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Why are bovine embryos cultured on a two-dimensional substrate and not in a three-dimensional environment like the cow’s uterus? Raquel Zaneti Puelker, a veterinarian who specializes in bovine in vitro embryo production, used to ask herself this question all the time.  “In the conventional in vitro production [IVP] process, the embryo in the culture droplet often sticks to the bottom of the culture dish and tends to be flattened instead of spherical when removed. So I wondered whether [...]

A study by Embrapa shows that the carbon footprint (a measure that calculates the carbon emission into the atmosphere by pasture-raising dairy farming) is low. He also points out that, in intensive grazing systems, 52 trees per cow are needed to reach zero carbon milk. The study considered two types of production systems - intensive and extensive - and the two breeds most used in dairy farming. Tree planting is a very important greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy for decarbonizing [...]

Researchers at the UK's Moredun Institute hope to improve understanding of how the parasite operates in different hosts. More than half a million pounds has been awarded to scientists at the Moredun Research Institute to tackle one of the world’s most common parasites. The grant aims to improve understanding of foodborne transmission and the infectious nature of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and help in the development of future vaccines and drugs. Moredun will [...]

Cattle productivity in Brazil is significantly affected by the decline in pasture quality during the dry period of the year, writes André Julião with Agência FAPESP (FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO). In conjunction with the effects of global warming occurring in this century, this problem makes the selection of livestock resistant to climate change increasingly necessary. In an article published in the journal Genetics [...]

Brazilian scientists at São Paulo State University (UNESP) collaborating with colleagues at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a dairy cattle breeding method that adds a new parameter to genetic selection and conserves or even improves a population’s genetic diversity, writes André Julião, Agência FAPESP. The study, which is published in Journal of Dairy Science, was funded by the São Paulo Research [...]

Brazilian scientists at São Paulo State University (UNESP) collaborating with colleagues at the University of Maryland and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a dairy cattle breeding method that adds a new parameter to genetic selection and conserves or even improves a population's genetic diversity. The study, which is published in Journal of Dairy Science, was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP and USDA. Besides genetic value [...]

BRAZIL - The cattle tick is controlled by pesticides, invariably leading to the selection of resistant strains. In Brazil, this parasite is currently resistant to a greater or lesser extent to all the commercial pesticides used by cattle farmers. The antiparasitic drug most widely used to control cattle tick populations (as well as human parasites) is ivermectin, a broad-spectrum anthelmintic, acaricide, and insecticide. Brazil's commercial cattle herd totaled 217.7 million animals in 2017, [...]

BRAZIL - Beef cattle improvement programs have focused for decades on promoting the rapid growth of calves. Now, the goal is to improve other traits, such as meat tenderness or ribeye muscle area. Researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil who are studying the genome of the Gir breed of Zebu cattle have identified 35 genes associated with reproduction, milk composition, growth, meat and carcass, health or body conformation traits. This identification is a key step toward the [...]

BRAZIL - A pioneering research project has identified genes potentially associated with functions such as growth and weight gain in the Nelore breed. These functions are key to beef production. The researchers pinpointed genomic regions that had changed owing to selection, referring to these as genomic signatures of selection. A pioneering research project has identified genes potentially associated with functions such as growth and weight gain in the Nelore breed. These functions are key to [...]