Genetic parameters and trends for production and reproduction traits of a Landrace herd in China

The objectives of this study were to estimate the genetic parameters and the breeding progress in a Landrace herd in China, and to predict the potential benefits by applying new breeding technology. Hereby, the performance records from a Landrace swine herd in China, composing over 33 000 pigs born between 2001 and 2013, were collected on six economically important traits, i.e., average daily gain between 30–100 kg(ADG), adjusted backfat thickness at 100 kg(BF), adjusted days to 30 kg(D30), adjusted days to 100 kg(D100), number born alive(NBA), and total number born(TNB). The genetic parameters were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood via DMU, and realized genetic trends were analyzed. Based on the real population structure and genetic parameters obtained from this herd, the potential genetic trends by applying genomic selection(GS) were predicted via a computer simulation study. Results showed that the heritability estimates in this Landrace herd were 0.55(0.02), 0.42(0.01), and 0.12(0.01), for BF, D100, and TNB, respectively. Favorable genetic trends were obtained for D100, BF, and TNB due to direct selection, for ADG and NBA due to indirect selection. Long-term selection against D100 did not improve D30, though they are highly genetically correlated(0.64). Appling GS in such a swine herd, the genetic gain can be increased by 25%, or even larger for traits with low heritability or individuals without phenotypes before selection. It can be concluded that conventional breeding strategy was effective in the herd studied, while applying GS is promising and hence the road ahead in swine breeding.     

The Modeling of Production and Economic Indicators in Suckler Cows Herds

The aim of this study was to analyse the most important factors affecting the profitability of suckler cows herds in Slovakia in 2010. The economic models were used to verify whether the suckler cows farming is profitable without subsidies in the current production conditions in Slovakia as well as their optimal location in the agricultural natural conditions of Slovakia from the perspective of economic efficiency. The breeding of cattle, mainly for the beef meat production, has long been unprofitable as it is apparent also from the analysis of several studies. In the model without inclusion of subsidies, it was calculated that the suckler cows farming is unprofitable at the current production parameters and realization prices of calves. The losses per cow and year were ranged from -240ε in the model by using a combination of the maximum threshold values of input parameters to -818ε by using a combination of the minimum threshold values of the input parameters. In the models including of subsidies amount of loss and/or profit per cow and year varied depending on the input parameters mainly on natality, average daily gain, the realization price of calves and the level of subsidies provided to breeder as well. The economic results are ranged from -277ε to 724ε per cow and year. From economical as well as production point of view, the most appropriate agricultural natural regions for suckler cows farming in Slovakia are upland and highland regions.     

Imperfect Competition and Common Resource Exploitation—An Analysis of Renewable Resource Management with Non—use Values

This article analyzes the importance of non-use values in the management of natural resources with a model of imperfect competition.By constucting a framework of duopolistic exploiters.the incorporation of non-use values based on self-interest and altruistic motives appears to be significant for determining the degree of inefficiency caused by the problem of common property at the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium.It is found that when the non-use value placed by the altruist exploiter is bounded by that placed by the pure selfinterest exploiter,the effect of market power is dominated by the effect of common exploitation.In this case,the exploiters‘ harvesting strategy will response in the same direction to the change of each other‘s harvesting at the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium.In contrast,when the non-use value placed by the altruist is substantially larger or smaller than that placed by the self-interest exploiter,one exploiter‘s increase in harvesting will lead to a decrease in harvesting of the other exploiter at the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium.     

A DISCUSSION ON THE CONVENTIONAL BREEDING OF RICE FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY IN SUNLIGHT UTILIZATION THROUGH HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN INDICA AND JAPONICA

Early in the 1960's C.M.Donald said:“Plant breeding approaches asbeing largely empirical,”In I976 R.Riley in his address to the Interna-tional Rice Research Conference on recent advance in plant breeding meth-od said:“Plant breeding is a technology,not a science;it produces notknowledge,which is the purpose of science,but material products,that     

Development of hybrid rice in China

The success achieved in development of hybrid rice is a great breakthrough in rice breeding which provides an effective way to markedly enhance rice yield on a large scale. China is the first country in the world to exploit rice heterosis commercially. Research on hybrid rice was initiated in 1964. The genetic tools, viz, cytoplasmic male sterile(CMS), maintainer and restorer lines (or A, B and R     

A Method for Accuracy of Genetic Evaluation by Utilization of Canadian Genetic Evaluation Information to Improve Heilongjiang Holstein Herds

