A number of dog breeds suffer from welfare problems due to extreme phenotypes and high levels of inherited diseases but the popularity of such breeds is not declining. Using a survey of owners of two popular breeds with extreme physical features (French Bulldog and Chihuahua), one with a high load of inherited diseases not directly related to conformation (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel), and on...

The study was carried out to assess the reproductive abilities of White Plymouth Rock (WPR) and Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) parent stock (layer breeders) reared under similar housing (deep litter), management and agro-climatic conditions. A total of 1,763,322 and 1,732,966 fertilized eggs were produced by WPR and BPR, respectively, during the observed period which lasted four years (2002-2005). ...

background: this study aimed at investigating the prevalence and risk factors of bovine thelaziosis, performed in the southeast of iran, an endemic area for iranian sistani cattle. methods: between september 2012 to october 2014, 1924 cattle, sistani breed (n= 1235) and brahman breed (n=689) of all sex and age groups collected from sistan and baluchestan province were examined using visual obse...

Fashions and fads are important phenomena that influence many individual choices. They are ubiquitous in human societies, and have recently been used as a source of data to test models of cultural dynamics. Although a few statistical regularities have been observed in fashion cycles, their empirical characterization is still incomplete. Here we consider the impact of mass media on popular cultu...

Domesticated species are often composed of distinct populations differing in the character and strength of artificial and natural selection pressures, providing a valuable model to study adaptation. In contrast to pure-breed dogs that constitute artificially maintained inbred lines, free-ranging dogs are typically free-breeding, i.e., unrestrained in mate choice. Many traits in free-breeding do...

black forest horses are typically chestnut colored with flaxen mane and tail. however, as their coat color can get very dark, they are sometimes also indicated as silver, a color depending on a black base color. to analyse if the silver allele is present in the black forest horse population, we genotyped 250 horses of this breed for formerly reported coat color mutations within mc1r and silv. a...

This study was conducted to evaluate maternal breed effects, direct breed effects, and individual heterosis on subsequent steer performance, carcass, and feed efficiency traits. This was a consecutive 2-yr trial using 158 steers. The same dam breeds, Angus (AN) and purebred Simmental (SM), were used both years. Also, the same AN and SM sires (n=11) were used both years. Steers were AN, SM, or A...

Leptin (LEP), the expression product of the obese gene produced primarily in the adipose tissue, is related to feed intake, growth and lipid metabolism. The aim of this study was to study the possible association between polymorphism of the LEP gene with growth and carcass traits among three Iranian sheep breeds of the Shal, Zandi and Zel varieties. A total of 180 purebred animals of the Shal, ...

A 2-yr study was conducted to evaluate 1) steers fed ad libitum high concentrate after weaning (CONC), or 2) steers grown on pasture for 82 d, followed by high concentrate finishing (PAST) on the performance and carcass traits of 74 early weaned (117 d of age) steers. Potential breed differences were evaluated using steers of three different breed types: 1) 3⁄4 Angus x 1⁄4 Simmental (BRI), 2) 3...