La raza bovina Pajuna es una raza autóctona andaluza que está al borde de la extinción. Su aptitud es mixta carne-trabajo y es posiblemente la raza española más rústica, al ser capaz de adaptarse a los medios marginados, aprovechando los escasos recursos de las sierras andaluzas, que no pueden ser utilizados por otras razas más carniceras.

El cruzamiento indiscriminado con razas especializadas, la mecanización del campo y la pérdida del hábitat de explotación han llevado esta raza a una situación de inminente desaparición, con sólo 300 animales puros, relegados en la mayoría de los casos a meros vientres para el cruce industrial en vacadas mixtas.

En el presente artículo describimos la situación actual y las causas que la han llevado a esta situación, así como las actuaciones de la Asociación de Criadores (GRAPA), creada en el año 2001, dentro de un programa de preservación y recuperación. Estas razones se pueden resumir en la localización de todos los efectivos existentes, el análisis de la estructura demográfica de la población, la actualización de su estándar racial y creación del Libro Genealógico, la caracterización genética, y determinación del nivel de variabilidad intra e interpoblacional a partir del polimorfismo de loci moleculares microsatélites como a través de la variabilidad de la región control del ADN mitocondrial.

En el presente estudio se presentan los primeros resultados de la determinación de la estructura genética de tres poblaciones de ganado bovino autóctono cubano: Criollo de Cuba, Cebú Cubano y Siboney de Cuba, para los loci de seis proteínas lácteas (CASA1, CASAB, CASA2, CASK, LAA y LGB). Se analizaron un total de 150 individuos (50 por cada raza), mediante análisis de ADN por PCR-RFLP.Se calcularon las frecuencias alélicas para cada locus así como condiciones de equilibrio de Hardy-Weinberg. Fueron identificados los alelos CASA1C y LAAA como evidencia de la presencia de genes de Bos indicus en las tres poblaciones cubanas. Se comprobó la existencia de elevada variabilidad en cada población lo que constituye un elemento importante para trazar estrategias de mejoramiento y/o conservación genética.

The Krishna Valley breed of cattle is a draught breed able to withstand extremely hot, humid climatic conditions and which has the capacity to undertake heavy work in the black cotton soil in the valleys of the Krishna river in India. Their home tract is restricted to a few taluks (divisions within a district) of the northern parts of Karnataka. The distinguishing morphological features of the breed are the presence of a black-coloured muzzle and black shades dispersed over the body with the lower half of the scrotum also being black in colour. The average values for height, body length and chest girth are 116.4±1.2, 128.4±2.0 and 144.7±2.0 cm in cows; and 150.5±0.5, 146.0±3.0 and 191.0±1.0 cm in bullocks, respectively. The cytogenetic investigation revealed the normal characteristics of cattle chromosomes (2n=60). The microsatellite alleles occurred at frequencies of 0.0208 (ILSTS005) to 0.7604 (ETH152) with the polymorphism information content (PIC) values in the range of 0.3856 (ETH152) to 0. 7725 (ILSTS034). The breed has a relatively long productive life as the number of calvings can go up to twelve. As the number of animals of this breed remaining is only in the order of a few hundred, conservation measures are to be taken to avoid the extinction of this valuable germplasm.

Cette étude a été menée dans les élevages périurbains et au niveau des marchés à bétail de Ouagadougou avec pour objectif de caractériser sur le plan phénotypique les petits ruminants de race locale “Mossi”. 314 animaux (202 ovins et 112 caprins) repartis chez 25 producteurs ont été concernés. Les mesures corporelles suivantes ont été effectuées: le poids vif (PV), le périmètre thoracique (PT), la hauteur au garrot (HG), la hauteur à la croupe (HC) et la longueur de la diagonale du corps (LDC). Ont été également enregistrées la présence ou non de cornes, de barbiche, la couleur de la robe (blanc, noir, noir et blanc, brun, blanc-brun) et la structure du poil (ras et dur, ras et lisse, long et dur, long et lisse).

Les résultats ont mis en évidence entre les variables corporelles mesurées, des différences liées au sexe en fonction de l’âge. Les ovins locaux de type “Mossi” sont eumétriques avec un PV moyen à l’âge adulte de 23,3±5,0 kg et une HG de 59,3±5,5 cm. Chez les caprins, le PV moyen est de 20,2plusmn;4,5 kg et la HG est de 48,4±4,1 cm.

Ce sont des types génétiques à robes multicolores avec cependant une prédominance de la couleur “noir et blanc” chez les ovins, “blanc-brun” chez les caprins. Le poil est généralement “ras et dur” chez les ovins et “ras et lisse” chez les caprins. Le port des oreilles est “dressé et court” chez les caprins et “tombant et court” chez les ovins.

