Corn production for silage intercropped with forage in the farming-cattle breeding integration

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Reconstructing past ecological networks: the reconfiguration of seed-dispersal interactions after megafaunal extinction

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Landscape Diversity Influences Dispersal and Establishment of Pest with Complex Nutritional Ecology

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The development of genomics applied to dairy breeding

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Predicting breeding values for milk yield of Guzera (Bos indicus) cows using random regression models

Given the importance of Guzera breeding programs for milk production in the tropics, the objective of this study was to compare alternative random regression models for estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of breeding values. Test-day milk yields records (TDR) were collected monthly, in a maximum of 10 measurements. The database included 20,524 records of first lactation from 2816 Guzera cows. TDR data were analyzed by random regression models (RRM) considering additive genetic, permanent environmental and residual effects as random and the effects of contemporary group (CG), calving age as a covariate (linear and quadratic effects) and mean lactation curve as fixed. The genetic additive and permanent environmental effects were modeled by RRM using Wilmink, All and Schaeffer and cubic B-spline functions as well as Legendre polynomials. Residual variances were considered as heterogeneous classes, grouped differently according to the model used. Multi-trait analysis using finite-dimensional models (FDM) for testday milk records (TDR) and a single-trait model for 305-days milk yields (default) using the restricted maximum likelihood method were also carried out as further comparisons. Through the statistical criteria adopted, the best RRM was the one that used the cubic B-spline function with five random regression coefficients for the genetic additive and permanent environmental effects. However, the models using the Ali and Schaeffer function or Legendre polynomials with second and fifth order for, respectively, the additive genetic and permanent environmental effects can be adopted, as little variation was observed in the genetic parameter estimates compared to those estimated by models using the B-spline function. Therefore, due to the lower complexity in the (co)variance estimations, the model using Legendre polynomials represented the best option for the genetic evaluation of the Guzera lactation records. An increase of 3.6% in the accuracy of the estimated breeding values was verified when using RRM. The ranks of animals were very close whatever the RRM for the data set used to predict breeding values. Considering P305, results indicated only small to medium difference in the animals' ranking based on breeding values predicted by the conventional model or by RRM. Therefore, the sum of all the RRM-predicted breeding values along the lactation period (RRM305) can be used as a selection criterion for 305-day milk production. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Priming and temperature limits for germination of dispersal units of Urochloa brizantha (Stapf) Webster cv. basilisk

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Prediction of genomic-enabled breeding values and genome-wide association study for feedlot average daily weight gain in Nelore cattle

Pós-graduação em Genética e Melhoramento Animal - FCAV

Re-used progesterone devices efficiently synchronise oestrus and ovulation after autoclaving process in Toggenburg goats during the breeding season

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Rhinolekos capetinga: a new cascudinho species (Loricariidae, Otothyrinae) from the rio Tocantins basin and comments on its ancestral dispersal route

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Metacommunity organisation, spatial extent and dispersal in aquatic systems: patterns, processes and prospects

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Partitioning the relative contribution of one-phase and two-phase seed dispersal when evaluating seed dispersal effectiveness

Seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) is a conceptual framework that aims at quantifying the contribution of seed dispersal vectors to plant fitness. While it is well recognized that diplochorous dispersal systems, characterized by two successive dispersal steps performed by two different vectors (Phase I=primary seed dispersal and Phase II=secondary seed dispersal) which are common in temperate and tropical regions, little attention has been given to distinguishing the relative contribution of one-phase and two-phase dispersal to overall SDE. This conceptual gap probably results from the lack of a clear methodology to include Phase II dispersal into the calculation of SDE and to quantify its relative contribution. We propose a method to evaluate the relative contribution of one-phase and two-phase dispersal to SDE and determine whether two seed dispersers are better than one. To do so, we used the SDE landscape and an extension of the SDE landscape, the Phase II effect landscape, which measures the direction and magnitude of the Phase II dispersal effect on overall SDE. We used simulated and empirical data from a diplochorous dispersal system in the Peruvian Amazon to illustrate this new approach. Our approach provides the relative contribution of one-phase SDE (SDE1) and two-phase SDE (SDE2) to overall SDE and quantifies how much SDE changes with the addition of Phase II dispersal. Considering that the seed dispersal process is context dependent so that Phase II depends on Phase I, we predict the possible range of variation of SDE according to the variation of the probability of Phase II dispersal. In our specific study system composed of two primate species as primary dispersal vectors and different species of dung beetles as secondary dispersal vectors, the relative contribution of SDE1 and SDE2 to overall SDE varied between plant species. We discuss the context dependency of the Phase II dispersal and the potential applications of our approach. This extension to the conceptual framework of SDE enables quantitative evaluation of the effect of Phase II dispersal on plant fitness and can be easily adapted to other biotic and/or abiotic diplochorous dispersal systems.

A new species of hylodes (Anura, Hylodidae) and its secretive underwater breeding behavior

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Aloe vera bathing improved physical and humoral protection in breeding stock after induced spawning in matrinxa (Brycon amazonicus)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Effects of re-stripping on the seminal characteristics of pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) during the breeding season

Seminal characteristics in teleost fish with an annual reproductive period, such as pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus), may vary during the breeding season. The sperm formed before the beginning of the spawning period may be stored for a long time, causing damage to the cells. Therefore, re-stripping may be an important way to eliminate the old and allow for the collection of new spermatozoids. In this study, we analyzed the seminal characteristics of hormonally induced pacu at the beginning, middle and end of the breeding season, and we analyzed samples from re-stripped males (stripped first at the beginning, re-stripped in the middle, and re-stripped again at the end of the season) during two breeding seasons. The sperm density, ionic composition, pH, and osmolality were similar among the groups. The semen volume, seminal plasma protein concentration and incidence of morphologically anomalous sperm increased over time. In addition, some parameters that are associated with good-quality semen decreased, such as sperm motility, viability and DNA integrity. Moreover, we observed a positive association among motility, viability and DNA integrity for sperm with elevated 11-ketotestosterone, but there was no such association for fshb or lhb mRNA levels in the pituitary. The semen that was obtained earlier (at the beginning) or from re-stripped males exhibited better characteristics than the other samples collected. In conclusion, collecting semen from pacu at the end of breeding season should be avoided; it is preferable to strip early and then re-strip later in the season, and this approach may be used for diverse aquaculture purposes.

Coordinated dispersal and pre-isthmian assembly of the Central American ichthyofauna

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)