Prediction of genetic gains for breeding objective traits and designing selection schemes for Washera and Gumuz indigenous sheep

In Ethiopia,there are 32.85 millions of sheep,more than 99 % of which are indigenous.However,the productivity of local sheep under traditional production system is low with high mortality of sheep.There are two ways of improving performance of sheep and goats,namely improving the enviroment of animals and/or improving there genetic potential.The aim of this study was to predict genetic gains of breedingobjective traits and select the best sheep selection scheme for Gumuz andWashera sheep. Body size(six month weight and yearling weight) and litter size were breeding objective traits identified by own flock animal ranking experiment and personal interview. Deterministic approach of ZPLAN computor program is used for modeling input parametres of Gumuz and Washera sheep and simulating breeding plans using gene flow method and selection index procedures. One-tier cooperative sheep breeding scheme were proposed whereby ram exchange between and within villages is the main means of genetic dissimination. Genetic gains predicted for six month weight of Gumuz and Washera sheep were 0.43 and 0.55 kg,respectively. Genetic gains predicted for yearling weight of Gumuz and Washera sheep were 0.55 and 0.60 kg,respectively. Genetic gains predicted for litter size of Gumuz and Washera sheep were 0.08 and 0.09 lambs,respectively. The lower rate of inbreeding, the higher monetary genetic gain for aggregate genotype,higher return to investmnet and higher profit/ewe/year were quality measures of breeding program considered to prefer scheme 4 for both Gumuz and Washera sheep.Hence,for both Gumuz and Washera sheep populations a sheep selection scheme designed with 15 % selection proportion and one year ram use for breeding was recommended. Special emphasis need to be given to yearling weight with higher predicted genetic response and higher percentage return to investment.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND VARIABILITY ANALYSIS FOR MAJOR GROWTH AND FLOWERING TRAITS OF Lilium longiflorum THUNB. GENOTYPES

The performance evaluation and variability estimation are some of the most important basic steps in any breeding scheme and are usually taken as a pre-breeding task. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance and estimate the variability for major growth and flowering traits of Sixteen Lilium longiflorum Thunb genotypes in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The estimated analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated prevailing significant variability for studied ten growth and flowering traits of all 16 genotypes. The experiment was conducted to quantify the genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance as a percentage of the mean (GAM), for understanding the breeding potentiality of L. longiflorum genotypes based on their performance for growth and flowering traits, so that pre-breeding scheme could be executed properly. The estimated genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) value, along with heritability estimate and GAM, revealed that almost all studied traits besides flower diameter were controlled by additive gene action. For these traits, improvement would be possible through the selection after cross-breeding among these genotypes. The choice of genotypes for the hybridization scheme could be made based on the mean performance of those genotypes for the particular traits of the breeding scheme.

Open Nucleus Breeding Strategy for Fogera Cattle Breed in Ethiopia: Achievements and Lessons Learnt

Fogera cattle are one of the promising indigenous milk type local breed of Ethiopia. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the performance of Fogera breed under open nucleus breeding scheme. The work was done in two purposively selected districts (Gondar Zuria and Fogera) with community-based breed productivity improvement (CBBPI) as an approach. The collected data was analysed by GLM procedure of SAS for fixed factors estimation. Genetic parameters estimate was made by ASREML software for heritability and correlation. The overall milk yield of the nucleus herd was 2.26 ± 0.794 litter. From the total herd, best 10% and 25% of them give a respective milk yield of 3.31 and 2.87 litter; and some elite cows give an average of 5.45 ± 0.73 litter with a maximum yield of eight litters per day. The overall birth and weaning weight of nucleus herd calves was 21.30 ± 0.06 and 103.66 ± 0.59kg, respectively. Heritability for birth and weaning weight was 0.24 ± 0.09 and 0.18 ± 0.05, respectively. The phenotypic and genotypic correlation with their respective standard error between birth and weaning weight was 0.0613 ± 0.0075 and 0.0712 ± 0.0343, respectively. For CBBPI program, 17 pure Fogera bulls were distributed to the two districts. The birth and weaning weight of the village calves was 23.77 ± 0.21 and 85.89 ± 1.07, respectively. Through the program, above 1000 households were benefiting through the breeding program, health, forage development and grazing land management. To share the achievements of the results in CBBPI program, popularization through filed days and innovation platforms; and documentation of each step via publications, videos and pictures was done. From the result, it can be concluded that the strategy implemented for the breed conservation “open nucleus breeding scheme” had shown progressive results and improvement was recorded. To widen the result and improve the livelihood of the farmer, scaling up of the activity should better be planned with stakeholders.

