Behavioral characteristics of calving in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows

Studies were conducted to characterize the labor behavior in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows, a Locally adapted breed found in the semiarid region of Brazil, which is considered rustic and fertile. Eleven Curraleiro Pé-duro cows were kept in pasture and were Observed every 4 h to assess the beginning of birth, and subsequently were constantly monitored until the complete expulsion of the placenta, accordingly to the three different stages of labor. The cows were evaluated according to the following events: staring into the flank (SIF); licking vulva and lifting the tail (LVUT); head-Butts to the flank (HF); dripping colostrum (DC); lying down and standing (restlessness; LDS); duration of the first phase (Dur1P); amount of initial contractions (IC); time to onset of appearing of feet (TOAF); duration of calving (DC) and duration time from end of calving til l the expulsion of the placenta (DurExpP). The results are presented as mean ± standard deviation: SIF (4.00 ± 2.37); LVUT (2.38 ± 1.06); HF (1.80 ± 0.45); DC (1.20 ± 0.45); LDS (2.56 ± 1.33);IC (6.00 ± 2.9); Dur1F (71 ± 40 min); TOAF (7± 8 min); DC (25 ± 24 min); and DurExpP (228 ± 76 min). These results allow us to characterize the events that precede and accompany the moment of labor in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows.

Behavioral characteristics of calving in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows

Studies were conducted to characterize the labor behavior in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows, a Locally adapted breed found in the semiarid region of Brazil, which is considered rustic and fertile. Eleven Curraleiro Pé-duro cows were kept in pasture and were Observed every 4 h to assess the beginning of birth, and subsequently were constantly monitored until the complete expulsion of the placenta, accordingly to the three different stages of labor. The cows were evaluated according to the following events: staring into the flank (SIF); licking vulva and lifting the tail (LVUT); head-Butts to the flank (HF); dripping colostrum (DC); lying down and standing (restlessness; LDS); duration of the first phase (Dur1P); amount of initial contractions (IC); time to onset of appearing of feet (TOAF); duration of calving (DC) and duration time from end of calving til l the expulsion of the placenta (DurExpP). The results are presented as mean ± standard deviation: SIF (4.00 ± 2.37); LVUT (2.38 ± 1.06); HF (1.80 ± 0.45); DC (1.20 ± 0.45); LDS (2.56 ± 1.33);IC (6.00 ± 2.9); Dur1F (71 ± 40 min); TOAF (7± 8 min); DC (25 ± 24 min); and DurExpP (228 ± 76 min). These results allow us to characterize the events that precede and accompany the moment of labor in Curraleiro Pé-duro cows.(AU)

Genetic diversity and assessment of 23 microsatellite markers for parentage testing of Santa Inês hair sheep in Brazil.

Santa Inês is the most common hair sheep breed in Brazil and probably has the highest genetic diversity among sheep breeds in this country. Successful breeding programs for Brazilian sheep breeds are not common for various reasons, including a lack of control of parentage in the flocks. We developed an allele frequency database for 23 STR loci for the Santa Inês breed based on 285 animals sampled from five populations distributed across the central-western and north-eastern regions of Brazil. The marker set included seven microsatellites used in the 2011 International Society for Animal Genetics sheep genotyping comparison tests and all eight microsatellites currently approved by the Brazilian Agricultural Ministry laboratory accreditation guidelines for sheep identification. The microsatellites had an average of 10 alleles and a mean expected heterozygosity of 0.745. Combined paternity exclusion probabilities when no parent or one parent was known were >99.99%. A small proportion (5.8%) of the existing genetic variation was found to be among the Santa Inês populations, possibly derived from genetic drift and selection. We found that the marker panel proposed by the Agricultural Ministry, although generally useful, should be enhanced by including more markers for improved exclusionary power in parentage testing. This database provides a useful tool for parentage testing of this major Brazilian breed, contributing to improved management and breeding of existing herds.

Genetic variability in local Brazilian horse lines using microsatellite markers.