The objectives of this study were to set up a new genetic evaluation procedure to predict the breeding values of Holstein herds in Heilongjiang Province of China for milk and fat production by utilizing Canadian pedigree and genetic evaluation information and to compare the breeding values of the sires from different countries. The data used for evaluating young sires for the Chinese Holstein population consisted of records selected from 21 herds in Heilongjiang Province. The first lactation records of 2 496 daughters collected in 1989 and 2000 were analyzed. A single-trait animal model including a fixed herd-year effect, random animal and residual effects was used by utilizing Canadian pedigree and genetic evaluation information of 5126 sires released from the Canadian Dairy Network in August 2000. The BLUP procedure was used to evaluate all cattle in this study and the Estimated Breeding Values (EBV) for milk and fat production of 6697 cattle (including 673 sires and 6024 cows) were predicted. The genetic levels of the top 100 sires originated from different countries were compared. Unlike the BLUP procedure that is being used in conjunction with the single-trait sire model in Heilongjiang Province of China now, the genetic evaluation procedure used in this study not only can be used simultaneously to evaluate sires and cows but also increase the accuracy of evaluation due to using the relationships and genetic values of the Canadian evaluated sires with more daughters. The results showed that the new procedure was useful for genetic evaluation of dairy herds and the comparison of the breeding values of these sires imported from different countries showed that a significant genetic improvement has been achieved for milk production of the Heilongjiang Holstein dairy population by importing sires from foreign countries, especially from the United States due to the higher breeding values.     

Re-examining Geos Neighbourhood for Its Energy Self-sustained Ability Through Ecological Footprints,Net Energy,and Life Cycle Assessment Tools

There are mounting evidences that human consume significant quantities of resources and have a major impact on the environment. Some research indicates that since the 1980 s human demands on the biosphere have exceeded its regenerrative capacity. One way to solve this problem is to minimize the inappropriate exploitation from environment.This essay will focus on energy self-sustained project, which is a specific way to reduce energy requirements. Energy self-sustained project refers to that energy production is equal to the amount consumed. Three concepts are quoted in the following to assess whether the project achieve zero-energy or not. First, ecological footprint, which provides an indication of the human load on the biosphere, is utilized to measure the inputs and outputs of the bioregion, which is also beneficial for defining the potential energy. Another one is life cycle assessment, which evaluates environmental load that relates to the entire life periodic system of a product, is helpful to measure the products used in the energy self sustained project. In addition, net energy, and gross resource abundance, definitions for selection, or hierarchy of different energy resources, can evaluate the new energy resources in project.Geos Neighbourhood, located in colorado, was planned as the largest net-zero energy neighbourhood in the United States. To meet the energy self sustainability,earth and sun power completely sustain the community's energy needs, and replace all fossil fuels. Compared with the traditional communities, Geos Neighbourhood minimize the adverse impact on the environment. As tools for assessment,ecological footprint, life circle assessment, and net energy, are all used to analyse the planning and design principles in the neighbourhood. By the research, the design principles and energy use in Geos Neighbourhood will be re-examined that whether the zero energy project achieves the reduction of ecological footprint, and energy self sustainability. In addition, life circle assessment will re-examine the materials used in the community also. Finally, the concept of ‘net energy' will test solar energy and earth power which is the major energy used in Geos Neighbourhood.     

Modelling Agronomically-Suitable Sowing Date in Relation to the Risk of Frost Damage and Heat Stress of Wheat in Southern New South Wales,Australia

Sowing time of wheat in south eastern Australia varies from autumn to early winter, depending on the seasonal ＇break＇. Wheat yields are often reduced by frost damage at flowering time and by heat-and/or water-stress during grain filling. Selecting suitable varieties for specific sowing times is a complex decision farmers make because these varietal phenology and climate risks have to be assessed together. In order to help farmers make decisions, they need tools that simulate and analyse agronomically-suitable sowing dates （ASSD） for a given variety of wheat. The hypothesis underlining this study is the integration of a wheat phenology model with historical climate data is an effective approach to modelling the ASSD of current varieties used in the wheat growing areas of Southern NSW. The parameters of the wheat phenology model were based on data from five years of field experimentation across 15 sites. Data from four sites were used to examine varietal suitability in relation to sowing time and its associated risks of frost and heat damage. The optimum ASSD for any variety at 72 locations across Southern NSW was investigated. The results showed that there were substantial spatial variations in the ASSD across the target region. ASSD for a late maturing wheat genotype （EGA Gregory） can range from early March to late April, while the earliest acceptable sowing date for an early maturing spring wheat genotype （H46） can range from early to late May. The wide range of spatial variation in the earliest and latest sowing dates, as well as the varied length of sowing opportunities, highlighted the importance of being able to apply a modelling approach which can integrate information on crop phenology with climate risk for a given location. This approach would allow better decision-making on suitable varieties and sowing dates in order to minimise the risk of frost and heat damage affecting crop yield.     

