Genetic parameters for Kleiber ratio and its relation to other body weight traits in Nilagiri and Sandyno sheep

Kleiber ratio (KR) is an indicator of growth efficiency irrespective of body size. The trait was recommended as an efficient indirect selection criterion. The present study was done to estimate genetic parameters for KR and explore the possibility of its use as a selection criterion in Nilagiri and Sandyno sheep. KR for the pre-weaning (birth to 3-months) and post-weaning (3– 6, 6–9, 9–12 and 3–12 months) periods was studied. Pre-weaning KR was much higher than post-weaning KR in both the breeds. The mean pre-weaning KR for Nilagiri and Sandyno sheep was 14.37 and 14.52, respectively. All the post-weaning KR values were less than six. Animal model including or ignoring maternal effects was used to obtain REML estimates of (co)variances. The best model was chosen based on log-likelihood ratio test. Maternal effects and inbreeding were not significant for KR at any of the age intervals. Moderate estimates of heritability were obtained for pre-weaning KR in both the breeds. Among the post-weaning KR, the age interval from 3–6 months and 3–12 months showed moderate values in Nilagiri sheep. Post-weaning KR for Sandyno sheep showed negligible to low heritability estimates. The maximum heritability of 0.143 was for KR 3–6 months in Nilagiri sheep. In Nilagiri sheep, genetic correlation between pre-weaning KR and body weight traits ranged from 0.634 to 0.875. Similarly, in Sandyno sheep, the values ranged from 0.883 to 0.959. Thus pre-weaning KR could be used as a criterion for indirect selection to improve important body weight traits

Genetic characterization of Barbari goats using microsatellite markers

Genetic variation in Barbari goats, a highly prolific breed distributed widely in the northern part of India, known for better milk and meat quality, was studied as a part of genetic characterization and conservation. The genomic DNA from 50 unrelated Barbari goats were amplified via PCR with a panel of 21 microsatellite markers, and resolved through 6 per cent denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by silver staining. The number of alleles ranged from 4 to 11, with allele sizes ranging from 88 to 220 bp. The distribution of allele frequencies was between 0.0104 and 0.5208. Polymorphism information content varied from 0.5563 to 0.8348. The population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for all except two microsatellite loci (ILSTS044 and ILSTS060). The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.8478 to 1.0000 while the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.6208 to 0.8509. Based on the results of the present study, there is a good scope for exploiting the genetic variability in the Barbari goats for further improvement of performance

Evaluation of genetic diversity in Mecheri sheep (Ovis aries) of Tamil Nadu using microsatellite markers

401-403Evaluation of genetic variation was carried out using microsatellite markers in 48 Mecheri sheep of Tamil Nadu as a part of genetic characterisation and conservation. The number of observed alleles ranged from 3 to 8 with a mean of 5 across all loci. The size of alleles ranged from 74 to 224 bp. The frequency of alleles ranged from 0.0208 to 0.6250. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values varied from 0.52 to 0.79 with a mean of 0.66. The population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The overall mean expected heterozygosity was 0.71. The inbreeding estimate within-population was 0.004, indicating excess of heterozygotes in the population of Mecheri sheep. The panel of microsatellites used was highly informative for molecular characterisation and could be used for exploitation of genetic diversity of the related breeds for conservation

Genetic diversity and bottleneck analysis of Kilakarsal sheep by microsatellite markers

52-55The genetic diversity in the Kilakarsal sheep population was analysed using 25 microsatellite markers by multiplex PCR in five panels and automated DNA sequencer. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 13 with a mean of 7.6 across loci. The mean effective number of alleles was 3.88. The size and frequencies of the alleles ranged from 80 to 278 bp and from 0.0100 to 0.8000, respectively. The PIC values varied from 0.591 to 0.917 with a mean of 0.831. Only seven out of the 25 loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The mean observed and expected heterozygosity was 0.618 and 0.725, respectively. Sixteen loci had positive FIS values and nine had negative values. The mean FIS was 0.147. Mode-shift analysis revealed a normal L-shaped curve indicating that Kilakarsal population is non-bottlenecked. Results of the present study will help to formulate conservation strategies for the Kilakarsal sheep

Genetic evaluation of reproduction performance of Jersey × Red Sindhi crossbred cows