Genetic variability at 11 microsatellite markers was analyzed in five naturalized/local Brazilian horse breeds or genetic groups. Blood samples were collected from 328 animals of the breeds Campeira (Santa Catarina State), Lavradeira (Roraima State), Pantaneira (Pantanal Mato-Grossense), Mangalarga Marchador (Minas Gerais State), as well as the genetic group Baixadeiro (Maranhão State), and the exotic breeds English Thoroughbred and Arab. We found significant genetic variability within evaluated microsatellite loci, with observed heterozygosis varying between 0.426 and 0.768 and polymorphism information content values of 0.751 to 0.914. All breeds showed high inbreeding coefficients and were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The smallest genetic distance was seen between the Pantaneira and Arab breeds. The principal component analyzes and Bayesian approach demonstrated that the exotic breeds have had a significant influence on the genetic formation of the local breeds, with introgression of English Throroughbred in Pantaneira and Lavradeira, as well as genetic proximity between the Arab, Pantaneira and Mangalarga Marchador populations. This study shows the need to conserve traits acquired by naturalized horse breeds over centuries of natural selection in Brazil due to the genetic uniqueness of each group, suggesting a reduced gene flow between them. These results reinforce the need to include these herds in animal genetic resource conservation programs to maximize the genetic variability and conserve useful allele combinations.

Banco Brasileiro de Germoplasma Animal: desafios e perspectivas da conservação de caprinos no Brasil / Brazilian Animal Gene Bank: challenges and perspectives of caprine conservation in Brazil

Em um cenário que aponta para mudanças climáticas globais, a conservação de recursos genéticos animais voltada a raças localmente adaptadas aos diferentes biomas brasileiros tem ganhado importância. Neste contexto, estratégias de conservação in situ e ex situ vêm sendo utilizadas para assegurar a variabilidade genética de caprinos das raças Azul, Canindé, Marota, Moxotó, Nambi e Repartida. Dentre as estratégias de conservação ex situ, está a criopreservação de sêmen e embriões caprinos para o enriquecimento de bancos de germoplasma que visam à conservação a longo prazo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi discutir aspectos importantes da conservação dos recursos genéticos animais, abordando estratégias de enriquecimento do Banco Brasileiro de Germoplasma Animal com sêmen e embriões caprinos e destacando desafios e perspectivas da conservação de raças localmente adaptadas aos biomas brasileiros.(AU)

In a scenario that indicate to global climate changes, animal genetic resources conservation focused on local breeds adapted to different biomes has increase importance. In this context, strategies for In situ and Ex situ conservation has been used to ensure the genetic diversity of goat breeds Azul, Canindé, Marota, Moxotó, Nambi e Repartida. Among the Ex situ conservation strategies is the cryopreservation of ovine semen and embryos to the enrichment of gene banks aiming at long-term conservation. The purpose of this paper was to discuss important aspects of the animal genetic resources conservation, approaching strategies for enrichment of Brazilian Animal Gene Bank with goat semen and embryos and highlighting challenges and perspectives for conservation of locally adapted breeds to brazilian biomes.(AU)

Criopreservação de recursos genéticos animais brasileiros / Cryopreservation of Brazilian animal genetic resources

Este trabalho visa mostrar a preocupação de criadores e pesquisadores brasileiros em conservar seus recursos genéticos de animais naturalizados, que se originaram a partir de introduções feitas por portugueses e espanhóis, iniciadas logo após o descobrimento. A princípio, os animais eram trazidos com a finalidade de alimentar a tripulação das caravelas, na longa travessia do Oceano Atlântico. A partir do descobrimento, ao verificarem que aqui não havia animais considerados domésticos, os colonizadores passaram a trazê-los da Península Ibérica para povoar o Novo Mundo e produzir produtos de origem animal para alimentar a população que aqui se estabelecia. Com o passar dos séculos, essas raças passaram a ser substituídas por raças comerciais, que levaram as primeiras à ameaça de extinção. Para evitar a perda desse valioso material genético, a partir de 1983 a Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia incluiu a conservação animal em sua programação de pesquisa e criou seu Banco de Germoplasma Animal, que hoje conta com mais de 65.000 amostras de sêmen e mais de 400 embriões de um total de 19 raças de seis diferentes espécies de animais domésticos.(AU)

The objective of this paper is to show the Brazilian concern to conserve their naturalized breeds of livestock, which originated from introductions made by Portuguese and Spanish settlers that started soon after the discovery of the Americas. At first the animals were brought for the purpose of feeding the crew of the ships in the long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Soon after the discovery, those settlers found out that there were no domestic animals in the new continent, and began to bring livestock from the Iberian Peninsula to populate the new world and to produce animal products to feed the population that was established here. Over the centuries, these breeds were gradually replaced by commercial breeds, which led them to the threat of extinction. To avoid the loss of this valuable genetic material, in 1983 Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology decided to include Animal Conservation in its research program and has created its Animal Gene Bank, which today has more than 65,000 samples of semen and more than 400 embryos from a total of 19 breeds from six different animal species.(AU)

