Consumer evaluation of meat quality from barrows, immunocastrates and boars in six countries.

The practice of surgical castration of piglets and its alternatives is still under debate. Production of boars may impair meat quality due to boar taint and reduced tenderness compared to meat from surgically castrated male pigs, while immunocastration reduces boar taint and may improve meat quality but seems to be less accepted by the pig chain. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the consumer's sensory appreciation of meat from barrows (BAs), immunocastrates (ICs) and boars (BOs) in six European countries, taking into account the selection of tainted carcass and consumers' appreciation of boar taint. Loin chops of 30 BAs, 30 ICs and 30 BOs were evaluated by 752 consumers in six countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. Consumers rated odour, flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy and sensitivity to and liking of androstenone (AND) and liking of skatole (SKA) was also tested. In each of the six countries, consumers liked the odour of the BO samples less than that of BA, and IC intermediate. For flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy, liking scores given by the Czech, Polish and Portuguese consumers significantly differed between the BA, BO and IC. Willingness to buy was highest for BA by Czech and Polish consumers and for BA and IC by Portuguese consumers. The frequency of the negative check all terms that apply terms also differed, with a higher frequency of disgusting for BO compared to BA and IC and of off-flavour, irritating, manure, sweat, disappointing compared to BA, and intermediate for IC. 31% of the consumers disliked the odour of AND (NEGAND), and 36% of them were not sensitive; in contrast, 77% of the consumers disliked SKA (NEGSKA). The decrease in flavour liking score for BO compared to BA and IC was more outspoken by the NEGAND consumer, while NEGSKA consumers gave an overall lower liking score independent of the type of male pig. The results of this study indicate that IC can be a valid alternative for surgical castration.

Association of inbreeding and regional equine leucocyte antigen homozygosity with the prevalence of insect bite hypersensitivity in Old Kladruber horse.

Inbreeding depression is the reduction of performance caused by mating of close relatives. In livestock populations, inbreeding depression has been traditionally estimated by regression of phenotypes on pedigree inbreeding coefficients. This estimation can be improved by utilising genomic inbreeding coefficients. Here we estimate inbreeding depression for insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) prevalence, the most common allergic horse disease worldwide, in Old Kladruber horse. In a deep pedigree with 3214 horses (187 genotyped), we used a generalised linear mixed model with IBH phenotype from 558 horses examined between 1996 and 2009 (1368 records). In addition to the classical pedigree information, we used the single-step approach that enabled joint use of pedigree and genomic information to estimate inbreeding depression overall genome and equine leucocyte antigen (ELA) class II region. Significant inbreeding depression was observed in all models fitting overall inbreeding coefficients (odds ratio between 1.018 and 1.074, P < 0.05) with the exception of Kalinowski's new inbreeding (P = 0.0516). The increase of ELA class II inbreeding was significantly associated with increased prevalence of IBH (odds ratio 1.018; P = 0.027). However, when fitted jointly with the overall inbreeding coefficient, the effect of ELA class II inbreeding was not significant (odds ratio 1.016; P = 0.062). Overall, the higher ELA class II and/or overall inbreeding (pedigree or genomic) was associated with increased prevalence of IBH in Old Kladruber horses. The single-step approach provides an efficient use of all the available pedigree, genomic, and phenotype information for estimation of overall and regional inbreeding effects.

Genetic parameters of insect bite hypersensitivity in the Old Grey Kladruber horse.

The objective of this study was to assess the genetic parameters of insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in the Old Grey Kladruber horse, an original Czech warmblood horse breed. Insect bite hypersensitivity is a recurrent allergic skin disease affecting horses worldwide. Its etiology is multifactorial. The defect is genetically controlled, and the starting impulse is a bite by midges of the spp. and less frequently spp. Knowledge about the associated genes is limited. Horses were kept by the National Stud in Kladruby (1,146 measurements) and by 10 private breeders (63 measurements). The horses were visually scored by the same inspector over a period of 13 yr from 1996 to 2009. A linear logistic model with a binary variable was used for subsequent statistical analysis. The fixed effects of the farm, year of evaluation, age of evaluation, and sex were significant, and the nonsignificant effect was the intensity of greying. The animals from the National Stud were more strongly affected by IBH than animals from private studs. The National Stud is located near the Labe River, at an altitude of 206 m; there are bottomland pastures in the vicinity, blind river arms, and numerous pools and marshes, and the climate is mild. These conditions are convenient for horse keeping but also for the propagation of . The stallions were less affected than the mares. The occurrence in years of age was influenced by selection; scoring began in the first year of age, and when the young animal was repeatedly positive, it was eliminated from breeding. The estimated h differed significantly from 0, and the direct h were 0.626 in the animal model with a maternal effect, 0.359 in the animal model without a maternal effect, and 0.363 in the animal model without correlation between direct and maternal effect. The maternal h was 0.305. The estimated repeatabilities were 0.636 with a maternal effect, 0.615 without a maternal effect, and 0.623 without correlation. The h of IBH was found to be medium to high, so there is a possibility to reduce the prevalence of IBH by selection.

BSE-associated polymorphisms in the prion protein gene: an investigation.

