Terminal sire crossbreeding systems which improve growth performance while maintaining parasite resistance have the potential to enhance the profitability of hair sheep enterprises. Katahdin (KT, n = 4), Suffolk (SU, n = 3), and Texel (TX, n = 3) rams were randomly mated to KT ewes over two years (Y1, Y2) at the Virginia Tech Southwest Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Post-lambing until weaning (80 d), pairs were managed on fescue pasture. At weaning, lambs (n = 192) were moved to an ungrazed pasture and provided a concentrate pellet daily for a 90 d grazing trial. During this time, BW, strongylid egg count (FEC), FAMACHA score and packed cell volume (PCV) were collected every 14 d. FAMACHA score - 3 was utilized as the basis for anthelmintic treatment. Post-grazing, lambs were fed to approximately 50 kg BW. Lambs were harvested at the Virginia Tech Meat Center and carcass evaluation performed 1 d post-harvest. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) with Proc MIXED for repeated measures analysis and Proc GLM with Tukey?s test for mean separation. No differences existed between sire breeds for adjusted number of lambs born or number of lambs weaned. Adjusted birth BW was greater for SU-sired lambs than KT-sired and TX-sired (P < 0.05) in Y2. Adjusted weaning BW was smallest for KT-sired lambs compared to SU- and TX-sired lambs (P < 0.05) in both years. During the grazing trials, BW, ADG, lnFEC, FAMACHA and PCV varied over time (P < 0.001) with lower FAMACHA scores for KT-sired lambs than SU- and TX-sired lambs in Y1 (P < 0.05). A greater proportion of SU-sired lambs tended to require deworming than KT-sired lambs (P = 0.08). Adjusted BW post weaning was greater for TX-sired lambs than KT-sired lambs (P < 0.05) in Y1. Post-grazing, BW and ADG varied over time (P < 0.01) with no sire breed differences for ADG. At harvest, SU-sired lambs were heavier than KT-sired lambs (P < 0.05). TX-sired lambs had greater LM area than KT-sired lambs (P = 0.05). KT-sired lambs had the smallest leg scores (P < 0.05). These results indicate the potential of terminal sires (SU- and TX-sires) to improve lamb growth and carcass merit. TX-sired lambs had more similar parasite resistance characteristics to KT-sired Iambs and may have potential as terminal sires in forage based hair sheep production systems. / Master of Science

The retriever breeds have the same origin and have long been used as a gundog for hunting of game, mostly birds. However, recently the retriever breeds have become a popular pet and show dog. This have affected the breeding of the dogs as the same traits are not bred for a gundog and a pet or show dog. Breeds as the Labrador retriever consists of a field- and common-type. The aim of this study is to investigate any differences between and within five of the retriever breeds in behaviours as retrieving, search and game reaction. 64 dogs undergoing the field trial Description of Function- Retriever was video recorded and scores from 430 dogs that have undergone field trials was obtained. Both differences between and within breeds were found when analysing both the videos and scores. In the video analysis, the Flatcoated retriever showed the most retrieving behaviours and was the most passive. The Nova scotia duck tolling retriever was in both the video and score analyses the most active breed. The Labrador retriever scored high in game reaction. The field- and mixed-types had almost always higher scores in behaviours linked to hunting, compared to the common-type. This supports findings that recent selection in breeding have a larger effect on behaviour than the origin uses of the dogs.