Aim: The present investigation was undertaken to study the reproduction performance and effect of non-genetic factors on reproduction performance of Jersey crossbred cows. Materials and Methods: Data on 355 Jersey crossbred cattle maintained at the Post-graduate Research Institute in Animal Sciences, Kattupakkam, Tamil Nadu, distributed over 30 years (1985 to 2014). The effect of various non-genetic factors including the period of birth, season of birth, period of calving, season of calving and parity were analyzed through least-squares analyses using univariate general linear model. The different (co)variance components for calculation of genetic parameters were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood method by fitting an animal model. Results: The overall least-squares means (±standard error) of age at first service, age at first calving, weight at first calving, service period, calving interval, dry period, and number of services per conception were 848.06±9.72 days, 1204±12.20 days, 289.81±1.71 kg, 210.01±6.41 days, 489.12±6.45 days, 137.96±5.58 days, 2.50±0.07, respectively. Period of calving had either significant (p<0.05) or highly significant (p<0.01) effect on all reproduction traits studied except service period, calving interval, and dry period. Number of services per conception was affected by season of calving. Parity had significant influence (p<0.05) or highly significant (p<0.01) influence on all the traits studied except service period and dry period. Heritability estimates of age at first service, age at first calving, weight at first calving, service period, calving interval, dry period, and number of services per conception were 0.299, 0.220, 0.017, 0.142, 0.222, 0.177, and 0.042, respectively. The estimates of repeatability for service period, calving interval, dry period, and number of services per conception were 0.219, 0.234, 0.420, and 0.001, respectively. Conclusions: The reproduction performances of Jersey × Red Sindhi crossbreds were lower when compared to the earlier reports on Jersey crossbreds. Heritability and repeatability values were also low to moderate, indicating limited scope for improvement through selection

Analysis of microsatellite markers in Ongole breed of cattle

113-116Evaluation of genetic variability was carried out in Ongole cattle using 25 microsatellite markers, recommended by FAO. All the screened loci were polymorphic and a total of 97 alleles were observed across the analyzed loci. The mean number of alleles was found to be 3.88±0.25 with a range of 2 to 7. The allele size ranged from 94 to 300 bp. The frequency distribution of microsatellite alleles in the breed was from 0.0119 to 0.9375. The estimated expected heterozygosity value was 0.6079±0.04 and the PIC was 0.5584±0.04. Microsatellite analysis revealed high allele and gene diversity in the investigated cattle and overall mean FIS value (–0.0615) suggested the excess of heterozygosity in the population. In addition, the high information of the polymorphic loci throw light on the scope for maintaining variation in the population and strategies to formulate conservation and further improvement measures

Enhancing knowledge exchange and performance recording through use of short messaging service in smallholder dairy farming systems in Malawi

Monitoring animal performance is a challenge due to lack of systematic recording in the smallholder dairy sector in Malawi. A mobile recording system using short messaging service (SMS) was therefore trialled for data capturing and subsequent feedback provision to farmers following analyses and interpretation. This study aimed at drawing lessons regarding use of SMS recording system among dairy farmers. Of the 210 participants, 85% were farmers and 25% were other dairy value chain players. Farmers were from eight intervened (monitored for 18 months) and eight control Milk Bulking Groups (MBG). There are three regions in Malawi and Central region had the highest participants [59% (124)] than Northern [23% (49)] and Southern [1% (2)] regions submitting data using SMS. Milk production was the most recorded data and analyses showed that mean yield in litres per cow (10.7 +/- 0.14) was similar to average estimate in literature for Malawi (10.4 +/- 1.57). Household daily milk consumption (1.2 +/- 0.04), milk sold through formal market (610.0 +/- 55) and amount of milk rejected per day per MBG (5.9 +/- 0.86) in litres were captured. Farmers asked questions and received timely feedback via SMS. Therefore, it is possible to capture quality data using SMS technology that is adequate for conducting analyses to inform decision-making

Molecular-Architectonics of Gold Nanoclusters for enhanced fluorescence and photosensitizing property for Image Guided Photodynamic Therapy of Hypoxic Tumor

Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) comprising a metal core of few atoms and a shell of thiols have unique photoluminescence unlike its bigger counterparts. Due to the ligand-to-metal charge transfer, long-lived excited state and excited triplet state has been exhibited by some metal clusters attributing to their inherent photosensitizing (PS) property. Hence, AuNCs have significant impact in biomedical domains like image assisted photodynamic therapy (PDT). In this work, the molecular nanoarchitectonics of self assembled cysteine-capped AuNCs has been tailored to improve its photosensitizing and emission properties for PDT and simultaneous imaging applications. The unique molecular nanoarchitectonics contributed to the aggregation induced emission (AIE) property of gold cluster contributing to the enhanced photosensitizing and bio-imaging property. We performed in-silico model to study the interaction of cysteine to gold cluster, its ground and excited-state properties, and the charge transfer mechanism. Cysteine-capped AuNCs yielded efficient generation of cytotoxic radicals which has contributions from the dispersed independent gold cluster as well as the self assembled nanoarchitecture. Thus, the cysteine-capped AuNCs could generate free radicals for cancer therapy by both Type I and Type II photosensitizing pathways, with the Type I reaction relevant for use in the hypoxic tumour environment. The metal cluster also exhibited excellent biocompatibility in cancer cells. The image-guided photodynamic exhibited significant cell death after 60s laser irradiation. Thus, the unique molecular nanoarchitectonics of the synthesised AuNCs has resulted in a promising new theranostic nano-platform with potential clinical applications