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of the 12-bp and 23-bp indel polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP) in cattle and to investigate the association between these frequencies and the occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). There was no significant difference in the 12-bp indel frequency between the BSE animals and control group. For the 23-bp indel, the BSE animals had a significantly lower + + (insins) genotype frequency and + allele frequency compared with the control animals. The - - / - - genotype frequency in the BSE animals was not significantly higher when compared with the control animals. One - allele increased the risk of BSE by a factor of 1.55 (i.e. by 55%) for the 12-bp indel and by a factor of 2.10 for the 23-bp indel. When both indels are considered, one - allele increased the risk of BSE by a factor of 1.54.

Short communication: Robertsonian translocations, chimerism, and aneuploidy in cattle.

The aim of this study was to evaluate frequencies of Robertsonian translocations, aneuploidy, and chimerism in Holstein-Friesian, Czech Simmental, and different beef breeds in the Czech Republic from 1996 to 2007. A total of 2,425 animals were examined: 2,377 males, (991 Holstein-Friesians, 1,218 Czech Simmental sires, 168 sires of beef breeds) and 48 females. Translocation was found in 10 Czech Simmental sires, 2 Highland, 1 Charolais, and 3 Blonde d' Aquitaine sires, and in 13 females. Chimerism (XX/XY) was found in 9 Czech Simmental sires, and in 5 Holstein-Friesian sires; XXX trisomy was found in 2 heifers and XXY trisomy in 3 Charolais sires. We recommend that animals with such anomalies should be disqualified from siring stock bulls.

Frequency of BLAD and CVM alleles in sires and elite heifers of Czech Holstein cattle.

In this paper, we analyse the occurrence of BLAD and CVM heterozygous animals in Holstein cattle in the Czech Republic in 1993-2005. The occurrence of BLAD heterozygous sires and heifers (BL) during the period 1993-1998 in Czech Holsteins was 13.9% and 10.7%. Radical measures have been taken to restore the population. Evidently, the measures have been efficient, in 2005 one BLAD heterozygous sire of 101 was found. Continuous testing is necessary, because in commercial herds, the eradication process is not short-term. The found occurrence ofCVM heterozygous sires (CV) decreased from 20% in 2001 to 8% (7 positive of 85) in 2005.This is still quite a high frequency. The occurrence in CV females of 20% remains higher. Therefore, the use of CV sires should be restricted thoroughly. Identification of the molecular basis for inherited diseases, should lead to control measures which would enable the quick recovery of the population.

Genotyping glycogen storage disease type II and type V in cattle reared in the Czech Republic.

Genotyping was carried out for glycogen storage disease type II and type V in seven cattle breeds. The analysis was carried out using the polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP) method. In the breeds analysed [Charolais, Czech Spotted (Czech Simmental), Belgian Blue, Limousine, Blonde d'Aquitaine, Aberdeen Angus, and Beef Simmental sires reared in the Czech Republic], the recessive allele was not found in the PYGM (phosphorylase glycogen, muscle) responsible for the glycogen storage disease type V. In the same panel, the recessive allele in exon 7, exon 9 and exon 13 of the GAA (glucosidase alpha, acid), causing the glycogen storage disease type II was not found. Therefore, we have not revealed the recessives outside previous reported breeds. The knowledge of the breed-specific occurrence of inherited disorders facilitates focusing and reduces the costs of detecting the heterozygous carriers of recessive inherited disorders.

Analysis of genetic regulation of chicken spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis, an animal model of human Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

We analyzed the genetic regulation of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis (SAT) by means of crosses between Obese strain (OS) chickens with the disease, and healthy inbred chicken of line CB. Mononuclear cell infiltration of the thyroid was used as a criterion for the disease. We confirmed the existence of one recessive gene, regulating the susceptibility of the thyroid gland to autoimmune attack. From the frequency of progeny with the thyroid infiltration in backcross and F2 generations, we presume the existence of one or two additional dominant genes coding for abnormal reactivity of the immune system. The total number of genes regulating SAT is therefore a maximum of three. We attempted to identify disease-specific transcripts responsible for the initiation of the disease using suppression subtractive hybridization of RNA prepared from OS and CB thyroid lobes, obtained from 3-day-old chicks. From forward and reverse subtractions, we recovered a fragment mixture in the range of 300 bp to 1.5 kb. In total, 768 clones were screened and 9 were sequenced. Four of them represent unknown sequences. Two, specific for OS thyroid, correspond to envelope genes of avian endogenous viruses (ev)-1, -3 and -6. The expressed product of an env gene could be iodinated in the thyroid gland and become involved in thyroglobulin metabolism. This may be another possible mechanism driving SAT, as iodine modulates SAT in the chicken. Further experiments will be required to prove this hypothesis. Two thyroid-specific clones had significant alignment to human thyroglobulin, and one clone to human coatomer protein. We analyzed, by RFLP and RNA dot blots, cosegregation between clones for the env gene of endogenous viruses as the most promising candidate for involvement in driving SAT; we did not find differences at the DNA and RNA levels. We can possibly therefore rule out a simple involvement of env genes with the initiation of disease.