Substantive Law

This chapter looks at the system laid down in the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Convention, which implies that only the breeder of a variety has a claim on a plant breeders' right. It analyses the UPOV definition that qualifies the employer of the person who bred, or discovered and further developed, the variety of plants as the breeder. It also elaborates the responsibility of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) in examining the entitlement to a Community plant variety right. This chapter reviews the technical questionnaire that requires the applicant to indicate 'breeding scheme, parents, other relevant information' for the completion of the form to confirm the credibility of plant breeders. It talks about the practice of the CPVO, which shows that the notion of breeding encompasses all techniques that are aimed at the creation of a new variety.

Short Communication: Investigation of the feasibility of genomic selection in Icelandic Cattle

Icelandic Cattle is a local dairy cattle breed in Iceland. With about 26,000 breeding females, it is by far the largest among the indigenous Nordic cattle breeds. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of genomic selection in Icelandic Cattle. Pedigree-based best linear unbiased prediction (PBLUP) and single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP) were compared. Accuracy, bias, and dispersion of estimated breeding values (EBV) for milk yield (MY), fat yield (FY), protein yield (PY), and somatic cell score (SCS) were estimated in a cross validation-based design. Accuracy (r) was estimated by the correlation between EBV and corrected phenotype in a validation set. The accuracy (r) of predictions using ssGBLUP increased by 13, 23, 19 and 20 percentage points for MY, FY, PY, and SCS for genotyped animals, compared to PBLUP. The accuracy of non-genotyped animals was not improved for MY and PY, but increased by 0.9 and 3.5 percentage points for FY and SCS. We used the linear regression (LR) method to quantify relative improvements in accuracy, bias (∆), and dispersion (b) of EBV. Using the LR method, the relative improvements in accuracy of validation from PBLUP to ssGBLUP were 43%, 60%, 50%, and 48% for genotyped animals for MY, FY, PY, and SCS. Single-step GBLUP EBV were less underestimated (∆), and less over-dispersed (b) than PBLUP EBV for FY and PY. Pedigree-based BLUP EBV were close to unbiased for MY and SCS. Single-step GBLUP underestimated MY EBV but overestimated SCS EBV. Based on the average accuracy of 0.45 for ssGBLUP EBV obtained in this study, selection intensities according to the breeding scheme of Icelandic Cattle, and assuming a generation interval of 2.0 years for sires of bulls, sires of dams and dams of bulls, genetic gain in Icelandic Cattle could be increased by about 50% relative to the current breeding scheme.

Diversity of the Swine Leukocyte Antigen Class I and II in Commercial Pig Populations

Among swine genetic markers, the highly polymorphic swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) is one of the key determinants, associated with not only immune responses but also reproductive performance and meat quality. The objective of this study was to characterize the SLA class I and II diversities in the commercial pig populations. In this study, a total number of 158 pigs (126 gilts and 32 boars) were randomly selected from different breeding herds of five major pig-producing companies, which covered ~70% of Thai swine production. The results indicate that a moderate level of SLA diversity was maintained in the Thai swine population, despite the performance-oriented breeding scheme. The highly common SLA class I alleles were SLA-1*08:XX, SLA-2*02:XX, and SLA-3*04:XX at a combined frequency of 30.1, 18.4, and 34.5%, respectively, whereas DRB1*04:XX, DQB1*02:XX and DQA*02:XX were the common class II alleles at 22.8, 33.3, and 38.6%, respectively. The haplotype Lr-32.0 (SLA-1*07:XX, SLA-2*02:XX, and SLA-3*04:XX) and Lr-0.23 (DRB1*10:XX, DQB1*06:XX, DQA* 01:XX) was the most common SLA class I and II haplotype, at 15.5 and 14.6%, respectively. Common class I and II haplotypes were also observed, which Lr-22.15 was the most predominant at 11.1%, followed by Lr-32.12 and Lr-4.2 at 10.8 and 7.9%, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first report of SLA class I and II diversities in the commercial pigs in Southeast Asia. The information of the common SLA allele(s) in the population could facilitate swine genetic improvement and future vaccine design.

Breeding Progress for Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc Biofortification, Drought Tolerance, and Sweetpotato Virus Disease Resistance in Sweetpotato

