This report is an attempt to interpret evidence concerning geneticenvironmental interaction as it relates to the effectiveness of selection.

Methods of estimating genetic-environmental interaction were investigated with the conclusion that the standard analysis of variance is a satisfactory tool provided (1) the interaction component of variance is adjusted for important variation between environments in the scale of genetic effects and (2) the variance component for the average effects of genetic groups is recognised as equivalent to the average covariance of the same genetic group in different environments (i.e. ) to include the real possibility of negative genetic correlation.

It is shown that (1) response to selection for improved average performance over varying environments (ΔGt) is proportional to the genetic correlation between expressions of the same genotype in different environments (rG), that (2) gain in ΔGi, from measuring performance in k environments is proportional to if k times as many animals are tested, but to if total numbers per genotypic class (nk) are held constant, where g2 is heritability of individual variation within environments and rG is the correlation between the phenotypic expressions of the same genotype in different environments.

Evidence is presented that (1) variations among poultry-farm environments in California cause important, but largely unpredictable, shifts in ranking of genetic stocks for egg production, and (2) improved accuracy in measuring genetic differences in average performance across environments probably justifies utilising a sample of 5 to 10 farms representing the range of environments for which the stock is bred.

Colostrum provides newborn piglets with energy, immunoglobulins and growth, thereby playing an essential role in piglet survival. However, colostrum yield and composition are highly variable among sows. Some of the factors involved in this variability have been identified. The aim of the study was to confirm previous findings on a large number of animals and to investigate other potential factors of variation, such as the process of farrowing and the morphological changes of the mammary epithelium that occur during the 24 h postpartum. The experiment was conducted on 16 Large White (LW) and 56 Landrace (LR) × Large White (LR × LW) crossbred sows of mixed parities and their litters. Most farrowings were induced at 113 days of gestation and all farrowings were attended. Each piglet was weighed at birth and 24 h after farrowing started (t24). Colostrum ingestion by individual piglets was estimated using piglet weight gains from birth to t24. Colostrum production by sows was estimated by summing up colostrum intakes by each piglet of the litter. Colostrum was collected at the onset of farrowing (t0) and at t24 to determine concentrations of immunoglobulins G (IgG), Na and K. Analyses of correlations and multiple regressions were performed to identify the variables involved in variation of colostrum yield and IgG concentrations. Colostrum yield was not related to litter size and weight (P > 0.1). It was negatively correlated with the number of stillborn piglets (r = −0.33, P = 0.005) and within-litter variation of piglet birth weight (r = −0.24, P = 0.04). It was not related to the Na/K ratio in the colostrum, which is an indicator of the integrity of the mammary epithelium. When sows were categorised according to their level of colostrum yield, sows that produced a low yield of colostrum had more stillborn piglets at birth than the other sows (P < 0.05) and tended to have a longer birth interval during the early process of parturition (P < 0.1). At t24, concentrations of IgG in the colostrum were positively correlated with the Na/K ratio in the colostrum (r = 0.53, P < 0.001), which indicates the concomitance of the cessation of IgG transfer to the colostrum and the changes in the morphology of the mammary epithelium. This study points out the need for future research on the role of the hormones involved in both the process of parturition and lactogenesis in the relationship between stillbirth, process of parturition and colostrum production.

We have examined the effect of dietary fats containing n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content of beef m. longissimus lumborum. Four groups of eight Charolais steers were given, for 120 days, grass silage plus a barley/sugar-beet feed concentrate containing one of four fat supplements: Megalac (saturated), linseed (high 18: 3),fish oil (high 20: 5 n-3, eicosapentenoic acid and 22: 6 n-3, docosahexaenoic acid) or linseed plus fish oil. The concentrates supplied 400 g/kg dry-matter (DM) intake and were designed to supply 45 g/kg of the total dietary fat calculated to be 60 g/kg of DM and to contain similar amounts of linoleic acid. Muscle from steers given the Megalac supplement contained 11·3 mg CLA per 100 g muscle and this was increased two- to three-fold in animals given the more unsaturated fat supplements. The increased deposition of CLA was similar for both linseed and fish oil supplements although the concentrations of total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the fish oil diet were much less than in the linseed diet. This suggests potent inhibition of conversion of CLA to trans vaccenic acid by fish oil fatty acids or their rumen metabolites.

