Twinning rate in buffaloes: A case report

The information of twin pregnancy frequencies in buffaloes is scarce in the literature. Evidence even indicates that twin pregnancies are not carried to term, but it does not seem to be the case. In this case report, the event of twin pregnancy in buffaloes is reported as well as its frequency. Twin birth is the presence of two or more embryos in a single gestation. Multiple births are uncommon in buffaloes since the species is uniparous. We studied a population of Murrah buffaloes in which slightly more than 13,000 births were observed. In this study, the frequency of occurrence of twin births in Murrah buffaloes was 0.14%. This low incidence impaired the estimation of genetic parameters. Twins can have advantages and disadvantages depending on the production system, which are discussed in this case report.     

初生重对新生梅山仔猪肝脏发育和脂代谢的影响

本试验旨在研究初生重对新生梅山仔猪肝脏发育和脂代谢的影响。选取正常初生重(NBW)和低初生重(LBW)新生梅山仔猪各6头,不喂食母乳,出生6h内颈动脉放血致死。取仔猪血液测定血浆脂代谢指标,屠宰取样测定肝脏器官指数、肝脏脂代谢指标及相关基因的表达。结果表明:与NBW组相比,LBW组新生梅山仔猪的肝脏细胞粒径和面积极显著降低(P<0.01);血浆总胆固醇(TC)含量极显著升高(P<0.01),血浆低密度脂蛋白(LDL)含量显著升高(P<0.05),血浆甘油三酯(TG)含量极显著降低(P<0.01);肝脏TC含量显著降低(P<0.05),肝脏TG含量和脂蛋白脂酶(LPL)活性极显著降低(P<0.01),肝脏肝脂酶(HL)活性呈下降趋势(P=0.086);肝脏脂肪酸合成酶(FAS)和LPL的基因表达量极显著降低(P<0.01),肝脏激素敏感脂肪酶(HSL)的基因表达量显著降低(P<0.05)。上述结果显示,LBW会抑制新生梅山仔猪的肝脏发育,降低脂代谢功能。     

文 翁 二 题

有关西汉循吏、教育家文翁籍里和生卒年等生平基本问题异说较多。据《汉书》所载，文翁的籍里应当定为安徽庐江。文翁生年下限基本可定，而卒年则无从考察。安徽舒城发现的《文氏宗谱》中有关文翁生卒的记载基本不可信。     

Effect of breed, sex and birth parity on growth, carcass and meat quality in pigs

The effects of breed, sex and birth parity on the traits of growth, carcass and meat quality were investigated in three different breeds including Swedish Landrace, British Large White and an indigenous Chinese breed — Tongcheng pigs. The results indicated that the Swedish Landrace and the British Large White had advantages over the Tongcheng pigs in growth rate, feed conversion rate (FCR) and carcass traits, but had disadvantages in meat quality. In contrast to the British Large White, the Swedish Landrace had higher average daily gain during the trial (ADG2) (877.04 g·day⁻¹ vs. 813.95 g·day⁻¹, P < 0.05), and marbling score (MS) (2.48 vs. 2.02, P < 0.01), larger eye muscle area (EMA) (41.80 cm² vs. 35.14 cm, P < 0.01) and more efficient feed conversion rate (FCR) (3.06 vs. 3.29, P < 0.05), lower muscle shear force (MSF) (4.20 kgf (1 kgf = 9.80665 N) vs. 4.93 kgf, P < 0.05) and backfat thickness (BF) (all P < 0.01) including live backfat thickness (LBF), average backfat thickness at 3 points in the carcass (ABF), backfat thickness between 6th and 7th ribs (6–7 th BF) and backfat thickness at 10th rib (10 th BF). There was a difference (P < 0.05) only inMS between castrated females (CF) and castrated males (CM). Birth parity affected ADG2 (P < 0.05), some carcass characteristics and meat quality, including CL₁ (P < 0.001), CL₂ (P < 0.05), BF (ABF, 6–7th BF and 10th BF, all P < 0.001), EMD (P, 0.001), EMA (P < 0.001), percentage of leaf and caul fat (PLC) (P < 0.05), proportion of lean and bone of the ham (PLBH) (P < 0.05), muscle drip loss percentage (DL) (P < 0.05) and intramuscular fat content (IMF) (P < 0.05). The breed-sex interaction only impacted the average daily gain from birth to marketing (ADG1) and DL (both P < 0.05). However, there was no significant effect of sex-parity interaction on all the traits tested.     

普罗宝酶解蛋白粉替代部分豆粕对妊娠母猪生产性能的影响*

 于2009年10月8日至2010年1月20日,在云南邦格农业集团有限公司建水生猪养殖基地,选择48头初产长大二元杂种怀孕母猪,随机分为4组,第1组为对照组,2~4组为试验组,分别在日粮中添加0,3%,5%,10%的普罗宝酶解蛋白粉（EP - 45）,研究EP - 45替代部分豆粕对妊娠母猪生产性能影响。结果表明：与对照组相比,5%与10%添加组的妊娠母猪背膘厚、产仔数和仔猪初生重均存在显著差异（P<0.05）,且5%添加组的产活仔数也与对照组存在显著差异（P<0.05）。     

