Milk Protein Polymorphism in Kangayam Cattle

This paper reports the milk protein polymorphism, the allele frequencies of variants and the possible linkages among various combinations of milk protein phenotypes in the Kangayam cattle of south India. Milk samples from 156 Kangayam cows were typed by starch gel and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for caseins and whey proteins, respectively. All the four milk protein components studied, _s1-casein, -casein, -lactoglobulin and -lactalbumin, exhibited polymorphism with high allele frequencies of 0.9231±0.0151 for _s1-casein C, 0.9263±0.0148 for -casein A, 0.9135±0.0159 for -lactoglobulin B and a relatively high frequency of 0.6218±0.0275 for -lactalbumin A. The mean heterozygosity estimated over all the four milk protein loci was 0.2420. Genetic equilibrium was observed among all the loci studied, except -lactalbumin. Linkage analysis confirmed the non-independence between _s1- and -caseins and between caseins and -lactalbumin phenotypes.     

Influence of edaphic factors on the mineralization of neem oil coated urea in four Indian soils

The utility of neem (Azadirachta indica A Juss) oil coated urea as a value-added nitrogenous fertilizer has been now widely accepted by Indian farmers and the fertilizer industry. In the present study, the expeller grade (EG) and hexane-extracted (HE) neem oils, the two most common commercial grades, were used to prepare neem oil coated urea (NOCU) of various oil doses, for which mineralization rates were assessed in four soils at three incubation temperatures (20, 27, and 35 degrees C). Neem oil dose-dependent conservation of ammonium N was observed in NOCU treatments in all of the soils. However, a longer incubation period and a higher soil temperature caused depletion of ammonium N. Overall, the nitrification in NOCU treatment averaged 56.6% against 77.3% for prilled urea in four soils. NOCU prepared from EG neem oil was consistently superior to that derived from hexane-extracted oil. The performance of NOCUs was best in coarse-textured soil and poorest in sodic soil. The nitrification rate (NR) of the NOCUs in the soils followed the order sodic > fine-textured > medium-textured > coarse-textured. The influence of edaphic factors on NR of NOCUs has been highlighted. The utility of the present study in predicting the performance of NOCU in diverse Indian soils was highlighted through the use of algorithms for computation of the optimum neem oil dose that would cause maximum inhibition of nitrification in any soil.     

Morpho-Physiological Responses of Grape Rootstock ‘Dogridge’ to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation Under Salinity Stress

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) alone or in combination with bacterial consortium (AMF+BC) inoculation prior to induced salinity (NaCl @ 150 or 250 mM) were studied on root growth; plant biomass; leaf area; Na⁺ and K⁺ contents; leaf water potential (Ψ_w); osmotic potential (Ψ_π); photosynthesis rate (P_n); and contents of chlorophyll, phytohormones, and polyamines in the grape rootstock ‘Dogridge’, popular among Indian vine growers. AMF inoculation in the NaCl untreated rootstocks plants increased root growth, root and shoot biomass, and leaf area and improved leaf Ψ_w, Ψ_π, P_n, and chlorophyll content, and also countered the stress-induced decline in the NaCl treated plants. The abscisic acid (ABA), cytokinins, and polyamine-spermidine and spermine contents in the leaves of NaCl untreated or treated were significantly increased by the AMF inoculation. Among the treatments, AMF with BC was relatively more effective than AMF alone with respect to changes in above morpho-physiological characters. The results depicted that AMF (AMF alone or AMF+BC) inoculation significantly improved salinity tolerance of grape rootstock and tolerance is induced by improvements in plant water balance, K⁺:Na⁺ ratio, and P_n, besides distinct accumulations in ABA and polyamines-spermine and spermidine. The above findings have potential in suggesting the AMF usefulness in improving the efficacy of ‘Dogridge’ rootstock in grape cultivation under salt affected soils.     