Genomic evaluation techniques have been a huge success in the dairy cattle industry, as they allow accurate enough estimation of breeding values at a young age to allow selection decisions to be made at an earlier stage, thereby increasing the rate of genetic progress per annum. The success of genomic selection techniques relies on the existence of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between markers and quantitative trait loci (QTL) across the population of interest; LD persists across larger distances within breeds than across breeds. Therefore, most success so far has been for selection within breeds, but the industry is keen for “across breed” evaluations to be developed, both in a multi-breed scenario which would allow evaluations for breeds that are numerically too small to carry out evaluations within breeds, and also for the evaluation of crossbred animals. This thesis investigates the potential for applying genomic selection techniques in both the multi-breed and crossbred scenarios. Chapter 2 examines the potential for a multi-breed reference population to improve the accuracy of genomic evaluation for a numerically small breed, for a range of production and non-production traits. The results provide evidence that forming a multi-breed reference population for two closely related breeds (Holstein and Friesian) results in a higher accuracy of GEBVs for the smaller breed, particularly when more phenotypic records are added via the single-step GBLUP method, and when a higher density SNP chip is used. Chapter 3 examines the crossbred scenario, whereby GEBVs are calculated for crossbred individuals based on a crossbred reference population. The population used for analysis was a highly crossbred African population, and GEBVs were calculated for three groups of animals chosen according to whether they had a high or low proportion of imported dairy genetics. Accuracy of prediction was higher than expected, and provided proof of concept for applying genomic selection techniques in crossbred African cattle populations. Chapter 4 investigates the potential for using novel SNPs derived from sequence data in order to estimate genomic relationships across cattle breeds, deploying data from two closely related breeds, Fleckvieh and Simmental, and a further distant European breed, the Brown Swiss. Novel SNPs were selected from sequence based on their putative impact on the genome, with impacts being inferred by SNP annotation software snpEff. Results showed that genomic relationships calculated using novel SNPs have a high correlation with genomic relationships calculated using SNPs common to the Illumina BovineHD SNP chip, though between-breed correlations were lower than those within breeds. The results presented in this thesis demonstrate that utilising a multi-breed reference population can improve the accuracy of prediction for a numerically small breed, and that genomic prediction of highly crossbred individuals is also feasible. However, differences between breeds and also types of crossbred animal suggest that no one solution can be used for all across-breed evaluations, and further research will be needed to allow commercial implementation in further populations.

Orientador: Rafael Litvin Villas Bôas / Resumo: A presente investigação intitulada “Terra, Raça, Classe e Estratégia” visa compreender qual a relação da luta do MST pela Reforma Agrária com o debate sobre a questão racial. Partindo das contribuições teóricas dos sociólogos Clóvis Moura e Florestan Fernandes entre outros autores, nosso estudo tem como finalidade levantar subsídios para a percepção de como as desigualdades sociais e territoriais no campo estão intrinsicamente ligadas às desigualdades raciais. No nosso estudo investigaremos de que maneira o MST historicamente pensa a questão racial associada a luta pela Reforma Agrária, visto que a maioria das pessoas que compõem os assentamentos e acampamentos são negros e negras. A partir desse diagnóstico visamos compreender de que maneira a estratégia de luta do MST se associa à luta contra o racismo, como legado da escravidão e do latifúndio no Brasil. Na perspectiva de contextualizar esta análise em sua possível efetivação nas esferas individual e coletiva, analisaremos a possibilidade de encontrar elementos que apontem para a relação entre terra, raça e classe do ponto de vista da contribuição para o avanço da luta da classe trabalhadora. O estudo parte da hipótese de que o MST não desenvolveu o debate sobre a questão racial como avançou no debate sobre a questão de gênero e a questão LGBT. Porém, constatamos nas entrevistas com militantes do MST da Bahia, um grande potencial para que o debate avance internamente na organização. Pois compreendemos que a questão agrária... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present research entitled "Land, Race, Class and Strategy" aims to understand the relationship between the MST struggle for Agrarian Reform and the debate on the racial phenomenon. Starting from the theoretical contributions of sociologists Clóvis Moura and Florestan Fernandes among other authors, our study has the purpose of raising subsidies for the perception of how social and territorial inequalities in the field are intrinsically linked to racial inequalities. In our study we will investigate how the MST historically thinks the racial issue associated with the struggle for Agrarian Reform, since most of the people who make up the settlements and camps are Black and Brown. From this diagnosis we aim to understand how the MST's strategy of struggle is associated with the fight against racism, as a legacy of slavery and latifundia in Brazil. In the perspective of contextualizing this analysis in its possible realization in the individual and collective spheres, we will analyze the possibility of finding elements that point to the relation between land, race and class from the point of view of the contribution to the advancement of the struggle of the working class. The Study starts from the hypothesis that the MST did not develop the debate on the racial issue as it advanced in the debate on the issue of gender and the LGBT question. However, we verified in interviews with militants of the MST of Bahia, a great potential for the debate to advance internally in the organ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Resumen: Esta investigación titulado "Tierra, raza, clase y Estrategia", que tiene como objetivo comprender la relación de la lucha del MST por la reforma agraria con el debate sobre el fenómeno racial.Sobre la base de las contribuciones teóricas de los sociólogos Clóvis Moura y Florestan Fernandes, entre otros, nuestro estudio tiene como objetivo aumentar los subsidios para la percepción de cómo las desigualdades sociales y territoriales en el campo están intrínsecamente ligadas a las desigualdades raciales. En nuestro estudio vamos a investigar cómo el MST pensar históricamente el problema de la raza asociada con la lucha por la reforma agraria, ya que la mayoría de las personas que conforman los asentamientos y campamentos son hombres y mujeres de raza negra. Con este diagnóstico se pretende entender cómo la estrategia de lucha MST se asocia con la lucha contra el racismo como un legado de la esclavitud y el latifundio en Brasil. Con el fin de contextualizar este análisis de su posible eficacia en las esferas individuales y colectivas, vamos a examinar la posibilidad de encontrar elementos que apuntan a la relación entre la tierra, la raza y el punto de vista de la contribución clase para el avance de la lucha obrera. El estudio parte de la hipótesis de que el MST no se ha desarrollado el debate sobre la raza a medida que avanzaba en el debate sobre la cuestión de la cuestión de género y LGTB.Sin embargo, encontramos las entrevistas a militantes del MST Bahía, un gran potencial par... (Resumen completo clicar acceso eletrônico abajo) / Mestre