Gene content is the number of copies of a particular allele in a genotype of an animal. Gene content can be used to study additive gene action of candidate gene. Usually genotype data are available only for a part of population and for the rest gene contents have to be calculated based on typed relatives. Methods to calculate expected gene content for animals on large complex pedigrees are relatively complex. In this paper we proposed a practical method to calculate gene content using a linear regression. The method does not estimate genotype probabilities but these can be approximated from gene content assuming Hardy-Weinberg proportions. The approach was compared with other methods on multiple simulated data sets for real bovine pedigrees of 1 082 and 907 903 animals. Different allelic frequencies (0.4 and 0.2) and proportions of the missing genotypes (90, 70, and 50%) were considered in simulation. The simulation showed that the proposed method has similar capability to predict gene content as the iterative peeling method, however it requires less time and can be more practical for large pedigrees. The method was also applied to real data on the bovine myostatin locus on a large dual-purpose Belgian Blue pedigree of 235 133 animals. It was demonstrated that the proposed method can be easily adapted for particular pedigrees.

Spermatogenesis is a finely regulated process of germ cell multiplication and differentiation leading to the production of spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules. Spermatogenesis can be divided into three parts: spermatocytogenesis, meiosis and spermiogenesis. During spermatocytogenesis, germ cells engage in a cycle of several mitotic divisions that increases the yield of spermatogenesis and to renew stem cells and produce spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes. Meiosis involves duplication and exchange of genetic material and two cell divisions that reduce the chromosome number and yield four haploid round spermatids. Spermiogenesis involves the differentiation of round spermatids into fully mature spermatozoa released into the lumin of seminiferous tubules. The seminiferous epithelium is composed of several generations of germ cells due to the fact that new generations of sperm cells engage in the spermatogenic process without waiting for the preceding generations to have completed their evolution and to have disappeared as spermatozoa into the lumen of the tubules. In bulls, the duration of the seminiferous epithelium cycle is 13.5 days. The total duration of spermatogenesis is 61 days, that is 4.5 times the duration of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium. The spermatogenetic wave is used to describe the spatial arrangement of cell associations along the tubules. Several theories have been described to explain the renewal of spermatogonia. Depending on the model, there are five or six spermatogonial mitoses explaining the renewal of stem cells and the proliferation of spermatogonia. Daily sperm production and germ cell degeneration can be quantified from numbers of germ cells in various steps of development throughout spermatogenesis. Bulls have a lower efficiency of spermatogenesis than most species examined, but higher than that of humans.

Most plant-origin fiber sources used in pig production contains a mixture of soluble and insoluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). The knowledge about effects of these sources of NSP on the gut microbiota and its fermentation products is still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of feeding diets with native sources of NSP on the ileal and fecal microbial composition and the dietary impact on the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and lactic acid. The experiment comprised four diets and four periods in a change-over design with seven post valve t-cecum cannulated growing pigs. The four diets were balanced to be similar in NSP content and included one of four fiber sources, two diets were rich in pectins, through inclusion of chicory forage (CFO) and sugar beet pulp, and two were rich in arabinoxylan, through inclusion of wheat bran (WB) and grass meal. The gut microbial composition was assessed with terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length polymorphism and the abundance of Lactobacillus spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroides–Prevotella–Porphyromonas and the β-xylosidase gene, xynB, were assessed with quantitative PCR. The gut microbiota did not cluster based on NSP structure (arabinoxylan or pectin) rather, the effect was to a high degree ingredient specific. In pigs fed diet CFO, three TRFs related to Prevotellaceae together consisted of more than 25% of the fecal microbiota, which is about 3 to 23 times higher (P<0.05) than in pigs fed the other diets. Whereas pigs fed diet WB had about 2 to 22 times higher abundance (P<0.05) of Megasphaera elsdenii in feces and about six times higher abundance (P<0.05) of Lactobacillus reuteri in ileal digesta than pigs fed the other diets. The total amount of digested NSP (r=0.57; P=0.002), xylose (r=0.53; P=0.004) and dietary fiber (r=0.60; P=0.001) in ileal digesta were positively correlated with an increased abundance of Bacteroides–Prevotella–Porphyromonas. The effect on SCFA was correlated to specific neutral sugars where xylose increased the ileal butyric acid proportion, whereas arabinose increased the fecal butyric acid proportion. Moreover, chicory pectin increased the acetic acid proportion in both ileal digesta and feces.