Criopreservação de recursos genéticos animais brasileiros / Cryopreservation of Brazilian animal genetic resources

Este trabalho visa mostrar a preocupação de criadores e pesquisadores brasileiros em conservar seus recursos genéticos de animais naturalizados, que se originaram a partir de introduções feitas por portugueses e espanhóis, iniciadas logo após o descobrimento. A princípio, os animais eram trazidos com a finalidade de alimentar a tripulação das caravelas, na longa travessia do Oceano Atlântico. A partir do descobrimento, ao verificarem que aqui não havia animais considerados domésticos, os colonizadores passaram a trazê-los da Península Ibérica para povoar o Novo Mundo e produzir produtos de origem animal para alimentar a população que aqui se estabelecia. Com o passar dos séculos, essas raças passaram a ser substituídas por raças comerciais, que levaram as primeiras à ameaça de extinção. Para evitar a perda desse valioso material genético, a partir de 1983 a Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia incluiu a conservação animal em sua programação de pesquisa e criou seu Banco de Germoplasma Animal, que hoje conta com mais de 65.000 amostras de sêmen e mais de 400 embriões de um total de 19 raças de seis diferentes espécies de animais domésticos.

The objective of this paper is to show the Brazilian concern to conserve their naturalized breeds of livestock, which originated from introductions made by Portuguese and Spanish settlers that started soon after the discovery of the Americas. At first the animals were brought for the purpose of feeding the crew of the ships in the long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Soon after the discovery, those settlers found out that there were no domestic animals in the new continent, and began to bring livestock from the Iberian Peninsula to populate the new world and to produce animal products to feed the population that was established here. Over the centuries, these breeds were gradually replaced by commercial breeds, which led them to the threat of extinction. To avoid the loss of this valuable genetic material, in 1983 Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology decided to include Animal Conservation in its research program and has created its Animal Gene Bank, which today has more than 65,000 samples of semen and more than 400 embryos from a total of 19 breeds from six different animal species.

Banco Brasileiro de Germoplasma Animal: desafios e perspectivas da conservação de caprinos no Brasil / Brazilian Animal Gene Bank: challenges and perspectives of caprine conservation in Brazil

Em um cenário que aponta para mudanças climáticas globais, a conservação de recursos genéticos animais voltada a raças localmente adaptadas aos diferentes biomas brasileiros tem ganhado importância. Neste contexto, estratégias de conservação in situ e ex situ vêm sendo utilizadas para assegurar a variabilidade genética de caprinos das raças Azul, Canindé, Marota, Moxotó, Nambi e Repartida. Dentre as estratégias de conservação ex situ, está a criopreservação de sêmen e embriões caprinos para o enriquecimento de bancos de germoplasma que visam à conservação a longo prazo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi discutir aspectos importantes da conservação dos recursos genéticos animais, abordando estratégias de enriquecimento do Banco Brasileiro de Germoplasma Animal com sêmen e embriões caprinos e destacando desafios e perspectivas da conservação de raças localmente adaptadas aos biomas brasileiros.

In a scenario that indicate to global climate changes, animal genetic resources conservation focused on local breeds adapted to different biomes has increase importance. In this context, strategies for In situ and Ex situ conservation has been used to ensure the genetic diversity of goat breeds Azul, Canindé, Marota, Moxotó, Nambi e Repartida. Among the Ex situ conservation strategies is the cryopreservation of ovine semen and embryos to the enrichment of gene banks aiming at long-term conservation. The purpose of this paper was to discuss important aspects of the animal genetic resources conservation, approaching strategies for enrichment of Brazilian Animal Gene Bank with goat semen and embryos and highlighting challenges and perspectives for conservation of locally adapted breeds to brazilian biomes.

Iberian origin of Brazilian local pig breeds based on Cytochrome b (MT-CYB) sequence.

The aim of this work was to investigate the possible origin of local Brazilian pig breeds through Cytochrome b (MT-CYB) mitochondrial analyses. The results indicated that the main local pig breeds descended from two different European maternal lineages, both Iberian varieties. The haplotype relationship analysis showed that Monteiro, Nilo, Piau and Tatu breeds share haplotypes only with Iberian varieties, while the Moura breed presented a different maternal lineage. The Moura appears to share a high frequency of haplotypes with the Black Hairy Iberian variety and Hungarian Mangalica breed.