Simulation Modeling in Plant Breeding： Principles and Applications

Conventional plant breeding largely depends on phenotypic selection and breeder＇s experience, therefore the breeding efficiency is low and the predictions are inaccurate. Along with the fast development in molecular biology and biotechnology, a large amount of biological data is available for genetic studies of important breeding traits in plants, which in turn allows the conduction of genotypic selection in the breeding process. However, gene information has not been effectively used in crop improvement because of the lack of appropriate tools. The simulation approach can utilize the vast and diverse genetic information, predict the cross performance, and compare different selection methods. Thus, the best performing crosses and effective breeding strategies can be identified. QuLine is a computer tool capable of defining a range, from simple to complex genetic models, and simulating breeding processes for developing final advanced lines. On the basis of the results from simulation experiments, breeders can optimize their breeding methodology and greatly improve the breeding efficiency. In this article, the underlying principles of simulation modeling in crop enhancement is initially introduced, following which several applications of QuLine are summarized, by comparing the different selection strategies, the precision parental selection, using known gene information, and the design approach in breeding. Breeding simulation allows the definition of complicated genetic models consisting of multiple alleles, pleiotropy, epistasis, and genes, by environment interaction, and provides a useful tool for breeders, to efficiently use the wide spectrum of genetic data and information available.     

Progress and Prospect of Functional Rice Researches

With the rapid development of economy and the increase of people＇s living standards, functional foods are being gradually embraced by consumers and have a great growth potential. Rice is the main staple food in China. It plays an important role in promoting people＇s health and in improving public nutrition, and therefore there is an ever-increasing consumer demand for rice for its functional quality. This study introduces the concept of functional rice and summarizes the current research progress on this topic and the application of breeding strategies including traditional breeding, induced mutagenesis, molecular marker-assisted selection and transgenic engineering in the research of a new generation of functional rice that posses health benefits, therapeutic values, bioreactor properties, and other unique functions. We then point out the prospect of functional rice from the point of view of social development, germplasm innovation, breeding of functional rice by biological technology and the test of active material related functional rice. We conclude that developing and marketing of functional rice is becoming a subject of great importance for research and is to be the focus of research in future.     

The breeding of japonica rice in northern China: An 11-year study(2006–2016)

The world's population is facing food shortages due to climate change and the competition for arable land between food and energy crops. Many national and international projects to develop "super rice" cultivars were established in recent decades to attain a ‘third leap forward' in rice production. In order to evaluate the breeding process in northern China, an 11-year tracking survey of japonica rice breeding, which involved a total of 520 rice accessions and 67 test plots, was completed in this study. The results showed that the yields of these accessions had increased stably, which was similar to control check varieties(CKs). The breeding strategy reduced the panicle number and increased the grain number per panicle through an increase of spikelet density(number of grains per centimeter on the panicle). This high spikelet density benefits not only the yield but also the blast resistance and amylose content. At higher latitudes, the preferred rice accessions had slim grain shape and extended growth period. In the middle latitudes among the test plots, the breeders focused on reducing the amylose content to improve the cooking quality of the rice accessions. Yield and blast resistance were the two highest priorities during the breeding selection process. The present study evaluated the breeding process in northern China during the last decade, which may lead to new insights into the future of rice breeding.     

Modeling Climate Change Impacts on the US Agricultural Exports

Climate change is expected to have substantial effects on agricultural productivity worldwide. However, these impacts will differ across commodities, locations and time periods. As a result, landowners will see changes in relative returns that are likely to induce modifications in production practices and land allocation. In addition, regional variations in impacts can alter relative competitiveness across countries and lead to adjustments in international trade patterns. Thus in climate change impact studies it is likely useful to account for worldwide productivity effects. In this study, we investigate the implications of considering rest of world climate impacts on projections of the US agricultural exports. We chose to focus on the US because it is one of the largest agricultural exporters. To conduct our analyses, we consider four alternative climate scenarios, both with and without rest of world climate change impacts. Our results show that considering/ignoring rest of world climate impacts causes significant changes in the US production and exports projections. Thus we feel climate change impact studies should account not only for climate impacts in the country of focus but also on productivity in the rest of the world in order to capture effects on commodity markets and trade potential.     