Milk production, fertility, longevity and health records, were extracted from databases of two milk recording organisations in the United Kingdom for the first three lactations of the Holstein–Friesian breed. These included data related to health events (mastitis and lameness), voluntarily recorded on a proportion of farms. The data were analysed to calculate disease incidence levels and to estimate genetic parameters for health traits and their relationships with production and other functional traits. The resulting dataset consisted of 124 793 lactations from 75 137 animals of 1586 sires, recorded in 2434 herds. Incidence of health events increased with parity. The overall incidence of mastitis (MAS) and lameness (LAM), defined as binary traits, were 17% and 16%, respectively. Heritability estimates for MAS and LAM were 0.04 and 0.02, respectively, obtained from repeatability linear sire models. Heritability estimates of mastitis and lameness as count traits were slightly higher, 0.05 and 0.03, respectively. Genetic correlations were obtained by bivariate analyses of all pair-wise combinations between milk 305-day yield (MY), protein 305-day yield (PY), fat 305-day yield (FY), lactation average loge transformed lactation average somatic cell count (SCS), calving interval (CI), days to first service (DFS), non-return at 56 days (NR56), number of inseminations (NINS), mastitis (MAS), number of mastitis episodes (NMAS), lameness (LAM), number of lameness episodes (NLAM) and lifespan score (LS). As expected, MAS was correlated most strongly with SCS (0.69), which supports the use of SCS as an indicator trait for mastitis. Genetic correlations between MAS and yield and fertility traits were of similar magnitude ranging from 0.27 to 0.33. Genetic correlations between MAS with LAM and LS were 0.38 and −0.59, respectively. Not all genetic correlations between LAM and other traits were significant because of fewer numbers of lameness records. LAM had significant genetic correlations with MY (0.38), PY (0.28), CI (0.35), NINS (0.38) and LS (−0.53). The heritability estimates of mastitis and lameness were low; therefore, genetic gain through direct selection alone would be slow, yet still positive and cumulative. Direct selection against mastitis and lameness as additional traits should reduce incidence of both diseases, and simultaneously improve fertility and longevity. However, both health traits had antagonistic relationships with production traits, thus genetic gain in production would be slower.

Concerns about the environmental effect and the economic burden of methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants are driving the search for ways to mitigate rumen methanogenesis. The use of direct-fed microbials (DFM) is one possible option to decrease CH4 emission from ruminants. Direct-fed microbials are already used in ruminants mainly to increase productivity and to improve health, and are readily accepted by producers and consumers alike. However, studies on the use of DFM as rumen CH4 mitigants are scarce. A few studies using Saccharomyces cerevisiae have shown a CH4-decreasing effect but, to date, there has not been a systematic exploration of DFM as modulators of rumen methanogenesis. In this review, we explored biochemical pathways competing with methanogenesis that, potentially, could be modulated by the use of DFM. Pathways involving the redirection of H2 away from methanogenesis and pathways producing less H2 during feed fermentation are the preferred options. Propionate formation is an example of the latter option that in addition to decrease CH4 formation increases the retention of energy from the diet. Homoacetogenesis is a pathway using H2 to produce acetate, however up to now no acetogen has been shown to efficiently compete with methanogens in the rumen. Nitrate and sulphate reduction are pathways competing with methanogenesis, but the availability of these substances in the rumen is limited. Although there were studies using nitrate and sulphate as chemical additives, use of DFM for improving these processes and decrease the accumulation of toxic metabolites needs to be explored more. There are some other pathways such as methanotrophy and capnophily or modes of action such as inhibition of methanogens that theoretically could be provided by DFM and affect methanogenesis. We conclude that DFM is a promising alternative for rumen methane mitigation that should be further explored for their practical usage.

