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Animals
Special Issues
How to Safeguard Local Heritage: From Conservation to Breeding Strategies
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How to Safeguard Local Heritage: From Conservation to Breeding Strategies

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 8092

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alberto Sabbioni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: cattle breeding; animal genetics
Dr. Michela Ablondi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Parma, Via del Taglio 10, I-43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: cattle breeding; animal genetics; statistical genetics; genomics; quantitative genetics; genetic diversity; horse genetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Christos Dadousis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Firenze, I-50144 Firenze, Italy
Interests: animal breeding & genetics; quantitative genetics; statistical genetics/genomics; dairy and meat science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Elena Mariani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, University of Parma Via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: farming systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The long‐term survival of local breeds depends on strategies that both monitor their genetic diversity and find a sustainable role in the current and future markets. Genetic conservation is the primary tool to save a breed from extinction. Nevertheless, investing in its economic value through selective breeding and management strategies might likewise be an effective strategy. This Special Issue aims to share knowledge in livestock for characterizing, collecting, and monitoring variability to protect and enhance local heritage.

For this Special Issue, we invite original research (analyzing field data or simulation studies) and reviews covering all of the possibilities to safeguard native livestock populations, with particular focus on population genetics and diversity assessment, together with crossbreeding and optimal contribution selection strategies. In addition, research on farming systems’ characterization and the exploitation of novel opportunities to adapt local breeds to modern farming systems are also encouraged. 

Dr. Alberto Sabbioni
Dr. Michela Ablondi
Dr. Christos Dadousis
Dr. Elena Mariani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Pedigree
  • Genotype
  • Genomics
  • Morphology
  • Local breed
  • Sustainability
  • Genetic diversity
  • Inbreeding
  • Runs of homozygosity

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1820 KiB  
Article
Development and Application of a High-Resolution Melting Analysis with Unlabeled Probes for the Screening of Short-Tailed Sheep TBXT Heterozygotes
by Guang Yang, Caiyun Wang, Hong Su, Daqing Wang, Aolie Dou, Lu Chen, Teng Ma, Moning Liu, Jie Su, Xiaojing Xu, Yanyan Yang, Tingyi He, Xihe Li, Yongli Song and Guifang Cao
Animals 2022, 12(6), 792; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12060792 - 21 Mar 2022
Viewed by 2225
Abstract
The short-tailed phenotype has long been considered one of the best traits for population genetic improvement in sheep breeding. In short-tailed sheep, not only is tail fat eliminated but also the pubic area is exposed due to the lack of a tail covering, [...] Read more.
The short-tailed phenotype has long been considered one of the best traits for population genetic improvement in sheep breeding. In short-tailed sheep, not only is tail fat eliminated but also the pubic area is exposed due to the lack of a tail covering, giving them an advantage in reproduction. Recent studies have shown that two linked mutations in sheep TBXT at nucleotides 333 and 334 are associated with the short-tailed phenotype. In the population of short-tailed sheep, several heterozygous mutants of this gene are found. In our research, we used high-resolution melting (HRM) to identify homozygous and heterozygous genotypes in a flock of short-tailed sheep and compared the results with those of Sanger sequencing, which were identical. This demonstrates that our established HRM method, a rapid and inexpensive genotyping method, can be used to identify homozygous and heterozygous individuals in short-tailed sheep flocks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How to Safeguard Local Heritage: From Conservation to Breeding Strategies)
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17 pages, 948 KiB  
Article
Selection Response Due to Different Combination of Antagonistic Milk, Beef, and Morphological Traits in the Alpine Grey Cattle Breed
by Enrico Mancin, Cristina Sartori, Nadia Guzzo, Beniamino Tuliozi and Roberto Mantovani
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1340; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051340 - 8 May 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2116
Abstract
Selection in local dual-purpose breeds requires great carefulness because of the need to preserve peculiar traits and also guarantee the positive genetic progress for milk and beef production to maintain economic competitiveness. A specific breeding plan accounting for milk, beef, and functional traits [...] Read more.
Selection in local dual-purpose breeds requires great carefulness because of the need to preserve peculiar traits and also guarantee the positive genetic progress for milk and beef production to maintain economic competitiveness. A specific breeding plan accounting for milk, beef, and functional traits is required by breeders of the Alpine Grey cattle (AG), a local dual-purpose breed of the Italian Alps. Hereditability and genetic correlations among all traits have been analyzed for this purpose. After that, different selection indexes were proposed to identify the most suitable for this breed. Firstly, a genetic parameters analysis was carried out with different datasets. The milk dataset contained 406,918 test day records of milk, protein, and fat yields and somatic cells (expressed as SCS). The beef dataset included performance test data conducted on 749 young bulls. Average daily gain, in vivo estimated carcass yields, and carcass conformation (SEUROP) were the phenotypes obtained from the performance tests. The morphological dataset included 21 linear type evaluations of 11,320 first party cows. Linear type traits were aggregated through factor analysis and three factors were retained, while head typicality (HT) and rear muscularity (RM) were analyzed as single traits. Heritability estimates (h2) for milk traits ranged from 0.125 to 0.219. Analysis of beef traits showed h2 greater than milk traits, ranging from 0.282 to 0.501. Type traits showed a medium value of h2 ranging from 0.238 to 0.374. Regarding genetic correlation, SCS and milk traits were strongly positively correlated. Milk traits had a negative genetic correlation with the factor accounting for udder conformations (−0.40) and with all performance test traits and RM. These latter traits showed also a negative genetic correlation with udder volume (−0.28). The HT and the factor accounting for rear legs traits were not correlated with milk traits, but negatively correlated with beef traits (−0.32 with RM). We argue that the consequence of these results is that the use of the current selection index, which is mainly focused on milk attitude, will lead to a deterioration of all other traits. In this study, we propose more appropriate selection indexes that account for genetic relationships among traits, including functional traits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How to Safeguard Local Heritage: From Conservation to Breeding Strategies)
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13 pages, 1622 KiB  
Article
Diversification of Morphological Features of the Dark European Honey Bee of the ‘Augustow M’ Line
by Beata Madras-Majewska and Lucja Skonieczna
Animals 2021, 11(4), 1156; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041156 - 17 Apr 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2660
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the diversification of morphological features of the Dark European honey bee of the Augustow M line. The authors studied the proboscis length and cubital index, as features determining the affiliation to the species; the width [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to investigate the diversification of morphological features of the Dark European honey bee of the Augustow M line. The authors studied the proboscis length and cubital index, as features determining the affiliation to the species; the width of tergite 4 and the sum of widths of tergites 3 + 4, as indicators of the bee body size; and the length and width of the right forewing. They compared bees sampled from (1) the “lead apiary”, (2) “associate apiaries” and (3) “conservation area apiaries”—apiaries situated in the conservation area established by the national program for the conservation of genetic resources of this bee line. The conclusion was that it is possible to protect bees of the Augustow M line under the existing program, based on resources available to the lead, associate and conservation area apiaries. The bees studied have the essential features of the Dark European honey bee and the values of parameters tested are consistent with the morphological feature references valid for Apis m. mellifera. On the other hand, based on the authors’ research and on other studies described in literature of 1960s, there is a dwarfing trend in the Dark European honey bee of the Augustow M line. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How to Safeguard Local Heritage: From Conservation to Breeding Strategies)
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