Fattening Effects of Two Kinds of Three-way Crossbreeding Commercial Pigs

To understand the fattening performance of Duroc x Landrace×Yorkshire and Duroc×Yorkshire x landrace, 48 individuals of two kinds of three-way crossbreeding lean type commercial pigs were selected to determine average daily feed intake, average daily gain and feed gain ratio. The backtat thickness and eye muscle area of pigs were measured at the end of trial. The results showed that Duroc × Landraee × Yorkshire and Dttroc × Yorkshire x Landrace had similar fattening performance, and could be applied under scientific management conditions. The study is of great significance for development of pig industry.

Growth Performance of Complete Diallel Crosses Among New Varieties of Chinese Pearl Oyster Pinctada martensii

Pinctada martensii is an important shellfish for the production of sea pearls in China.To improve the growth performance of P.martensii,we successfully established three complete diallel crosses using three new varieties of P.martensii,which were named Haiyou No.1,Haixuan No.1,and Nanke No.1,to investigate the growth performance of each self-cross line and hybrid line in Beihai,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,China.Generally,high fertilization and hatching rates were observed in the experiment,suggesting that there was no sperm-egg recognition barrier among these three P.martensii varieties.The survival rate of the self-cross lines was relatively higher than that of hybrid lines,and♀‘Haixuan No.1’×♂‘Haiyou No.1’maintained a high survival rate during the grow-out stage.The shell length and width were affected by the genotypes as well as the interaction between the genotypes and environmental factors on day 400.The variances of the general combining abilities(GCA)and specific combining abilities(SCA)for shell length and width were the result of both additive genetic variance and nonadditive genetic variance.When Haixuan No.1 was the female parent and Nanke No.1 was the male parent,the GCA for shell length and width were both positive on day 400.The heterosis of Haixuan No.1 and Nanke No.1 in terms of shell length and width was positive.From the resulting combining ability and heterosis,♀‘Haixuan No.1’×♂‘Nanke No.1’was considered an ideal hatchery method to improve the growth performance of P.martensii.Our results therefore demonstrated that crossbreeding among these three new varieties can further improve the growth performance of P.martensii.

Wool characteristics of crossbred Baghdadi wild ram and Iran native sheep

Twenty mid side wool samples of crossbred sheep were collected and their characteristics were determined. Data analyzed by SAS software and Duncan’s multiple range tests was used for comparison of mean wool characteristics. Average fleece weight, yield, wool diameter, Fine fiber and staple length were: 431.59 ± 38.95 gr, 65.14%, 14.24 ± 0.67 μm, 48.67 ± 5.59, and 43.65 ± 4.15 mm respectively. Mean fleece weight was significantly affected (p 1 and F2 generation 11.84 ± 0.58, 16.27 ± 0.72 μm respectively. There were effective differences among ages (12.55 ± 0.74, 14.47 ± 0.58 and 13.11 ± 0.64 μm for 1, 2 and 3 yr old respectively). Wool diameter of younger animals, males and F1 was so fine (12.55, 12.87 and 11.84 μm respectively). Staple length of F2 crosses was significantly longer than F1 crosses (p 1 was significantly finer than F2, but length and down fiber percentage was less than second generation. As wild sheep shed his fiber in winter, the first filial crosses also shed their fibers from the end of winter to early spring. Shedding was seldom observed in F2 generations. It seems likely that wool from crossbred sheep could be used for those applications for which cashmere is suitable. This study indicates that, such crossbred sheep have a superfine wool and could be used in pure or blend for textile industry.

Metropolis or City?Metropoles and Cities with Their Citizens

Through the specific examples of two very different metropoles,not compared but evoked,New York City and Bordeaux Métropole,since globalization from mid-19th and to the beginning of the 21st century,we can observe how metropolitan flows acceleration change cities and citizens heritages.How can we achieve metropolization and globalization of our cities?