A comparison of in vitro microbial activity was made between inocula from faeces of adult and unweaned pigs, using a range of carbohydrate-rich substrates. The substrates tested were classified into groups (fibre-rich, grains, gums, pectin, saccharides, storage carbohydrates, and miscellaneous). Proximate and fibre analyses were determined for all substrates tested. Fermentation kinetics were measured according to the cumulative gas production technique. End-point products such as gas, volatile fatty acids and ammonia were also determined. The faeces from the adult pigs (ATF) were collected from four castrated finisher pigs (Dutch Landrace × Great Yorkshire). These were offered a diet based on highly digestible maize starch and fish meal, so as to be as free as possible of fermentable carbohydrates. The unweaned piglet faeces were collected from 19 unweaned piglets (male and female) which were 27 to 30 days old. The parameters were tested for significance by an analysis of variance using the Tukey's studentized range test of multiple comparisons. There were significant differences in the fermentation patterns both due to source of substrate and inoculum. It would appear that the metabolic activity of the microflora does differ significantly between adult and weanling pigs, though this varied for the different carbohydrates tested. Suggestions are made as to how to select potential carbohydrate ingredients for an in vivo experiment, based on their in vitro fermentation characteristics.

The horse is a non-ruminant herbivore adapted to eating plant-fibre or forage-based diets. Some horses are stabled for most or the majority of the day with limited or no access to fresh pasture and are fed preserved forage typically as hay or haylage and sometimes silage. This raises questions with respect to the quality and suitability of these preserved forages (considering production, nutritional content, digestibility as well as hygiene) and required quantities. Especially for performance horses, forage is often replaced with energy dense feedstuffs which can result in a reduction in the proportion of the diet that is forage based. This may adversely affect the health, welfare, behaviour and even performance of the horse. In the past 20 years a large body of research work has contributed to a better and deeper understanding of equine forage needs and the physiological and behavioural consequences if these are not met. Recent nutrient requirement systems have incorporated some, but not all, of this new knowledge into their recommendations. This review paper amalgamates recommendations based on the latest understanding in forage feeding for horses, defining forage types and preservation methods, hygienic quality, feed intake behaviour, typical nutrient composition, digestion and digestibility as well as health and performance implications. Based on this, consensual applied recommendations for feeding preserved forages are provided.

The rearing period has a key influence on the later performance of cattle, affecting future fertility and longevity. Producers usually aim to breed replacement heifers by 15 months to calve at 24 months. An age at first calving (AFC) close to 2 years (23 to 25 months) is optimum for economic performance as it minimises the non-productive period and maintains a seasonal calving pattern. This is rarely achieved in either dairy or beef herds, with average AFC for dairy herds usually between 26 and 30 months. Maintaining a low AFC requires good heifer management with adequate growth to ensure an appropriate BW and frame size at calving. Puberty should occur at least 6 weeks before the target breeding age to enable animals to undergo oestrous cycles before mating. Cattle reach puberty at a fairly consistent, but breed-dependent, proportion of mature BW. Heifer fertility is a critical component of AFC. In US Holsteins the conception rate peaked at 57% at 15 to 16 months, declining in older heifers. Wide variations in growth rates on the same farm often lead to some animals having delayed first breeding and/or conception. Oestrous synchronisation regimes and sexed semen can both be used but unless heifers have been previously well-managed the success rates may be unacceptably low. Altering the nutritional input above or below those needed for maintenance at any stage from birth to first calving clearly alters the average daily gain (ADG) in weight. In general an ADG of around 0.75 kg/day seems optimal for dairy heifers, with lower rates delaying puberty and AFC. There is some scope to vary ADG at different ages providing animals reach an adequate size by calving. Major periods of nutritional deficiency and/or severe calfhood disease will, however, compromise development with long-term adverse consequences. Infectious disease can also cause pregnancy loss/abortion. First lactation milk yield may be slightly lower in younger calving cows but lifetime production is higher as such animals usually have good fertility and survive longer. There is now extensive evidence that as long as the AFC is >23 months then future performance is not adversely influenced. On the other hand, delayed first calving >30 months is associated with poor survival. Underfeeding of young heifers reduces their milk production potential and is a greater problem than overfeeding. Farmers are more likely to meet the optimum AFC target of 23 to 25 months if they monitor growth rates and adjust feed accordingly.