Sweetpotato is a resilient food crop with great potential to contribute to reduced hunger in the world. Sweetpotato shows significant potential to contribute to reducing the Global Hunger Index, which reflects deficiencies in calories and micronutrients based on the components of hunger, undernourishment, under-five mortality rate, stunting and wasting. Its genetic diversity has been harnessed through breeding to increase vitamin A, iron, and zinc content, virus resistance and climate resilience for the world's food needs. Africa and India are the most food-insecure regions. The main objectives of this research were to: provide information and a knowledge base on sweetpotato breeding in Africa for biofortification of vitamin A, iron, and zinc, drought tolerance and virus resistance; recommend procedures for generating new breeding populations and varieties; and develop new tools, technologies and methods for sweetpotato improvement. The research was implemented between 2009 and 2020 in 14 collaborating African countries using introduced and local genotypes. The redesigned accelerated breeding scheme resulted in increased genetic gains for vitamin A, iron, zinc contents and virus resistance, and the release by sub-Saharan African countries of 158 varieties; 98 of them orange-fleshed; 55 varieties bred by an accelerated breeding scheme; 27 drought-tolerant and two with enhanced iron and zinc content. Our experience has demonstrated that through the use of more optimized, standardized and collaborative breeding procedures by breeding programs across Africa, it is possible to speed official sweetpotato variety release and contribute to reducing the severe micronutrient deficiencies on the continent.

Breeding scheme and heterosis level of sugar sorghum hybrids

Creation and introduction of new hybrids of sugar sorghum adaptive to arid conditions allow stabilizing and increasing the productivity of forage mass over the years, which is of current importance. The aim of the research was to clarify the scheme and methods of selection of the initial material, assess the level of true heterosis, quantitative traits of green mass yield and plant height in the best obtained hybrids of sugar sorghum. The research was carried out according to the methods of laboratory and field experiments. The scheme of the breeding process included nurseries of source material and breeding nurseries, as well as creation of self-pollinated and sterile lines, hybridization, assessment of samples for CMS, combining ability, and testing new hybrids by saturating crosses and topcross. According to this scheme, sterile lines ‘A-63’, ‘Knyazhna’, ‘Zersta 38A’ were created. By methods of multiple and individual selection with subsequent inbreeding from hybrid populations, fertile paternal forms ‘Stavropolskoe 36’, ‘Galia’ and ‘Larets’ were created. Also, obtained on their basis hybrids ‘Silosnoe 88’ (standard), ‘Alga’, ‘Kalaus’, ‘Yarik’ served as the object of research. On average for 2016–2019, the most significant plant height under the conditions of the “North-Caucasus Federal Agrarian Research Center” was found in late-ripening combinations ‘Yarik’ (301.4 cm) and ‘Kalaus’ (289.0 cm). The level of true heterosis of this trait was 41.7 % and 31.6 %, respectively. In the studied hybrids, the pollination period of the parental forms coincides, the heterosis of the thickness of the stems is observed. The significant leafiness of the plants is also found to be in the late-ripening forms (15.7–16.0 %). The maximum yield of green mass was obtained from hybrids ‘Yarik’ (102.0 t/ha) and ‘Kalaus’ (86.7 t/ha). The level of true heterosis of the studied trait in these combinations was 67.9 t/ha and 47.0 t/ha, respectively, or 66.5 % and 54.2 %. The combination of other genetic plasmas provided a lower level of true heterosis. The late-ripening hybrids ‘Yarik’ and ‘Kalaus’ have significantly higher sugar content in the juice of the stems (12.89–14.03 %) compared with the mid-ripening ‘Silosnoe 88’ (8.9 %) and the medium-late ‘Alga’ (11.14 %).

Pengembangan Sistem Pembibitan Ternak Kambing Peranakan Etawah di Kelompok Ternak Lembah Meru, Desa Wonoasri, Kabupaten Jember

Kelompok Ternak Lembah Meru merupakan salah satu kelompok yang mengusahakan pembibitan ternak kambing PE (Peranakan Etawah). Permasalahan dalam kelompok ini adalah sulitnya mendapatkan bibit unggul yang dapat menunjang keberhasilan usaha. Adapun solusi permasalahan tersebut adalah dengan mengembangkan dan menerapkan sistem pembibitan pola inti terbuka (open nucleus breeding scheme) karena sistem ini cocok diimplementasikan di peternakan rakyat. Metode pelaksanaan kegiatan berupa FGD (Focus Group Discussion) dengan UPTPT-HMT Jember sebagai sumber parent stock, sosialisasi dan pelatihan sistem pembibitan kambing PE, sosialisasi dan pelatihan manajemen pencatatan dan pembibitan ternak, dan evaluasi serta pemonitoran keberhasilan program. Hasil kegiatan menunjukkan bahwa terjadi peningkatan perilaku (100%), pengetahuan (100%), dan keterampilan peternak dalam melakukan usaha pembibitan ternak kambing PE dengan sistem pembibitan inti terbuka (100%). Akan tetapi, penerapan teknologi pengolahan pakan dan penggunaan smartphone untuk pencatatan masih rendah (55%). Kelompok ternak berperan sebagai inti yang memelihara dan mengembangkan ternak unggul. Adapun anggota kelompok berperan sebagai plasma dan multiplier. Program ini sangat bermanfaat bagi peningkatan struktur sistem pembibitan ternak kambing PE di Kelompok Ternak Lembah Meru.