Validating the Classification of Smallholder Dairy Farming Systems Based on Herd Genetic Structure and Access to Breeding Services

Smallholder dairy farming in Africa is classified into rural, peri-urban and urban systems. The major classification criterion is demographic. Dairy systems are extensively characterized, but not based on rigorous statistical analyses. We validated this classification based on herd genetic structure and identify determinants of within-system variations, taking Ethiopia as a case study. Discriminant function analysis correctly classified 38% - 50.6% of the 360 sampled farms into the three systems. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that rural and peri-urban farmers were 1.26 (P < 0.1) to 1.45 (P < 0.001) times more likely to keep local and low grade crossbreds and fewer high grade crosses (P < 0.05;odds ratio = 2.35) than the urban farmers. In the rural system, proportion of high grade crosses declined and low grades increased over generations, whereas in urban system the reverse was observed. Access to breeding services and land resources significantly determined the adoption of crossbred dairy herd within systems. In conclusion, considering farms within systems as a uniform unit to target development interventions may not be appropriate and thus farm topologies and system specific determinants of farmers’ breeding strategies need to be considered to design and introduce appropriate breeding interventions.

Evaluating Breed Complementarity and Sexed Semen with Maternal Use of Afrikaner Germplasm

Livestock production impacts food security of developing countries, especially where efficiency of production is compromised by environmental stressors. In South Africa, breeding with indigenous Afrikaner cattle that are genetically well adapted to subtropical environments is considered an essential strategy for sustainable beef production. Today, there is a potential for farmers to participate in commercial systems that join adapted Afrikaner germplasm, used in a specialized maternal role, with exotic terminal sires to optimize production. The objective of this study was to assess productivity of five simulated production systems: 1) straightbred Afrikaner mated naturally, 2) a straight-bred Afrikaner cow herd with two sections;one section to produce replacement females and the other to cross with Charolais terminal sires, both using natural mating, 3) similar to 2, but applying sexed semen to produce replacement females, 4) similar to 2, but using a multi-breed composite dam line with a breed combination of 50% Afrikaner, 25% Hereford and 25% Simmental, and 5) similar to 4, but again applying sexed semen to produce replacement females. Parameter estimates needed to compare these systems were extracted from the scientific literature. Relative to straightbred Afrikaner dams, the simulated composite dams were more fit producing 7.8% more calves and their progeny performance was improved by reducing feed intake (-24.4%) and increasing meat production (+11.7%). The potential benefit of allocating more cows to the terminal sire was insufficient to offset the reduction in pregnancy rate that results with the use of sexed semen. Thus, system 4 had the greatest productivity (+23.1%) while requiring 22.8% less feed for finishing the progeny to be harvested relative to the purebred Afrikaner system. The combination of increased productivity and reduced feed requirement made use of a Charolais terminal sire in conjunction with multi-breed composite females bred by natural service the most efficient system among those studied.

Comparison of Genetic Diversity and Growth Performance between the Selected Population and Hybridized Population of Litopenaeus vannamei at Low Temperature

