A unifying concept of animal breeding programmes

Design and Optimisation of Animal Breeding Programmes

Maintenance of quantitative genetic variation in animal breeding programmes

Factors influencing the maintenance of genetic variation in quantitative traits in populations undergoing artificial selection are reviewed. Formulae are given for simple cases, in particular for the infinitesimal model where variation is lost by genetic drift and gained by mutation and therefore the minimum population size to maintain genetic variation is a function of mutation rate. For genes...

Conventional breeding programmes and genetic resistance to animal diseases.

The power of selection is illustrated by the increase in the average annual yield of dairy cows in Sweden in kg fat-corrected milk from 2,500 kg in the year 1900 to 8,200 kg in 1997. More than a half of this improvement has a genetic origin. The breeding goal for dairy cattle has successively been broadened to cover traits other than production. The prerequisites for a successful breeding progr...

Dependability - a Unifying Concept

This paper discusses the need for a clear set of system dependability concepts and terminology, adequate for situations in which there are uncertainties about system boundaries, the very complexity of systems (and their specifications, if they have any) is a major problem, judgements as to possible causes or consequences of failure may need be very subtle, and there are only fallible provisions...

A unifying concept for astrobiology

Evolution, broadly construed, has become a powerful unifying concept in much of science – not only in the biological evolution of plants and animals, but also in the physical evolution of stars and planets, and the cultural evolution of society and its many varied products. This paper (1) explores the bulk structure and functioning of open, non-equilibrium, thermodynamic systems relevant to the...