Procjena genetskih parametara za osobine plodnosti talijanskog Holstein-frizijskog goveda

Data from insemination and calving events of Italian Holstein cows and heifers collected from January 1996 until December 2002 were used to estimate phenotypic and genetic parameter for some fertility traits. A validation procedure of the data based on gestation length and information on service sire was used. According to these procedure, in Italy 75.9 % of the calvings are associated to service or inseminations events. Days to first service (DTPS), calving interval (CI), number of service per conception (NSC) and non return rate at 90 days (NRR90) were the main traits analysed. The effect of month and year of calving (or insemination), of sampling bull code, of age of cow and of herd-year-season of calving were included in the model and were significant for all the traits analysed. A decreasing efficiency in cow fertility was observed over the last 5 years, with a longer days to first service interval and a higher proportion of cows being re-bred after 90 days. Different data sets were successively defined according to the parities in order to validate the hypothesis that different parities have to be considered as different traits. Heritabilities for the five fertility traits were low ranging from 0,014 for NRR90 to 0,065 for CI. Estimates of c2 for score traits (NSC, NRR56 and NRR90) ranged from 0,010 to 0,025 and were lower than those for CI and DTPS. Genetic correlation were high between traits related to time period but were moderate between those traits and score traits. Heritabilities of interval traits (CI, DTPS) vary over parities, with some indication that higher parities show higher estimates. Results in terms of genetic correlations confirmed the high relationships with interval traits between parities.Podaci o teljenju i osjemenjivanju talijanskih Holstein krava i junica, sakupljeni od siječnja 1996. do prosinca 2002., korišteni su za procjenu fenotipskog i genetskog parametra nekih osobina plodnosti. Primijenjen je postupak neospornosti podataka na temelju dužine gestacije i informacije o servisnom biku. Prema tom postupku u Italiji 75,9% teljenja povezano je sa servisom ili osjemenjivanjem. Glavne analizirane osobine bile su dani do prvog servisa (DTFS), interval teljenja (CI), broj servisa po koncepciji (NSC) i stopa bez rezultata u 90 dana (NRR90). Djelovanje mjeseca i godine teljenja (ili inseminacije), uzimanje šifre bika, dobi krave i stado-godina-sezona teljenja bili su značajni za sve analizirane osobine. Smanjenje djelotvornosti u plodnosti krava zapaženo je u zadnjih 5 godina, s više dana do prvog intervala servisa i veći omjer ponovo pripuštenih krava nakon 90 dana. Postepeno su određene skupine različitih podataka prema analogiji radi vrednovanja hipoteze da razne paritete treba smatrati kao različite osobine. Nasljednosti za pet osobina plodnosti bile su male u rasponu od 0.014 za NRR90 do 0.065 za CI. Procjena c2 za osobine skora (NSC, NRR56 i NRR90) kretale su se od 0.010 do 0.025 i bile su niže od onih za CI i DTFS. Genetske korelacije bile su visoke između osobina u vezi s vremenskim razdobljem ali su bile umjerene između tih osobina i osobina skora. Nasljednosti osobina intervala (CI, DTFS) variraju nad paritetom s nekim naznakama da viši pariteti pokazuju više procjene. Rezultati u smislu genetskih korelacija potvrdili su visoku povezanost s osobinama intervala među paritetima

Usefulness of echocardiography in the prognostic evaluation of non-Q-wave myocardial infarction.

Patients with non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (MI) are a heterogeneous population with a wide range of coronary disease severity and extent of myocardial necrosis, showing, therefore, different electrocardiographic findings and different outcomes. To evaluate the role of echocardiography in the management of non-Q-wave MI patients, 192 consecutive patients without previous MI were studied (78 with ST segment elevation, 56 with ST depression and 58 without ST modifications). All patients underwent 2-dimensional echocardiography (16-segment model) within 24 hours of admission to the coronary care unit. Wall-motion abnormalities, wall-motion score index, ejection fraction, and end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes were evaluated. In 35 patients, death, reinfarction, recurrent angina, or severe heart failure occurred during the in-hospital phase, whereas the remaining 157 patients had a good outcome. Patients with a poor prognosis were older (68 +/- 6 vs 59 +/- 5 years, p 3 segments 0.28 and 0.86; wall-motion score index > 1.33 = 0.28 and 0.87; end-diastolic volume > 46 mL/m2 = 0.49 and 0.91; ST segment depression and wall-motion abnormalities in > 3 segments 0.60 and 0.88. These results underline the usefulness of echocardiography in the early risk stratification of non-Q-wave MI patients, together with electrocardiographic data. Patients with ST segment depression and more extensive wall-motion abnormalities are at higher risk and their management needs a more aggressive approach

Relationship among production traits, somatic cell score and temperature–humidity index in the Italian Mediterranean Buffalo