The Concept of Agricultural Productivity on Ecosystem Scale and Its Measurement

What is the connotation and the extension of the productivity concept and how to calculate it are the core problems in evaluating an agricultural-production process. The attributes of agricultural production processes have changed greatly in the last 100 years, and the methods to describe and measure the productivity failed to keep in pace with the production processes, resulting in a totally vague, incomplete evaluation of the production processes. Sometimes the serious problem of pollution is ignored in the race to shortdated money making, thus leading to a blooming and flooding pollution; sometimes the great ecological benefits are ignored and the corresponding production processes suffer drastically from “economic deficit”. With the old agricultural productivity indices, no prediction can be made of the ultimate effects of agroecosytem on mankind-pollution or welfare. A new concept, agricultural productivity on ecosystem scale （APES） and the related indices are defined here to solve these problems. Emergy and exergy are introduced to help the measurement of the indices. Emergy is the memory of energy, which can be used to measure the total cost, including natural capital and social capital. APES of the agroecosystem is the aggregated contributions of all components to mankind and its habitat in uniformed dimensions, it may be expressed in material, energy, information, organization, pollution and damage, etc., positive or negative, and are calculated based on exergy methods. And a related index agroecological coupling degree （ACD） shows sustainability.     

The Study of Using Near-infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy Rapid Identify Wheat Drought Resistance-Ⅱ

[Objective] The aim was to build an evaluation method rapidly identifying wheat drought tolerance with near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. [Method] In the research, 36 wheat varieties in 2007-2009 were chosen and drought-tolerance degrees of wheat were graded and identified according to Winter-wheat Drought Tol- erance Evaluation Technical Standards （GB/T 21127-2007）, and harvest wheat grains underwent spectrum collection, with a full-spectrum analyzer, to establish a database. [Result] Based on qualitative analysis and full-spectrum correlation research, the coef- ficient of determination （RSQ） and cross-validation coefficient of determination （1-VR） were concluded at 0.697 5 and 0.600 2, showing near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is of significant differences among wheat varieties and of significant or extremely significant correlation with drought-tolerance indices. [Conclusion] The re- search indicates that to evaluate drought-tolerance of wheat with near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is a rapid and feasible way, which is simple, convenient without damages on grains, and of practical values for construction wheat drought-tol- erance evaluation index system and identification of breeding materials.     

The EST Analysis of A Suppressive Subtraction cDNA Library of Chinese Wild Vitis pseudoreticulata Inoculated with Uncinula necator

Uncinula necator is a worldwide serious fungus disease causing annual heavy lost on grapevine production. In order to get more informations on defense related EST sequences and help breeding program, we constructed and characterized a suppression subtractive hybridization cDNA library with artificially inoculated leaves and control Chinese wild Vitis pseudoreticulata clone Baihe-35-1, which is highly resistant to powdery mildew. In the library, the length of 58 EST fragments known as putative functions varied from 130 to 800 bp, and 60% of the ESTs exhibited high similarity to known sequences in database of GenBank with BLASTX analysis. These genes were involved in stress/defense response, detoxification, signal transduction, disease defense, and etc., and 14 ESTs remained unknown or hypothetical proteins, which may be new genes. The experiment provided an important basis for studying the disease-resistance mechanism and obtaining the genes for the aim of improving grapevine powdery mildew resistance.     