Inheritance of racing performance of trotter horses: An overview

Harness racing is a form of horseracing in which the horses race in a specified gait (trot or pace). In contrast to the Thoroughbred, the trotter is not an international breed. In this type, the horses are raced with trotting or pacing gait. Breeds specialized for racing at trot or pace are indigenous to many countries. Separate breeds of light harness horses, generally designated as trotters have evolved for racing purposes in several countries. The important horse breeds used for harness racing in different parts of the world are the Standardbred, French Trotter, Swedish Trotter, Orlov Trotter, Russian Trotter, Finnhorse, Icelandic Toelter, Dole horse and North-Swedish cold-blooded horses. The trotter ranks worldwide second to the Thoroughbred in popularity as a racehorse. Racing performance in trotters, in contrast to Thoroughbred is characterized by qualifying tests before entering the races, inclusion of more than one breed in international races only and greater duration of racing career. An intensive selection of stallions on the basis of phenotypic racing performance has been practised in many trotter populations for quite a long time. Unlike Thoroughbreds, improvements have been observed in different trotter populations and this is attributed to both genetic and environmental changes. Environmental changes include enhanced training methods, as well as improved tracks, harness and sulkies. As a result of selection, racing time of trotters has been reduced over the years. The estimated annual genetic progress in racing performance traits of Swedish Standardbred horses corresponds to 5% of the phenotypic standard deviation, 3.6% in French Trotters and 5% in Dutch Trotters. According to the recent selection for speed in trot, this trait remains heritable and genetic improvement is observed in most countries. Correlations between earnings and times are negative and high, and hence favourable. As a result, selection based on times and earnings are quite effective. A multiple trait approach avoids potential biases of one particular measure, even if the objective of all traits is much the same. Since racing performance may be evaluated in both males and females and repeated observations can be obtained on the same animal, mass selection based on performance tests would be the selection procedure of choice. In the future, interest in the possible use of marker-assisted selection (MAS) for enhanced genetic improvement in horses is likely to increase. MAS is likely to be a valuable complement to selection of horses based on estimated breeding values (EBVs) obtained by the Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) method, rather than as a replacement for EBVs.     

肉鸡育种策略的回顾与展望

1.1 体重和生长针对生长速度的选育,经典育种工作的基本方法包括:出栏日龄的选择、出栏体重的选择及多阶段选择[13].1.2胸肌重和肉质1.2.1 胸肌的生长家禽产业通常使用基于体增重和饲料转化率这两个指标的传统方法来估计肉鸡的生产性能.然而,对胸肉的强烈消费需求使得业内不得不重视胸肉的价值并引导生产者尽可能有效促进胸肌的生长.一些生产者认为,胸肉产量与生长速度和饲料转化率同样重要.由于无法对活体动物的胸肉产量进行准确、无创测定,遗传学的方法受到极大限制.最直接的选择方法是利用来自于同一家系个体的产量数据进行高产潜力的鉴定[13,14].     

EFFECT OF NEEM-OIL COATED PRILLED UREA WITH VARYING THICKNESS OF NEEM-OIL COATING AND NITROGEN RATES ON PRODUCTIVITY AND NITROGEN-USE EFFICIENCY OF LOWLAND IRRIGATED RICE UNDER INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS

The nitrogen (N) fertilizer-use efficiency (20–50%) is low in rice fields in India. The neem-oil coated urea can increase N-use efficiency in lowland rice, but the desirable thickness of neem-oil coating onto urea is not known yet. Therefore, field experiments were conducted during kharif (rainy) season years 2004 and 2005 at the Research Farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to know the suitable thickness of neem-oil coating on prilled urea (PU) for increased N-use efficiency and yield. The treatments comprised of twelve combinations of four N sources (PU coated with neem-oil thickness of 0, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg kg^?1 PU) and three N levels (50, 100, and 150 kg N ha^?1) plus a no-N control. Prilled urea (PU) refers to the common urea available commercially in prills, which is different from urea super granules. Application of urea coated with neem-oil thickness of 1000 mg kg^?1 PU resulted in significantly higher growth, yield parameters, grain yield, N uptake, and efficiency of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) over uncoated PU. Nitrogen application at 122 kg ha^?1 was optimum for increased yield of rice. Nitrogen-use efficiency decreased significantly and substantially with each successive increase in levels of N from 50 to 150 kg ha^?1.     

Coat colour inheritance in horses

The colours of the horses have long been a subject of interest to owners and breeders of horses as well as to scientists. Though, the colour of horses has little to do with its performance, it is a primary means of identification and also the first indicator of questionable parentage. Probably the ancestral colour of the horse was a black-based pattern that provided camouflage protection against predators. Horse colours are mostly controlled by genes at 12 different loci. The three basic colours of horses are black, bay and chestnut. The genetic control of the basic colours of horses resides at two genetic loci, namely Extension (E) and Agouti (A) loci. Among the basic colours bay is dominant to black and both are epistatic to chestnut. Dilution of basic colours of horses as a result of four colour dilution genes such as cream dilution, dun, silver dapple and champagne resulted in extensive array of possible colours of horses. The most widespread and familiar of the horse colour dilution gene is the one that produces the golden body colour and are called as palomino or buckskin based on the colour of the points. The grey coat colour is due to the presence of dominant gene (G) at the grey locus. Grey is epistatic to all coat colour genes except white and a grey horse must have at least one grey parent. Roan is due to a dominant gene (Rn) at roan locus and this combines with any base colour to produce the various shades of roan pattern. White coat is due to a single dominant gene (W) and it is epistatic to the genes controlling all other colours. White marking in the face and legs are due to genetic and non-genetic factors. Several genes are involved in producing white markings. During recent years, comparative genomics and whole genome scanning have been used to develop DNA tests for different variety of horse colours. Molecular genetic studies on coat colour in horses helped in identification of the genes and mutation responsible for coat colour variants. In future, this will be applied to breeding programmes to reduce the incidence of diseases and to increase the efficiency of race horse population.     