1. A deterministic model for thermoneutral heat production of growing pigs on barley-based diets has been developed and validated. The model variables are live weight (20 to 100 kg) and metabolizable energy intake (not less than maintenance). The root-mean-square error for 62 data is 049 MJ/day (3·2%).

2. A deterministic model for heat production of growing pigs below their critical temperature has been developed and validated. The model variables are: air temperature, air velocity, floor type, live weight (20 to 100 kg), and group size. The root-mean-square error for 78 data is 0·77 MJ/day (5·6%).

3. The two heat production models are combined to give a model for the lower critical temperature for growing pigs.

4. These models may be used to quantify and compare the effects on energy balance of different combinations of nutrition and environment. They should help to clarify the issues when practical decisions in pig production are made and should also help in the design of nutritional and physiological experiments.

Variance components were estimated from an animal model using a restricted maximum likelihood procedure which allowed for unequal design matrices and missing observations (VCE). Data sets containing: (i) 15 275 records of linear type classifications on heifers, (ii) 3399 live weight and condition scores measured at calving and (iii) 1157 records of yield, dry-matter intake, average live weight and condition score during the first 26 weeks of lactation; were analysed jointly.

Heritability estimates for dry-matter intake, live weight and condition score in the largest data set were 0·44, 0·44 and 0·35 respectively and the genetic correlation between condition score and the yield traits ranged from −0·29 to −0·46. The genetic correlation between milk yield and average live weight was negative (−0·09) but after adjusting for the genetic variation in condition score this correlation was positive (0·29). Genetic correlations between live weight and stature, chest width, body depth and rump width were consistently high (0·52 to 0·64; 0·75 to 0·86; 0·59 to 0·81; 0·56 to 0·74, respectively). Chest width and body depth were little to moderately correlated with dry-matter intake (0·25 to 0·28 and 0·20 to 0·34 respectively), and angularity (−0·47 to −0·77) and chest width (0·32 to 0·73) appeared to be good predictors of condition score. These correlations showed that (i) the relative value of live weight compared with food intake capacity determines the optimum direction of selection for stature, chest width, body depth and angularity, and consequently the optimum size of the dairy cow, and that (ii) live weight, condition score and food intake can be predicted from the type traits with little loss in accuracy. A restricted index which maintains condition score at its current level was predicted to reduce overall (economic) genetic gain by 5%.

The drive to increase the output of animal product in some sectors of ruminant livestock production has led to greater use of feeds such as cereal grains and soyabean meal that are potentially human-edible. This trend has caused concern since, by so doing, ruminants compete not only with monogastric livestock but also with the human population for a limited global area of cultivatable land on which to produce grain crops. Reasons for using potentially human-edible feeds in ruminant diets include increased total daily energy intake, greater supply of essential amino acids and improved ruminal balance between fermentable energy and degradable protein. Soyabean meal, produced on land that has been in arable cultivation for many years can fulfil a useful role as a supplier of undegraded dietary protein in diets for high-yielding dairy cows. However, in the context of sustaining the production of high-quality foods from livestock to meet the demands of a growing human population, the use of potentially human-edible feed resources by livestock should be restricted to livestock with the highest daily nutrient requirements; that is, potentially human-edible feed inputs should be constrained to meeting requirements for energy and protein and to rectifying imbalances in nutrient supply from pastures and forage crops such as high concentrations of nitrogen (N). There is therefore a role for human-edible feeds in milk production because forage-only systems are associated with relatively low output per head and also low N use efficiency compared with systems with greater reliance on human-edible feeds. Profitability on farm is driven by control of input costs as well as product value and examples are given of low-cost bovine milk and meat production with little or no reliance on potentially human-edible feeds. In beef production, the forage-only systems currently under detailed real-time life-cycle analysis at the North Wyke Farm Platform, can sustain high levels of animal growth at low feed cost. The potential of all-forage diets should be demonstrated for a wide range of ruminant milk and meat production systems. The challenge for the future development of ruminant systems is to ensure that potentially human-edible feeds, or preferably human-inedible by-products if available locally, are used to complement pastures and forage crops strategically rather than replace them.