[Objective] This study was conducted to compare the genetic diversity and growth performance of two Litopenaeus vannamei populations at low temperature. [Method] One population（selected population, SP） was produced through inbreeding and 3 years of selection from seven popula- tions of L. vannamei introduced from the United States and Singapore. The other population （hybridized population, HP） was the F1 generation of the crosses between Population SP and some excellent populations introduced from South Korea and Singapore. The growth performance of the two populations at low temperature was compared, and the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation between the two populations were assessed using 13 microsatellite loci. [Result] The shrimps of population HP had better growth performance than those of population SP. The average body weight （BW） for population HP, which was （13.18±3.65） g/ind., was significantly higher than that of population SP, which was （12.20±3.14） g/ind. The coefficient of variation in body weight for population SP was 25.74%, and that for population HP was 27.69%. The other growth indices of popula- tion HP were all higher than those of population SP. One-way analysis of variance （ANOVA） indicated that there were highly significant differences in both BW and width of third abdominal segment （WTAS） between HP and SP（P〈0.001）. The specific growth rate （SGR） and absolute growth rate （AGR） for population HP were （5.09±0.61） %/d and （0.26±0.60） g/d, respectively, while the SGR and AGR for population SP were （4.94±0.57） %/d and （0.24±0.63） g/d., both significantly lower than those of population HP （P〈0.001）. Genetic diversity analysis revealed that the number of alleles （Na） of population HP （Na=7.9） was slightly higher than that of population SP （Na=7.6）. The average polymorphic information content （PIC） of HP and SP populations was similar 0.63 and 0.62, both indicating high level of genetic diversity. The average observed heterozygosity （HQ） of HP and SP was 0.492 and 0.483, and the expected heterozygosity（He） was 0.675 and 0.663, respectively. Both Ho and He of population HP were higher than those of population SP, suggesting that HP had higher genetic diversity than population SP. Moreover, the mean of FsT values at the 13 microsatellite loci between HP and SP was 0.155 6, suggesting there was a significant genetic differentiation between the two populations. [Conclusion] Our results provide a theoretical basis for the breeding of new L. vannamei strains that are resistant to low temperature.

Pre-Weaning Growth Traits in Nigerian Indigenous Pig Crossbreds

Forty-seven hybrid progenies from crossbreeding between the Nigerian indigenous pig (NIP) and Large white pigs were used. Body measurements and live weight were recorded weekly from first week of birth to their weaning date. Body measurements taken were Body Weight (BW), Body Length (BL), Body Height (BH), Heart girth (HG) and Rump circumference (RC) of crossbred progenies. The correlation between the reproductive parameters and growth performance of hybrid pigs were established with good management practice. The mean for weaning weight was 6.72 ± 0.02, birth weight 0.91 ± 0.13, litter size at birth 5.36 ± 1.87, litter size at weaning 5.29 ± 1.97, litter weight at birth 4.56 ± 1.57, total litter weight at weaning 33.91 ± 11.6, average daily weaning weight 0.73 ± 0.12, average litter size at birth 0.93 ± 0.11 and sex ratio 97.78% ± 8.61%. The male and female mean values for weight of animals were 6.96 ± 1.0 and 6.52 ± 0.9 with male heavier in weight and higher in morphometric traits such as body length, heart girth and rump circumference, while the female were high in morphometric traits such as snout length, ear length and body height. The correlation matrix for body weight against linear body measurements in pre-weaned NIP crossbreds indicates that all the parameters could be used to select for body weight. The linear equation generated by regressing body weight on snout length, body height, rump circumference, heart girth and body length could be used by resource poor pig farmers in the estimation of body weight of pre weaned crossbreds pigs if they cannot afford weighing scales.

Study on Reproductive Performance of Improved Hybrid from Chinese Holstein Cattle

In order to overcome the problems such as decline in adaptability, low fertility and few utilization years due to continuously increasing coefficient of inbreeding of Chinese Holstein cattle, three dairy-beef dual-purpose cattle varieties （purebred Simmental, Montbeliard and Fleckvieh） were introduced as the male parents to be hybridized with Chinese Holstein cattle, so as to study the improvement effect in the reproduction performance and milk production performance of the hybrid cattle. The results showed that the first-filial generation of Montbeliard had a very significant difference in gestation period from Chinese Holstein cattle （ P 〈0.01）. The parity of Fleckvieh s first-filial generation had a very significant effect on 305 d milk yield （ P 〈0.01）; and for the first-filial generation of Montbeliard, mating times and open days significantly affected 305 d milk yield （ P 〈0.05）, and its total milk yield had a significant difference from Chinese Holstein cattle （ P 〈0.05）. Comprehensively, the reproduction traits of Montbeliard s first-filial generation are better than other two varieties.

Development of a New Yak Breed Through Utilization of Wild Yak Genetic Rsource-seral Technologies for the Development of the Datong Yak Breed

On the Datong Yak Breeding Farm of Qinghai Province(Datong farm), the scientists of the Lanzhou Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Pharmaceutics of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with others,explored the possibility to cross wild yak bulls with domestic yak cows in the past 20years and a new yak breed, the Datong yak, has been developed.

