Introduction. Cow longevity is one of the most economically important traits in the beef cow. Longevity is inter-related to other important traits, and, therefore, it is difficult to separate the importance of longevity, itself, from the importance of traits that are related to longevity. For example, reproductive performance is usually part of the culling criteria. It is often stated that repr...

The data entered into KIDPLAN, the national goat performance recording program in Australia was summarised. The summary includes the number of active breeding animals added since the development of the program, the number of records recorded per trait in 2013 with the average phenotype and variance and, the average EBV and accuracy for various traits since the programs’ development. The number ...

An F2 Japanese quail population was developed by crossing two strains (wild and white) to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for performance and carcass traits. A total of 472 F2 birds were reared and slaughtered at 42 days of age. Performance and carcass traits were measured on all of the F2 individuals. Parental (P0), F1 and F2 individuals were genotyped with 3 microsatellites from quail chrom...

the aims of the present study were to propose apolymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphismpcr-rflp genotyping method for the ay_376689:c.773c>t single nucleotide polymorphism snp of the equine prkag3 gene, related to muscle performance, as well as to characterize this snp and a second polymorphism, aawr_02017454:g.121684t>c of the spata1 gene, related to male fertility, i...

This paper reports genetic parameters for ewe performance traits in sheep breeders' flocks in New Zealand. Animal performance records from the AgResearch Lamb Survival Database and from Sheep Improvement Limited were used to generate data sets from 3 lambing years (2003 to 2005) in 24 flocks, and involving 31,651 ewes and many breeds and breed compositions (predominantly Romney, Coopworth, and ...

OBJECTIVES Physique traits and their relationship to competitive success were assessed amongst lightweight rowers competing at the 2003 Australian Rowing Championships. METHODS Full anthropometric profiles were collected from 107 lightweight rowers (n = 65 males, n = 45 females) competing in the Under 23 and Open age categories. Performance assessments were obtained for 66 of these rowers bas...

In approximately 3.2% of bird species individuals regularly forgo the opportunity to breed independently and instead breed cooperatively with other conspeci¢cs, either as non-reproductive `helpers' or as co-breeders. The traditional explanation for cooperative breeding is that the opportunities for breeding independently are limited owing to peculiar features of the species' breeding ecology. H...

The Mildew resistance Locus O (MLO) family is unique to plants, containing genes that were initially identified as a susceptibility factor to powdery mildew pathogens. However, little is known about the roles and functional diversity of this family in rice, a model crop plant. The rice genome has 12 potential MLO family members. To achieve systematic functional assignments, we performed a phylo...

Asymmetries in competitive ability can determine the outcome of social interactions in animals and are often expressed through differences in sexual traits. Competitive ability (resource holding potential, RHP), trait expression and ultimately reproductive success may vary with an individual's age or experience. In some species, reproductively mature males delay acquisition of some adult traits...

Species' life history traits, including maturation age, number of reproductive bouts, offspring size and number, reflect adaptations to diverse biotic and abiotic selection pressures. A striking example of divergent life histories is the evolution of either iteroparity (breeding multiple times) or semelparity (breed once and die). We analysed published data on salmonid fishes and found that sem...