The temperature–humidity index (THI) has been commonly used to analyse heat stress in dairy cattle, but little is known about its effects on buffaloes. In this study, daily milk yield (MY), fat percentage (FP), protein percentage (PP) and somatic cell count (SCC) data from 808 buffalo cows plus environmental temperature and relative humidity were used to investigate the consequence of heat stress. Two mixed models were used to evaluate the impact of THI on MY, FP, PP and log transformed SCC (SCS). The effect of THI was significant for PP, FP and SCS, whereas its interaction with parity was statistically significant for PP and SCS. The relationship between PP and FP and THI was positive but of different magnitude according to the parity. When THI was below 62, an unfavourable effect was observed, especially in primiparous buffalo cows. A significant interaction between SCS and THI across parities was also observed. The effect of THI on MY across parities was not definite but overall a favourable relationship was observed. Our findings depict a susceptibility of buffaloes to low values of THI, suggesting an optimal THI range for water buffaloes between 59 and 63, although some deleterious effects were observed in primiparous buffaloes at THI values lower than 62. Additional investigations are needed to better elucidate the influence of THI on buffalo species.HIGHLIGHTS The overall effect of THI on buffalo diverges from what commonly observed in dairy cattle Cold stress affects milk and udder health in buffaloes The effect of THI on buffaloes’ performance depends on parity, with a larger susceptibility in primiparous than pluriparous buffalo cows Udder health in buffaloes, evaluated using somatic cell count, is also affected by THI

Genetic diversity derived from pedigree information and estimation of genetic parameters for reproductive traits of Limousine and Charolais cattle raised in Italy

Limousine and Charolais cattle breeds are assuming increasing importance in the Italian beef cattle sector. Indeed, both breeds are involved in a national rural development project. The success of a breeding programme depends heavily not only on the defined breeding objective but also on the selected criteria used to attain it. Data from the Charolais and Limousine Italian Association (born between 1960 and 2017) were used to estimate both genetic parameters and trends for calving interval (CI) and age at first calving (AFC) and genetic diversity. Population structures were investigated through probabilities of gene origin approach whereas variance components estimation was used to obtain breeding values of reproductive parameters. Heritabilities for AFC and CI were 0.24 and 0.03 for Limousine and 0.32 and 0.02 for Charolais, respectively. An increasing genetic trend was observed for AFC. For CI, no significant gains of genetic origin have been verified. In both breeds, pedigree completeness was moderate, and the observed inbreeding coefficient was low. No herd is classified as a nucleus or isolated and they all use external bulls. Heritability for AFC in both breeds suggests possible improvements when selected. Limited improvements are expected for CI by means of a traditional genetic breeding scheme. A reduction in the generation interval might represent a cost-effective solution to increase annual genetic gain. Pedigree analysis suggests population bottleneck in both breeds.HIGHLIGHTS Limousine and Charolais breeds are involved in the national project for the genetic improvement of cattle populations raised in Italy. Genetic indexes will be developed following a genomic approach. This study is preparatory for the implementation of a selective programme of this type. The breeds presented a reduced number of animals in the genetic formation. High ‘bottleneck effect’. Moderate heritability for age at first calving

Genomic investigation of milk production in Italian buffalo

The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of genomic selection in the Italian Mediterranean water buffalo, which is farmed mainly in the south Italy for milk, and mozzarella, production. A total of 498 animals were genotyped at 49,164 loci. Test day records (80,417) of milk (MY), fat (FY) and protein (PY) yields from 4127 cows, born between 1975 and 2009, were analysed in a three-trait model. Cows born in 2008 and 2009 with phenotypes and genotypes were selected as validation animals (n = 50). Variance components (VC) were estimated with BLUP and ssGBLUP. Heritabilities for BLUP were 0.25 ± 0.02 (MY), 0.16 ± 0.01 (FY) and 0.25 ± 0.01 (PY). Breeding values were computed using BLUP and ssGBLUP, using VC estimated from BLUP. ssGBLUP was applied in five scenarios, each with a different number of genotypes available: (A) bulls (35); (B) validation cows (50); (C) bulls and validation cows (85); (D) all genotyped cows (463); (E) all genotypes (498). Model validation was performed using the LR method: correlation, accuracy, dispersion, and bias statistics were calculated. Average correlations were 0.71 ± 0.02 and 0.82 ± 0.01 for BLUP and ssGBLUP-E, respectively. Accuracies were also higher in ssGBLUP-E (0.75 ± 0.03) compared to BLUP (0.57 ± 0.03). The best dispersions (i.e. closer to 1) were found for ssGBLUP-C. The use of genotypes only for the 35 bulls did not change the validation values compared to BLUP. Results of the present study, even if based on small number of animals, showed that the inclusion of genotypes of females can improve breeding values accuracy in the Italian Buffalo.Highlights The genotypes of males did not improve the predictions. Genotypes of females improve breeding values accuracy. Slight increase in prediction accuracy with weighted ssGBLUP