China has a long history of sheep (Ovis aries [O. aries]) breeding and an abundance of sheep genetic resources. Knowledge of the complete O. aries mitogenome should facilitate the study of the evolutionary history of the species. Therefore, the complete mitogenome of O. aries was sequenced and annotated. In order to characterize the mitogenomes of 3 Chinese sheep breeds (Altay sheep [AL], Shand...

Background The presence of different missense mutations in sheep breeds have shown that the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 1B (BMPR1B), bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) and growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) genes play a vital role in ovulation rate and prolificacy in ewes. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate BMPR1B, BMP15 and GDF9 gene mutations in prolific ewes of I...

Received: August 08, 2009 Revised: September 10, 2009 Accepted: October 24, 2009

The short-tailed sheep, native of an area stretching from Russia to Iceland, are generally considered a primitive type. These robust northern sheep seem to have been spread by Norse vikings to several countries in this area from the late eighth century to the middle of the eleventh century ad. They have several common characteristics in addition to the fluke-shaped and tapered short tail, such ...

Numerous factors affect livestock production and productivity. In this chapter we will address those that are of paramount importance: climate, nutrition, and health aspects. In initial section we will review the effects of climate on livestock productivity and provide examples of livestock adaptation to climate constraints such as the Bos indicus cattle breeds adapted to hot weather and the fa...

Pollen dispersal is a critical process that shapes genetic diversity in natural populations of plants. Estimating the pollen dispersal curve can provide insight into the evolutionary dynamics of populations and is essential background for making predictions about changes induced by perturbations. Specifically, we would like to know whether the dispersal curve is exponential, thin-tailed (decrea...