葵花粉与黄豆粉不同配比饲料对蜜蜂初生重的影响

利用不同配比的葵花粉和黄豆粉饲料饲喂蜂群,测定后代工蜂的初生重。结果显示,饲喂100%葵花粉和饲喂＂75%葵花粉＋25%黄豆粉＂的蜂群,所育工蜂的初生重差异不显著;与饲喂＂70%葵花粉＋30%黄豆粉＂、＂65%葵花粉＋35%黄豆粉＂和饲喂100%黄豆粉的蜂群相比差异显著;本试验结果表明,不同比例花粉蛋白质营养水平对工蜂初生重具有显著的影响。     

中国肉用西门塔尔牛场间遗传联系分析

旨在加快中国肉用西门塔尔牛的遗传进展，实现全国范围内的联合育种。本研究利用全国38家育种场和公牛站在2000—2019年出生的3 991头肉用西门塔尔牛初生重性状，使用DMU软件对场间关联率进行计算。对各场站划分关联组，并比较单场和关联组内的遗传力和估计育种值（estimated breeding value，EBV）的预测准确性。结果表明，中国肉用西门塔尔牛全国平均关联率为1.91%，大部分场间关联率处于较低水平。依据关联率可划分出两个关联组，分别包括6个和8个场，组内平均关联率分别为11.23%和12.54%。对两个关联组分别进行单场和联合估计，单场估计初生重的遗传力范围为0.32~0.44，关联组1的初生重遗传力为0.47，关联组2的初生重遗传力为0.43。两个关联组单场估计EBV的平均准确性分别为0.47和0.45，联合估计EBV的平均准确性分别为0.61和0.56。联合估计较单场估计EBV的准确性有明显提高。依据关联率划分关联组进行联合育种有利于加快中国肉用西门塔尔牛的育种进程。为推进中国肉用西门塔尔牛的育种进程，应先形成区域性联合育种，再逐步加强遗传联系，形成全国范围内的遗传关联体系。     

雌激素受体基因和骨调素基因对苏钟猪初生重和乳头数量的影响

本文研究了雌激素受体基因和骨调素基因对苏钟猪生长繁殖性能的影响。41头母猪120多窝产仔数记录用来分析雌激素受体和骨调素基因型对仔猪初生重、母猪乳头个数和仔猪乳头个数的影响。在母猪乳头个数方面,骨调素142/152和168/170、142/168基因型之间差异显著(P<0.05);在经产胎次中,仔猪初生重140/152和168/170、164/168、142/168、142/152基因型之间差异显著(P<0.05)。母猪乳头个数雌激素受体AA型和AB型之间差异显著(P<0.05)。     

Categorization of birth weight phenotypes for inclusion in genetic evaluations using a deep neural network

Birth weight (BW) serves as a valuable indicator of the economically relevant trait of calving ease (CE), and erroneous data collection for BW could impact genetic evaluations for CE. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the use of deep neural networks (DNNs) for classifying contemporary groups (CGs) based on the method used to generate BW phenotypes. CGs (n = 120,000,000) ranging between 10 and 250 animals were simulated assuming 12 data collection and CG formation scenarios that could impact CG phenotypic variance, including weights recorded with a digital scale (REAL), hoof tape (TAPE), erroneous data collection (DIRTY), and those that were fabricated (FAB). The performance of eight activation functions (AFs; ReLu, Sigmoid, Exponential, ReLu6, Softmax, Softplus, Leaky ReLu, and Tanh) was evaluated. Four hidden layers were used with seven different scenarios relative to the number of neurons. Simulations were replicated 10 times. In general, accuracy (proportion of correct predictions) across AF and numbers of neurons were similar, with mean correlations ranging between 0.91 and 0.99. The AF ReLu, Sigmoid, Exponential, and ReLu6 had the greatest consistency (mean pair-wise correlation among replicates) with an average correlation of greater than 0.85. Independent of the number of neurons used, the sigmoid function produced the highest accuracy (0.99) and consistency (0.93). The model with the greatest accuracy and consistency was then applied to real BW data supplied by the American Hereford Association. In the real data, the lowest phenotypic variance was for FAB CG (2.65 kg²), REAL CG had the largest (15.84 kg²), and TAPE CG was intermediate (6.84 kg²). To investigate the potential impact of FAB data on routine genetic evaluations, CGs classified as FAB in 90% or more of the replicates were removed from the evaluation for CE, and the rank of resulting genetic predictions were compared with the case where records were not removed. The removal of FAB CG had a moderate impact on the prediction of CE expected progeny differences, primarily for animals with intermediate to high accuracy. The results suggest that a well-trained DNN can be effectively used to classify data based on quality metrics prior to the inclusion in routine genetic evaluation.     

果子狸年产两胎试验与人工哺育的研究

对２２只于４－５月初产第一胎的母狸进行年产两胎试验，其中２０只母狸在仔狸进行人工哺育５ｄ后，注射三合激素，均发情交配，有１７只怀孕并产下第二胎仔狸，另３只未怀孕，二胎试验成功率为８５％。有二只母狸产下第一胎仔狸后，应激反应强烈，将仔狸吃掉，于次日进行血配，怀孕并足月产下第二胎仔狸，但母狸随即又将第二胎仔狸吃掉。对５９只仔狸人工哺育，５３只成活，只死亡，成活率８９．８％，母狸哺育２０ｄ以上的仔狸人工