ICAR Technical Series No 3 The development of the Dorper sheep and the Improved Boer Goat are undoubtedly two of the most successful long-term livestock programmes in South Africa. The Dorper is a composite mutton sheep breed developed through crossing an indigenous breed with a British mutton breed and the Improved Boer Goat was developed using a breeding strategy based largely on selection fo...

A comparative study was made of the character and severity of the infection produced by Tr. pallidum in groups of standard bred Havana, Dutch, English, Himalayan, and Rex rabbits. All known variables that might influence the course of the disease were common to the different breed groups. On the basis of certain clinical data selected as criteria for the determination of variations in the respo...

The studbook of the Andalusian horse comprising a total of 75,389 individuals (6318 of them classified as Carthusians) was analysed in order to ascertain the genetic history of the breed and, specially, to evaluate its genetic variability and the influence of the Carthusian strain in the breed. Although there is no possible way to identify studs acting as Nucleus in the breed, there is a high c...

Functional agro biodiversity defines the exploitation of biodiversity to provide ecosystem services, support sustainable agricultural production and benefit the regional and global environment and the public at large (ELN-FAB, 2009; www.eln_fab.eu). Tracking of animal products back to the breed of origin based on their genetic make-up undoubtedly falls in this category. The aim of this paper wa...

A commercial problem of increasing concern is the traceability of the breed origin of individual beef cuts. Current methods, based on paper certifications, are vulnerable to fraud. We report the use of DNA profiles from STR loci for inferring the breed source of given specimens, using both our published Breed Genomic Formula (BGF) method (Ciampolini et al., 2000) and an alternative approach bas...

Monthly weights, heights and condition scores and measurements taken at the time of puberty were utilized to estimate effects of breed-type and heterosis on characters related to growth, size and puberty of second-generation heifers of a five-breed diallel involving Angus, Brahman, Hereford, Holstein and Jersey. One group of heifers was maintained on pasture with supplemental feed; two other gr...