Orientador: Rosemeire da Silva Fillardi / Resumo: A suinocultura mundial encontra-se em processo de mudanças e o crescimento da demanda por proteína animal, principalmente nos países em desenvolvimento, exige aumento na produção e na produtividade. Muitas pesquisas relatam sucesso na utilização dos cruzamentos entre animais de raças rústicas, com raças comerciais ou seus híbridos, melhorando a produção de carcaças com maior índice de carne magra e menor depósito de gordura.Este experimento foi realizado na Fazenda Experimental de Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensão da Unesp, Campus de Ilha Solteira para avaliar a qualidade e a composição nutricional de Longissimus dorsi oriundos de suínos de diferentes origens genéticas criados nas mesmas condições de manejo e alimentação. Os Longissimus dorsi foram obtidos de 18 animais, sendo 6 de cada uma das origens genéticas: ♂Moura x ♀Moura; ♂MS115 x ♀Moura e ♂MS115 x ♀F1 produzindo respectivamente leitões Moura puros, ½ sangue Moura e leitões híbridos tipo comercial. Nas amostras obtidas foram realizadas avaliações do pH45 minutos, pH 24 horas, cor (*L, *a e *b), capacidade de retenção de água, perdas por cocção, força de cisalhamento,composição centesimal, valor energético e teor de minerais. Dentre as principais diferenças determinadas pela origem genética destacaram-se a menor maciez da carne, evidenciada pelas maiores perdas por cocção (P<0,05) e força de cisalhamento (P<0,05) observadas nos Longissimus dorsi de animais da raça Moura, os quais também apresentaram maior teor de gordura (P<... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: World pig farms are in the process of shifting and increasing demand for animal protein, especially in developing countries, requires increased production and productivity. Many researchers have been successful in searching for crosses between rustic, commercial and hybrid animals, improving the production of carcasses with higher lean meat and lower fat deposition. This experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Teaching, Research and Extension of the Unesp, Campus of Ilha Solteira-SP and aimed at the analysis of the quality and chemical composition of Longissimus dorsi originated from the crossing of pigs with different genetic origins (Moura, ½ Moura blood and commercial hybrids), raised under the same management and feeding conditions. The samples were evaluated for pH45 minutes, pH 24 hours, color (* L, * a and * b), water retention capacity, cooking losses, shear force, centesimal composition, energy value and mineral content. Among the main differences determined by the genetic origin were the lower meat tenderness, evidence by the higher cooking losses (P <0.05) and shear force (P <0.05) observed in Longissimus dorsi of Moura animals, which also presented higher fat content (P <0.05). / Mestre

