Concomitant with intensive selection for increased milk yield, reproductive performance of dairy cows has declined in the last decades, in part due to an unfavourable genetic relationship between these traits. Given that the six main milk protein genes (i.e. whey proteins and caseins) are directly involved in milk production and hence have been a target of the strong selection aimed at improvin...

The objective of the present study was to investigate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in three candidate genes previously reported to have effects on fertility and milk production traits in a population of 123 Holstein cows. The milk production traits evaluated included lifetime averages of milk yield, protein concentration, and fat concentration. Fertility traits evaluated inclu...

The role of consanguinity on human complex traits is an important and controversial issue. In this work we focused on the Sardinian population and examined the effect of consanguineous unions on late female fertility. During the last century the island has been characterized by a high incidence of marriages between relatives, favoured by socio economic conditions and geographical isolation, and...

Mink skin size in Finland, as well as in other countries, has increased considerably during last decade. However, there are signs that selection for large body size has a negative impact on litter size (LS) and also for survival of kits. Therefore, it is important to study the genetic relationships among fertility traits and animal size (AS). The variance components for age at first mating (AFM...

A genome wide scan was performed on a total of 2093 Italian Holstein proven bulls genotyped with 50K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), with the objective of identifying loci associated with fertility related traits and to test their effects on milk production traits. The analysis was carried out using estimated breeding values for the aggregate fertility index and for each trait contribut...

In the Netherlands a fertility index is introducing which describes the fertility of daughters of a bull. The index is based on two breeding values which are estimated for all bulls; non return after 56 days (NR56) and interval between calving and first insemination (ICI). These two traits are combined in an index: the calving interval index or CI-index. This index was developed after comparing...

Genetic selection for high yield in primary broiler breeder males may result in skeletal modifications that impede sperm transfer upon mating. In addition, fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in bilateral traits has been shown to reliably indicate male reproductive potential in some avian species. The goal of this study was to determine if physical variation due to genetic selection and FA could explain...

A total of 72124 fertility records was used to estimate the genetic and phenotypic trend of fertility traits in Iranian Holstein cow from 1981 to 2007. Fertility traits in this study were: days from calving to first service (DFS), number of insemination per conception (INS), days open (DO), interval between first and last insemination (IFL), calving interval (CI) and success to first inseminati...

The genetic basis of fitness traits has been studied widely in animals, yet the contribution of genetic variation to these traits in humans is controversial. In particular, it is difficult to disentangle genetic versus environmental effects on fertility, because of within-family correlations of sociocultural, economic, and other nongenetic factors that influence family sizes. In this study, we ...

In modern societies, individual differences in completed fertility are linked with genotypic differences between individuals. Explaining the heritability of completed fertility has been inconclusive, with alternative explanations centering on family formation timing, pursuit of education, or other psychological traits. We use the twin subsample from the Midlife Development in the United States ...