La grande variabilité notée pour la couleur de la robe et le PV chez les individus de ces races indique de grandes possibilités d'amélioration génétique par sélection.

The paper describes the breed characteristics, production performance including reproduction, growth, carcass and meat quality traits of the Tongcheng pig, one of the indigenous pig breeds suitable for a hybrid maternal line in central China. Based on the field investigation and data statistics from the farm recordings, the Tongcheng pig has early sexual maturity indicators, and the average litter size is 8.5 for first parity and 9.3 and 11.3 for the second and subsequent parities respectively. In a three-way crossing project launched recently, using the Tongcheng pig as the maternal parent and Landrace or Yorkshire pigs as the paternal parent, the performance testing results showed that Tongcheng pigs had a lower growth and meat production performance than these commercial pigs, but had superior meat quality. The production performance of the two crossing groups Landrace/Yorkshire/Tongcheng pigs) (LYT) and Yorkshire/Landrace/Tongcheng pigs) (YLT) were improved in comparison to their parent lines, and the results further indicated that the LYT cross is a tri-crossing style convenient for farm and village areas in central China. Meanwhile, effective management measures taken towards Tongcheng pig preservation, and a genetic diversity evaluation on the Tongcheng pig were reviewed. This paper offers the Tongcheng pig as a case study for the maintenance and utilization of indigenous pigs in China, which is rich in pig breeds but is also confronting the pig resource crisis.

A survey was conducted in the native tract of the Punjab Brown breed of chicken to study management practices, as well as morphological, performance and egg quality parameters. The study covered the three districts of Gurdaspur district in Punjab, and Ambala and Yamunanagar districts in Haryana, and included 532 birds and 61 families. Twenty-six microsatellite loci were used to assess genetic variability. The Punjab Brown is a multi-purpose breed, yielding good quality meat and eggs. Birds are reared in the backyard system and shelter is provided only during the night in the form of small enclosures mostly made up of mud and sometimes of wood. Average flock size is 8.7. Plumage colour is mostly brown and the pattern is usually solid but is sometimes spotted or striped. Males in particular have black spots/stripes on their neck, wings and tail. The comb is red, of single type and erect in position. The average weight of cocks and hens is 2.15±0.94 and 1.57±0.04 kg respectively. Hens start laying eggs at the age of about five to six months. Clutch size is about four to five. Average egg production is around 60–80 eggs per year. Eggshell colour is mostly light brown and average egg weight is 46.0±1.91g. The average weight of shell, albumin and yolk were 5.4±0.21, 24.4±0.63 and 16.2±0.48g respectively. Yolk index, albumin index and Haugh units were 0.41±0.005, 0.10±0.006 and 82.80±0.98 respectively. A total of 218 alleles were observed. The number of alleles per locus varied from 4–14. The mean PIC value for all the loci was 0.744. Twenty-four loci were found to be neutral (P<0.05) using Ewens Watterson test of neutrality. The exact test revealed that 15 loci deviated from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. The population has not undergone any recent bottleneck as revealed by quantitative and graphical qualitative tests.

The camel population in India is facing a severe decline which demands that immediate steps are taken to ensure its conservation. Characterisation is an integral part of the conservation program. The Polymerase Chain Reaction-Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA profile of unrelated camels of the Bikaneri (29), Jaisalmeri (30) and Kachchhi (18) breeds were analyzed. Reproducible polymorphic bands with varying frequencies among the three breeds of camel were obtained with five oligonucleotide primers. A total of 75 bands were amplified, of which 27 (36%) were polymorphic. The probability of obtaining identical fingerprints was observed to be the lowest in primer GC-10 (5.7%) followed by OP-08 (8.7%), GT-10 (11.3%), G-2 (15.5%) and G-1 (80%). Breed informative bands were amplified. The maximum genetic variability was observed in the Bikaneri (0.80±0.05) followed by the Kachchhi (0.84±0.06) and the Jaisalmeri (0.87±0.05) breeds. The inter-breed genetic distance estimates indicated a closer relationship in the Bikaneri-Kachchhi camels, (0.075), followed by the Jaisalmeri-Kachchhi (0.106) and Bikaneri-Jaisalmeri (0.132) breeds. A similar genetic relationship was observed when the degree of population subdivision was measured between the Bikaneri-Kachchhi (0.529), Jaisalmeri-Kachchhi (0.558) and Bikaneri-Jaisalmeri (0.566) breeds.