In the two novels, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, characters show that their preconceptions and encounter with the Westerners play a big role in how they view Westerners and/or Indians who have adapted to or grown up with the Western lifestyle. Due to Roy’s family being a group of “Anglophiles” and liking the British, they see Sophie Mol being half-Indian as positive. Padma, Saleem’s partner in Rushdie’s novel, on the other hand, is less familiar with the British and therefore has problems accepting that Saleem is half-English. This difference between how the two families view the half-breeds, Sophie Mol and Saleem, can also be connected to the long history of colonialism, where Roy’s family has been trained to like the British, whilst Padma was born after India’s independence and was not trained to like the former colonists. Similarly, Chacko is being more accepted for his adaptation to English ways by his family than Aadam is by his family. However, Chacko is not accepted by the English, where he feels that he belongs, which makes both Chacko and Aadam feel “rootless” in their home culture. It is through these preconceptions and different encounters that characters view and believe that there is a difference in behaviour between the Indian and Western women, and that Westerners have a need to have higher status than the Indians. This essay shows that Indians have different views depending on their knowledge, lack of knowledge, interest or lack of faith in the West.

This dissertation investigates: (1) the implications of including high-yielding energy sorghum under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) program; (2) the effects of RFS2 with and without projected climate change scenarios on U.S. agriculture; (3) the spatial distribution of cattle breeders in Texas to quantify how climate factors influence cattle breed selection. In the RFS2 energy sorghum work, the ability of the agriculture sector to meet the fuel requirements of RFS2 is examined with and without energy sorghum being a possibility using an agricultural sector model. The results show that energy sorghum would be a valuable contributor that would be used as a feedstock producing over 13 billion gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol. Without the presence of energy sorghum it is found that switchgrass serves as the major cellulosic ethanol feedstock. Findings also indicate that the presence of high-yielding energy sorghum does relax commodity prices and export reductions except for grain sorghum as energy sorghum competes with grain sorghum production. In addition, the results show that the introduction of energy sorghum has minimal effects on GHG mitigation potential in the agricultural sector. In the RFS2 and climate change research, the analysis shows that climate change eases the burden of meeting the RFS2 mandates increasing consumer welfare while decreasing producer welfare. The results also show that climate change encourages a more diversified use of biofuel feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production, in particular crop residues. In the cattle breed research, summer heat stress is found to be a significant factor for breed selection: positive for Bos indicus and negative for Bos taurus and composite breeds. The estimation results also indicate a price-driven trade-off between Bos taurus and Bos indicus breeds.

Wood stiffness or modulus of elasticity (MOE) is one of the most important wood properties for solid timber applications, and as such, the efficacy of wood use, especially for structural timber is strongly related to MOE. MOE in Pinus radiata is highly variable and poorly understood. In this study, the effect of initial stand spacing and breed on outerwood MOE and the vertical distribution of MOE of Pinus radiata was assessed. Understanding positive or negative influences of growth caused by initial stand spacing and genetic material on MOE is appealing because it could enable us to better comprehend how forest growers could adapt silvicultural operations to the demands of wood processing. Physical characteristics of different breeds and propagation methods of Pinus radiata were assessed at a variety of initial stand spacings. Stem diameter, crown height, stem slenderness and branch size were all heavily influenced by stand spacing. Breed had a marginally significant influence on diameter and stem slenderness. Internode length was not affected by stand spacing, but showed sizeable differences, especially between the long internode 870 breed and the remaining growth and form (GF) breeds. Outerwood MOE was significantly (P<0.0001) influenced by stand spacing and breed, but not their interaction (P>0.05). MOE scaled positively with stand spacing. MOE increased by 39% from 5.4 GPa at 209 stems ha-1 to 7.5 GPa at 2551 stems ha-1. The majority of this increase (33%) occurred between 209 and 835 stems ha-1. Physiologically aged cuttings of greater maturation status exhibited greater MOE, with the three-year-old cuttings being stiffer than the one-year-old cuttings, seedlings from the 870, 268 and 850 series, by 15, 17, 22 and 27%, respectively. Stem slenderness exhibited the strongest significant (P<0.0001) relationship with MOE (r2=0.49), followed by green crown height (r2=0.46) and diameter (r2=0.44). Stem slenderness and green crown height had a direct influence on MOE that explained 53% of the variance in MOE. MOE was also significantly (P<0.0001) influenced by spacing and breed when using the resonance technique to assess whole stem MOE. The vertical distribution of MOE showed that the lowest portion of the stem (bolt 1) was approximately 30% less stiff than bolts 2 and 3. After the greatest MOE value had been obtained at bolt 3, MOE gently declined to the top of the measured stem. Variation of MOE within trees was significant (58%) at the high stockings of 1457 and 2551 stems ha-1, but somewhat lower (36%) at the lower stockings. The 870 breed was approximately 8% and 16% stiffer than the 268 and 850 breeding series respectively, across all stockings, with the three-year-old cuttings being 7% stiffer than the one-year-old cuttings. At stockings of 481 stems ha-1 and less, the proportional height at which MOE was greatest within a tree was between 25% and 50% of stem height. At stockings above 481 stems ha-1 the proportional height at which maximum MOE was obtained was between 15% and 40% of stem height. Bolt slenderness was found to be the most significant factor impacting on MOE of the bolt. Regression of critical buckling height against diameter at ground level yielded a scaling exponent of 0.55, which was lower than the scaling exponent of 0.67 predicted with constant density-specific stiffness. There was a tendency for some bolts with lower mean diameter to display significantly higher safety margins than bolts with higher mean diameter, suggesting that the largest bolts, which occur at the base of tree, are the point of most likely critical failure.

