Search results for "Valle del Belice dairy sheep"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Association study between beta-defensin gene polymorphisms and mastitis resistance in Valle del Belice dairy sheep breed
2016
Abstract Mastitis is generally caused by bacteria, and it is the most common disease in livestock species. Defensins are peptides with a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and β-defensin genes have been studied in several livestock species due to their important role in the innate immune response. The aim of this study was to establish an association between polymorphisms in the β-defensin 1 and 2 genes and mastitis resistance in the Valle del Belice dairy sheep. Data consisted of 1855 and 2804 observations for case and control group, respectively. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms and seven haplotypes were selected for association studies with mastitis. In particular, polymorphism …
Parentage verification of Valle del Belice dairy sheep using multiplex microsatellite panel
2013
Abstract The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate a PCR based microsatellite markers multiplex system for parentage verification of Sicilian Valle del Belice dairy sheep. A total of 85 samples of blood and hair were collected and genotyped for 24 microsatellite markers in multiplex electrophoresis runs. A total of 269 alleles were detected across the 24 loci investigated. The PIC considering all loci was equal to 0.736, showing that this microsatellite panel was very polymorphic and highly informative. A parentage test was performed on 64 families generated with multiple sires. Results indicated 20.3% and 29.7% misidentification rates for females and males, respectively. In 8 cases,…
Loss in milk yield and related composition changes resulting from different levels of somatic cell count in Valle del Belice dairy sheep
2015
Mastitis is the most common and costly disease in the dairy industry and is responsible for several production effects. Mammary infections cause high somatic cell count (SCC) and severe damage to udder tissue and result in important losses of milk yield and quality, curd and cheese yields in dairy ewes. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different levels of SCC on milk yield and composition in Valle del Belice dairy sheep. The original data set used for this study included 92,261 records of 6,763 ewes. Data were collected between 1994 and 2006 in 15 flocks. Test-day records of milk yield (MY), fat % (F%), protein % (P%), and SCC were collected following an A4 recording sch…
Analysis of acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene polymorphisms in Valle del Belice dairy breeds
2015
Acetyl-CoA carboxylase is the flux-determining enzyme in the regulation of fatty acid synthesis within animal tissues. The expression of the mammary gland isoform of this enzyme, during lactation, is regulated by the acetyl-CoA carboxylase-α (ACACA) gene. The ovine ACACA gene, with 51 coding exons, is responsible for phenotypic variability observed in milk fat content and milk fatty acids (FAs) composition. However, before attempting association analyses between this enzyme and phenotypic traits of interest, a study on the genetic variability within this locus is required. The aim of this work was to sequence the encoding region of ACACA gene in Valle del Belice dairy ewes in order to ident…
Analyses of udder health in Valle del Belice dairy sheep using SCC
2005
Intramammary infections (IMI) are a complex of inflammatory diseases of the mammary gland. Mastitis is one of the most frequent IMI affecting small dairy ruminants. Direct selection against clinical mastitis is difficult because mastitis in not widely recorded; therefore, somatic cell count (SCC) is promoted as selection criterion for mastitis resistance. A dataset containing 2,457 first- lactation Valle del Belice ewes from 14 flocks recorded from 1998 to 2003 was analysed. In total 116 sires with at least four daughters with a record were included in the pedigree file. Test-day IMI events were coded as a binary trait using a SCC cut-off value of 750,000 cells/ml. Analyses of risk factors …
Polymorphisms at β-defensin genes and mastitis in Valle del Belice dairy sheep: a case control study
2015
Mastitis is the most common and costly pathology affecting dairy animals. The identification of genetic markers that allow the inclusion of mastitis resistance in selection programs would help to reduce the costs due to the disease and the use of antibiotics. In recent years, β-defensin genes have been studied in several domestic species due to their important role in the innate immune response. The aim of this study was to determine whether β-defensin genes variability, β-defensin 1 (SBD1) and β-defensin 2 (SBD2), could distinguish between infected cases and healthy controls in Valle del Belice dairy sheep. Somatic cell count (SCC) is a powerful tool to identify animals with intramammary i…