Influence of physicochemical parameters of neem (Azadirachta indica A Juss) oils on nitrification inhibition in soil

The technology for the production of neem oil coated urea (NOCU) developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute is in the pipeline for adaption by several Indian fertilizer industries. Use of nitrification inhibitors is one of the methods of improving the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of nitrogenous fertilizers in agriculture. However, standard specifications for the neem oil as a raw material of NOCU are desired. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken to evaluate 25 samples of neem oils comprising 11 samples of expeller grade (EG) oils, 8 samples of cold-pressed (CP) oils, 3 samples of solvent-extracted oils, and 2 commercial formulations. NOCU was prepared using these oils (5000 ppm of urea-N). The soils fertilized with NOCUs (200 ppm of urea-N) were incubated at 27 degrees C and 50% water-holding capacity for a period of 15 days. Nitrapyrin (0.5% of N) coated urea served as the reference and prilled urea as control. Samples were analyzed for NH4+-N, NO2--N, and NO3--N using standard methods. The percent nitrification inhibition (NI) was calculated, and the results revealed that all of the neem oils caused NI ranging from 4.0 to 30.9%. Two samples of EG oils and two commercial formulations were found to be the best, causing 27.0-30.9% NI. Iodine, acid, and saponification values and meliacin content of all of the oils were analyzed and correlated with NI. The results revealed the direct influence of meliacin content of the neem oils on NI, which, however, was found to be negatively correlated with saponification and iodine values. There is, therefore, a need to introduce new Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications for neem oils as raw materials of NOCU.     

Inheritance of racing performance of Thoroughbred horses

Horse racing is a contest between horses, usually held for the purpose of betting. Thoroughbred horse racing is the most diffused form of horse racing throughout the world. Thoroughbred is one of the most versatile of horse breeds and has influenced the development of many other breeds. Thoroughbred horses served as a foundation stock for the development of the light horse breeds. The two types of horse racing are flat racing and jumping races/steeplechases. The measures of racing performance are broadly classified into three categories. They are time and its several variations, handicap or similar performance ratings and earnings. One common measure of the performance of racehorses evaluated genetically is racing time or final time. The heritability estimates differed according to method of estimation, age, sex, track and distance. Time measure generally had a heritability in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 with the higher values for shorter races. For handicap and earning measures the heritabilities reported were generally higher in the range of 0.3 to 0.4; hence these may be considered in genetic evaluation of racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. The average generation interval of Thoroughbred horses was 11.2 ± 4.5 and 9.7 ± 3.8 years for males and females respectively, which limits the genetic progress in racing horses. However, the major advantage is that the racing performance may be evaluated in both males and females and repeated observations can be obtained on the same animal in relatively short periods. These factors coupled with the reasonable heritability of some measures of racing performance, suggest that mass selection based on performance tests would be the selection procedure of choice to improve the racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. In general, the inbreeding at the rate that is usually practised in Thoroughbred population does not enable much gene fixing. However, practice of close inbreeding may be avoided, even though it still fascinates breeders at subconscious level.     

Assessment of suitability of two serotype A candidate vaccine strains for inclusion in FMD vaccine in India

The recent type A foot and mouth disease virus field isolates recovered in India are shown to be antigenically quite divergent from the in-use vaccine strain (IND 17/82), warranting the selection of a suitable vaccine strain which can cover this diversity in antigenic spectrum. In earlier studies employing neutralization test with anti-146S rabbit sera raised against eight candidate vaccine strains, IND 81/00 and IND 40/00 belonging to genotype VII were found to offer the best antigenic coverage. In order to assess the credibility of IND 81/00 and IND 40/00 as vaccine strains, 17 recent isolates received during 2005-2006 and representative isolates from older genotypes were subjected to two-dimensional micro-neutralization assay using bovine convalescent serum (against IND 81/00 and IND 40/00) and bovine vaccinate serum (against IND 40/00). From the results it is evident that both the isolates IND 81/00 (antigenic relationship 'r-value' >0.40 with 86% of isolates) and IND 40/00 ('r-value' >0.40 with 78% of isolates) show nearly equal antigenic relatedness with the recent field viruses and hence both of these are effective vaccine candidates in present context. Though very limited in its extent, these useful data obtained with antisera raised in homologous host system are logical extension of the on going quest for the appropriate vaccine strain and circumvents species disparities in the immune recognition of epitopes.