Darbo tikslas yra įvertinti holšteinų veislės įtaką karvių pieno sudėčiai ir kokybei. Visi tyrimų duomenys įvertinti naudojant „R“ statistinį paketą Gyvūnų veislinės vertės tyrimų ir selekcijos laboratorijoje. Pagal gautus tyrimų rezultatus ir juos apibendrinusi, galiu teigti, kad tiriamoje karvių bandoje didėjant holšteinų veislės genų daliai, mažėja karvių pieno primilžis, nes nustatytas neigiamas ryšys ir korealiacija statistiškai patikima. Pieno riebumas taip pat mažės, nes ryšys tarp jų nustatytas neigiamas. O pieno baltymingumas didės. Tačiau pieno kokybė, pagal somatines ląsteles, prastėja, nes nustatytas ryšys buvo teigiamas ir koreliacija statistiškai patikima. / The aim of Master work is to valuate Lithuanian cows productivity and milk composition considering the blood dimensions of holstein breed. All data had been made through statistical analysis by EXCEL computation as well as by statistical package „R“ in the LVA Laboratory of Animals Research of Breeding Worth and Selection. In accordance with the results of the studies and received responses to them, I can say that part of the decline as the holšteinų blood of cows ' milk, because of the negative linkage Estimator and korealiacija statistically reliable. The content will also decline, because of the negative linkage between them. While the increase in the milk baltymingumas. However, the quality of the milk, the somatic cells, degraded, because the connection was positive and statistically reliable correlation between the.

Im Prüfjahr 2009 erhielten 842 Tiere (davon 492 Eber der Deutschen Landrasse) einen Prüfabschluss. 39 Eber mit hervorragender Eigenleistung wurden durch den Mitteldeutschen Schweinezuchtverband e.V als Besamungseber angekauft. Der Jahresbericht dokumentiert den Prüfablauf und die Prüfergebnisse. Bei den geprüften Rassen wurden u.a. die Mast- und Schlachtleistung sowie die Fleischqualität untersucht. Die Durchführung der Leistungsprüfung erfolgt praxisnah in Gruppen mit elektronischer Einzeltiererkennung und tierindividueller Erfassung des Futterverzehrs. Es erfolgt eine kombinierte Eigenleistungs-, Geschwister- und Nachkommenprüfung mit hohem Anteil Ebereigenleistungsprüfung zur züchterisch effizienten Nutzung der Prüfkapazitäten. Grundlage der Prüfung, die seit 1995 im Lehr- und Versuchsgut Köllitsch durchgeführt wird, sind die bundeseinheitlichen »Richtlinien für die Stationsprüfung auf Mastleistung, Schlachtkörperwert und Fleischbeschaffenheit beim Schwein (Geschwister- und Nachkommenprüfung)«, die vom Zentralverband der Deutschen Schweineproduktion e.V. herausgegeben werden.