Effect of Crossbreed on the Muscle Quality(Chemical Composition) in Yun-Ling Black Goats

Twenty castrated male goats, each of Yun-Ling Black goats （YLB goat）, N × YLB hybrid goats （Nubian ♂ ×Yun-Ling Black goats 9） and B × YLB hybrid goats （Boer ♂× Yun-Ling Black goats ♀）, were used to evaluate the effect of crossbreeding on the meat chemical composition in the YLB goats of China. After weaning of 90 days, all the experimental goats were reared on natural pasture when they were slaughtered at an age of 730 days. The longissimus dorsi （LD） and biceps femoris （BF） muscles were sampled from each carcass to determine chemical compositions. Both hybrid goats had higher protein content （P 〈 0.01） and lower fat content （P 〈 0.05） than the YLB goats in the two types of muscle. The inosinic acid contents of LD muscle for the YLB goats and the B × YLB hybrid goats were significantly higher （P 〈 0.05） than that for the N × YLB hybrid goats. The LD muscle from the YLB goats contained higher essential amino acid （P 〈 0.01）, total amino acid （P 〈 0.01）, and some individual amino acid （P 〈 0.05） than those from the hybrid goats. The concentration of unsaturated fatty acid （USFA） of LD muscle from the N × YLB hybrid goats was significantly higher than the other two goat breeds （P〈0.05） but did not differ between the other two goat breeds （P〉0.05）. The YLB goats had significantly higher （P〈0.05） concentrations of oleic acid （C18：1） and linolenic acid （C18：3） of LD muscle than the hybrid goats, had significantly higher （P 〈 0.05） proportion of mono-unsaturated （Sum for C 16：1 and C 18：1） than the B ×YLB hybrid goats, and tended to be higher than the N × YLB hybrid goats （P 〉 0.05）. In contrast, the proportion of poly-unsaturated in the YLB goats was significantly lower （P 〈 0.05） than that in the hybrid goats.

Breeding the Mite-Resistant Honeybee by Nutritional Crossbreed Technology

Mite （Varroa destructor） is one of the most serious parasite threats to the honey bee （Apis mellifera） reared in China. The beekeepers mainly use the drug to control and kill the mite in the past years, but the honey products may be contaminated and the mite is becoming drug-resistant. The main idea of this paper is to research the possibility of mite-resistant honeybee rearing by nutritional crossbreed. The larvae （Apis mellifera ligustica） are bred with the royal jelly of Apis carana carana, and then the morphological index of the worker generation, genotypic frequency and gene frequency of the MDH Ⅱ, genetic resemblance, and mite resistance are measured. The results show that： compared to the parent workers, the proboscis length, anterior wing area, the total length of the third and fourth dorsal plate of the abdomen, the length of the fourth dorsal plate of the tuberculum, the area of the sixth abdominal segment, and the area of wax mirrors are significantly different, but the differences in the brachium index, dactylus index, and wing claw are not significant. Moreover, there are some mutations in the genotypic frequency and gene frequency of the MDH Ⅱ. The mite resistance of the nutritional crossbreed worker is significantly higher. The morphological, physical, and biochemical characters, genetic resemblance, and the mite-resistant ability of the worker generation can be changed by nutritional crossbreeding. Nutritional crossbreeding can be a new way to breed the honeybee.

MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS——AN INTERSCIENCE CROSSBREED OF MATHEMATICS & ECONOMICS

Mathematical economics is a newly emerging research field resulting from the academic crossbreeding of mathematics and economics. It is a brainchild emerging from the marriage between natural sciences and social sciences. This article gives a detailed exposition of the discipline’s history, its integration with our country’s socialist market economy and its modem development. The article ultimately explains its application to the comprehensive reclamation of the salinity-plagued agriculture on the Huanghuaihai Plain.