÁN, M.J. DELGADO, M.J. SÁNCHEZ MUROS, J.A. MADRID, F.J. SÁNCHEZ-VÁZQUEZ. Feeding entrainment of locomotor activity, digestive enzymes and neuroendocrine factors in goldfish. PHYSIOL BEHAV 90 (2-3) 518-524, 2007. The existence of food anticipatory activity (FAA) in animals subjected to daily feeding schedules seems to be mediated by a feeding-entrainable oscillator (FEO). Such an FEO may help in anticipating meal time and so optimizing food acquisition and nutrient utilization. In this study we investigated the existence of FAA and whether digestive enzymes, plasma cortisol, hypothalamic NPY and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and plasma melatonin were entrained by periodic feeding in goldfish. We observed that periodically fed goldfish showed FAA in locomotor activity as well as in amylase and NPY. Alkaline protease and GIT melatonin were higher after feeding, whereas plasma cortisol levels were reduced. Plasma melatonin remained unmodified before and after meal time. These results suggested that scheduled feeding entrained both behavioral and certain physiological patterns in goldfish, FAA being of adaptive value to anticipate a meal and prepare the digestive physiology of fish

Predisposición a seleccionar animales tolerantes al calor en la ganadería lechera

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Are farmers motivated to select for heat tolerance? Linking attitudinal factor, perceived climate change impact and social trust to farmers breeding desires

This study provides an understanding of dairy farmers' willingness to include heat tolerance in the breeding goals and the modulating effect of socio-psychological factors and farm profile. A survey instrument including a choice experiment was designed to specifically address the trade-off between heat tolerance and milk production level. One hundred and 22 farmers, across cattle, goats and sheep farms were surveyed face-to-face. The results of the experiment show that most farmers perceive that heat stress and climate change are increasingly important problems, and that farming communities should invest more in generating knowledge and resources on mitigation strategies. However, we found limited initial support for selection for heat tolerance. This attitude changed when farmers were presented with objective information on the benefits and limitations of the different breeding choices, after which most farmers supported selection for heat tolerance but only if compromising milk production gains to a small extent. Our results show that farmers' selection choices are driven by the interactions between heat stress risk perception, attitudes toward breeding tools, social trust, the species reared and farm production level. In general, farmers willing to support selection of heat-tolerant animals are those with positive attitudes toward genetic values and genomic information and a strong perception of climate change and heat stress impact on farm. On the contrary, negative support for selection for heat tolerance is found among farmers with high milk production levels, high trust in farming magazines, livestock farmers associations, and veterinarians, and low trust in environmental and animalist groups.Esta investigación ha sido financiada por la subvención RTA2015-00035 del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España.heat stressattitudesselectionbreeding toolsIn pres

Características de la cabaña de bovino de cría en las comarcas catalanas de montaña

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Economic weights for traits of economic interest in dairy sheep breeding programs under the context of climate change

Developing a breeding strategy involves the definition of a breeding objective and the estimation of economic weights of the traits that conform to the breeding objective. Climate change (CC) impacts production systems in many ways; on one side CC currently affects individual performances but also it creates a lot of uncertainty about future climatic and economic scenarios. This work aimed at estimating the economic weights of main traits of economic interest for dairy sheep breeding programs under different climatic scenarios. A deterministic bioeco- nomic model was developed to estimate the profit of a typical local sheep production system and derive economic values under some future breeding scenarios. Economic values of 0.96 €/l; 17.5€/%; and 18.5 €/% per ewe for milk yield and fat and protein contents, respectively, were obtained for the current scenario. Decays in production due to more frequent exposure to high temperatures in the mid-term were estimated at 0.5 to 1,5%, which would result in a reduction in the economic value of 1.24, 2.08 and 1.76% for milk yield and fat and protein contents, respectively, and this reduction could exceed 10% under worse scenarios. Consequently, it is crucial to assess potential economic losses in future CC scenarios and estimate the economic value of each breeding objective component. This approach is vital for adapting breeding strategies to forthcoming climatic scenarios, by putting emphasis on traits related to adaptation over those solely focused on production.Publishe

Socio-economic drivers of farmer participation in livestock breeding for heat tolerance

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