Hitchhiking Effect Mapping： A New Approach for Discovering Agronomic Important Genes

Besides the natural selection, the crops cultivated today have experienced two episodes of strong artificial selection, domestic and modern breeding. Domestication led to giant genetic structure differentiation between cultivars and their wild species, while modern breeding made further genetic structure differentiation between the modern varieties and the landraces. In a population, diversity of the loci under strong selection is significantly lower than that of other loci. At the same time, diversity in the genomic regions flanking these selected loci also declines in the process of selection. This phenomenon is called hitchhiking effects or selection sweep in genetics. Genomic regions with selection sweep （haplotype block） could be detected after draft genome scanning （genome typing） with molecular markers in a number of released varieties or natural populations. Marker/trait association analysis in these regions would detect the loci （or QTLs） even the favored alleles （genes） in breeding or natural adaptation. Fine scanning of these genomic regions would help to determine the sizes of haplotype blocks and to discover the key genes, thereby providing very valuable information for isolation of the key genes and molecular design of new varieties. Establishment of high density genetic linkage maps in the major crops and availability of high throughput genotyping platform make it possible to discover agronomic important genes through marker/trait association analysis. On the basis of available publications, we give a brief introduction of the hitchhiking effect mapping approach in this paper using plant height, 1 000-grain weight, and phosphorus-deficiency tolerance as examples in wheat.     

Sources for Heat-Stable Resistance to Southern Root-Knot Nematode （Meloidogyne incognita） in Solanum lycopersicum

Southern root-knot nematode （Meloidogyne incognita） is a major problem in vegetable production in China due to the expansion of plastic tunnel and solar greenhouse. Using resistant cultivars is an effective approach to control the disease. Nine genes, Mi-1 to Mi-9, have been reported and only Mi-1 has been successfully used in tomato breeding. However, Mi-1 is inactive at a temperature above 28~C. In order to identify sources for heat-stable resistance to southern root-knot nematode, 53 genotypes of tomato （Solarium spp.） were inoculated with an isolate of M. incognita in the growth chamber at 28 or 32℃ for initial screening. 28 lines had less than 25 galls and were considered as resistant candidates. The top 60% （16 in total） of resistant candidates obtained from each temperature were subject to re-evaluation at 32~C using the same nematode isolate. Three lines ZN17, ZN 48, and LA0385 showed heat-stable resistance with an average of 10 galls or less per plant. LA0385 is a wild species, while ZNI7 and ZN48 are elite breeding lines. These lines were grown in a greenhouse for two seasons, and also showed high resistance with less than 10 galls per plant. Thus they were considered as good sources for breeding resistance to southern root-knot nematode in tomato.     

Identification of QTLs for Starch Content in Sweetpotato （Ipomoea batatas （L.） Lam.）

Sweetpotato （Ipomoea batatas （L.） Lam.） breeding is challenging due to its genetic complexity. In the present study, interval mapping （IM） and multiple quantitative trait locus （QTL） model （MQM） analysis were used to identify QTLs for starch content with a mapping population consisting of 202 F1 individuals of a cross between Xushu 18, a cultivar susceptible to stem nematodes, with high yield and moderate starch, and Xu 781, which is resistant to stem nematodes, has low yield and high starch content. Six QTLs for starch content were mapped on six linkage groups of the Xu 781 map, explaining 9.1-38.8% of the variation. Especially, one of them, DMFN 4, accounted for 38.8% of starch content variation, which is the QTL that explains the highest phenotypic variation detected to date in sweetpotato. All of the six QTLs had a positive effect on the variation of the starch content, which indicated the inheritance derived from the parent Xu 781. Two QTLs for starch content were detected on two linkage groups of the Xushu 18 map, explaining 14.3 and 16.1% of the variation, respectively. They had a negative effect on the variation, indicating the inheritance derived from Xu 781. Seven of eight QTLs were co-localized with a single marker. This is the first report on the development of QTLs co-localized with a single marker in sweetpotato. These QTLs and their co-localized markers may be used in marker-assisted breeding for the starch content of sweetpotato.     

Study of Digital Management System of Milking Process on Large-Sized Dairy Farm

This study was to supply the systemic and full milking process data to support the implementation of both dairy herd improvement （DHI） and digital feeding of dairy cattle. This study designed the relational structured database and developed a set of digital management information system on milking process of intensive dairy farm using Visual Basic 6.0, Access databases, and Crystal report combining the milking characteristics of a grown cow, such as quality and sanitation testing indexes of raw milk. The system supplies a series of convenient, intelligent input interfaces of crude datum, and can count, analyze, and graphically show milking datum based on different types and different parities of cows or herds in a specific duration, and can dynamically produce some important derived data, such as days of grown cow, daily average of milk production of grown cow, days of cow milk production, and daily average of milking cow production; and can carry out all-pervasive data mining. With the help of system analysis and software design techniques, it is possible to realize precision farming for a dairy cattle herd based on whole digital management of milking process and realtime prediction on nutrient requirements and ration of dairy cattle, as well as dairy herd improvement.