This investigation aims to classify, describe and evaluate the sustainability of dairy goat production systems (GPS) in South Spain Sierra de Cadiz. The research took place throughout 25 goat farms during the 2001–2002 campaigns, with the method posed by Masera et al. (1999) [Masera, O., Astier, M., S., López-Ridaura. 1999. Sustentabilidad y manejo de recursos naturales. El marco de evaluación MESMIS (Sustainability and natural resource management. The MESMIS evaluation framework). Mundi-Prensa, S.A., Gira, IE-UNAM, México. 109 pp.] and adapted to animal production systems, as the guideline and framework to evaluate sustainability.
The principal component, namely energy input from grazing (eigenvalue 1.329) which comprises the indicators total area per goat (factorial value 0.664) together with net energy obtained from grazing (factorial value 0.903) allowed to differentiate significantly between semi extensive (SES), semi intensive (SIS) and intensive (IS) goat production systems.
Intensification of the GPS tends to be inefficient, especially in terms of net margin per litre of milk produced (p < 0.05). A higher degree of adaptability of IS (64.8%) derives from a higher investment on new production strategies. Likewise, higher self-management capacity of SES (60.9%) fosters standards of productivity (76.0%) and stability (42.9%). The SIS presented the highest equity values (67.8%).
On the whole, sustainability of GPS tends to decrease as the degree of intensification increases: SES = 57.3%; SIS = 55.7% and IS = 53.1%. The reduction of the dependency on external input alongside with the optimization of natural resources management would surely improve the standard of sustainability. 相似文献
An experiment of selection for ovulation rate was carried out. Animals were derived from a synthetic line first selected 12 generations for litter size, then 10 generations for uterine capacity. Selection was relaxed for 6 generations. Selection was based on the phenotypic value of ovulation rate with a selection pressure on does of 30%. Males were selected from litters of does with the highest ovulation rate. Males were selected within sire families in order to reduce inbreeding. Ovulation rate was measured in the second gestation by a laparoscopy, 12 days after mating. Each generation had about 80 females and 20 males. Results of three generations of selection were analyzed using Bayesian methods. Marginal posterior distributions of all unknowns were estimated by Gibbs sampling. Heritabilities of ovulation rate (OR), number of implanted embryos (IE), litter size (LS), embryo survival (ES), fetal survival (FS), and prenatal survival (PS) were 0.44, 0.32, 0.11, 0.26, 0.35, and 0.14, respectively. Genetic correlation between OR and LS was 0.56, indicating that selection for ovulation rate can augment litter size. Response to selection for OR was 1.80 ova. Correlated responses in IE and LS were 1.44 and 0.49, respectively. Selection for ovulation rate may be an alternative to improve litter size. 相似文献
A Weibull mixed survival model was used to study the effect of a change in the housing system on length of productive life (LPL) in dairy cows. The data set included records on 71,469 Swiss Brown cows in 1674 farms in eastern and central Switzerland. About 36% of the records were right-censored. The observation period lasted from January 1, 1988 to May 1, 2001. During this period, 517 farms changed their housing conditions from a tie-stall barn to a loose housing system. Besides a random time-dependent effect of herd–year–season, the model included fixed effects of housing system, lactation number and stage of lactation, within herd and parity production level (all time-dependent), and age at first calving (time-independent). All effects had a significant effect on LPL at a level of p < 0.001. Cows in loose housing systems showed the lowest risk ratios of being culled (0.93) compared to the reference system tie-stall barn (1.00). The highest relative culling rate (1.09) was observed within the changing period from tie-stall barn to loose housing system. Within the first three lactations, the relative culling risk increased stepwise with lactation stage. The hazard slightly increased from first until lactation number 8 and higher. The relative culling rates were highest (2.22) for cows yielding less than 90% compared to herd-mates of the same lactation number, whereas the lowest risk ratios were estimated for animals yielding more than 110% compared to their reference group (0.64). When heifers were older than 3 years at first calving, there was a tendency towards a higher relative culling risk (1.06). 相似文献
The aim of this study was to analyse racing performance data in Irish greyhounds with regard to genetic and environmental variation. Estimation of heritabilities for racing time (RT) and ranking, and the prediction of breeding values for all greyhounds in the investigated data were carried out. Data from 42,785 races in Ireland in the years 2000-2003 were available. These results were obtained from 42,880 greyhounds on 20 race tracks over a distance of 480 m. Three traits were analysed, RT, ranking and a scaled logarithmic function for RT (ART), which was used to adjust racing time to be normally distributed. The data were analysed with a bivariate animal model. The estimated heritabilities were moderate for RT (0.31) and ART (0.38), but very low for ranking (0.10). The repeatabilities were 0.56 (RT), 0.51 (ART) and 0.13 (ranking). The genetic correlations were very high, 0.99 (RT-ranking) and 0.96 (ART-ranking), while the phenotypic correlation was lower, 0.60 (RT-ranking) and 0.62 (ART-ranking). The genetic trend for the traits as well as the phenotypic change of the average RT was positive. 相似文献