Before the start of systematic disease control, respiratory diseases in swine in Switzerland caused estimated losses of several million euros per year. In 1993, a national programme to control enzootic respiratory diseases in pigs was proposed, with the aim of reducing the incidence of clinical cases to less than 1%. Enzootic pneumonia (EP) caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and clinical cases ...

Parasites exert a major impact on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of their hosts and the associated biotic environment. Migration constitutes an effective means for long-distance invasions of vector-borne parasites and promotes their rapid spread. Yet, ecological and spatial information on population-specific host-parasite connectivity is essentially lacking. Here, we address this question in a s...

To meet the growing demands under the constrains of depleting natural resources, environmental fluctuation and increased risk of epidemic outbreak, the task of increasing wheat production has become daunting. The euphoria generated by first green revolution is very quickly subsiding and the second generation problems are becoming more intense with each passing year. The factors responsible for ...

The impact of polymorphism of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1), butyrophilin (BTN1A1), oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor (OLR1), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) genes on milk production and reproduction traits in 419 Czech Fleckvieh cows was examined using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. The loci DGAT1 and ...

Abstract The paper describes the potato parental line breeding programme developed in Poland from 1960s. aim of was to create forms useful for speeding up new varieties and getting higher efficiency directed selection desired traits. introduced sources resistance quality traits into Polish pool by conducting research tetraploid diploid lines. had significant impact on breeding, with 72 originat...

Conservation breeding programmes have become an increasingly important tool to save endangered species, yet despite the allocation of significant resources, efforts to create self-sustaining populations have met with limited success. The iconic giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) embodies the struggles associated with ex situ species conservation. Here we show that behavioural mate preferences...

Few results are yet available for integrative biology in chickens. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the studies done in the France-Taiwan collaborative programmes in the framework of integrating data on population history, DNA polymorphisms and performance. The first programme involves the characterization of genetic diversity of chicken breeds using molecular markers, the second...

Participatory plant breeding (PPB) seeks to involve farmers more closely in crop improvement in order to improve the impact of breeding efforts. While detailed discussions exist around appropriate methodologies for conducting PPB, little attention has been directed towards analysing breeding institutions. Such an analysis is necessary, both to understand the possible reasons for poor breeding i...

There has been a long history of herd health and production management programmes in many dairy industries around the world, but evidence for the efficacy of such programmes is limited. In response to a perceived decline in fertility of dairy cows, a herd reproductive management programme (InCalf) was introduced in New Zealand in 2007. This programme uses a management cycle approach that includ...

Due to their extreme popularity as fresh cut flowers and garden plants, and being used extensively for landscaping, tulips undergone a continuous process of selective breeding. For almost nine decades, classical cytogenetic studies, mainly the chromosome counts, have been an important part in the breeding programme for polyploid tulips. The efficiency of breeding is greatly aided by a thorough ...