Muscle fibre characteristics and biochemical properties of muscle recovered from young bulls of two genotypes (Aberdeen Angus × and Charolais ×), reared on two different diets (silage-based and barley-based) and slaughtered at varying ages between 10 and 19 months of age were established. These analyses were restricted to samples ofm. longissimus lumborum (LI) recovered at 48 h post mortem, vacuum packed and stored at 2°C for 14 days. Biochemical measurements included intramuscular fat content, intramuscular collagen content and its solubility, haem pigment concentration, sarcomere length and myofibril fragmentation. Muscle fibre type was classified according to the contractile nature of thefibres and their metabolic properties.

Intramuscular fat content increased (P < 0·01) with age at slaughter and at a fixed age was greater for Angus × than Charolais × bulls (211·5 v. 295·8 mg/g dry matter, P < 0·01). Total intramuscular collagen and its solubility tended to decrease with age (P < 0·01). Differences in haem pigment concentration in samples of LI were detected between genotype (3·99 v. 3·59 mg/g for Angus × and Charolais × bulls; P × 0·01) and diet (3·97 v. 3·62 mg/g for bulls given barley and silage; P < 0·01), and increased with age at slaughter (P < 0·01). There was a significant increase in eye muscle cross-sectional area with increasing slaughter date (P < 0·01) and this was paralleled by an increase in cross-sectional area of individual muscle fibres (P < 0·001). Differences in cross-sectional area of individual muscle fibres between genotype and diet were small and inconsistent. Charolais × bulls had a greater percentage area of fast twitch glycolytic fibres than Angus × bulls (54·3 v. 49·3%; P < 0·01) and a smaller percentage area of slow twitch oxidative fibres (15·8 v. 18·9%; P < 0·05). Beef tenderness was positively correlated (r = 0·48; P < 0·01) with the frequency of slow twitch oxidative fibres and negatively correlated (r = -0·38; P < 0·05) with the frequency offast twitch glycolytic fibres.

This paper constitutes a review on the welfare aspects of piglet castration that considers the scientific literature published after 2004. Castrating during the neonatal period (1 to 3 days of age) is clearly painful. In addition, inflammatory processes may take place at the sites of incision, thus adding further pain to the procedure. Surgical castration with general and local anaesthesia, in combination with long-term analgesia, has been shown to reduce pain but the additional handling and injection of the anaesthetic, the effectiveness and limited safety margins have to be thoroughly evaluated. Raising entire males during the whole fattening period or immunocastration of males towards the end of the fattening period are other alternatives with welfare benefits in young pigs compared to current surgical castration, but with some potential welfare drawbacks regarding handling stress and behaviour during fattening. Based on the current knowledge, it can be concluded that sperm sexing and raising entire males after genetic control of boar taint are potentially preferable alternatives to current practices, but need further research, as these methods are not yet available.

Problems of making selection decisions among animals from several environmental groups with heterogeneous variance are discussed. Unless correction for heterogeneity of variance is made, animals will tend to be selected from the more variable groups, especially if selection is intense. This is an accurate and fair procedure only when the heterogeneity reflects real differences in heritability. It is shown that, if observations are expressed as deviations relative to the estimate of standard deviation from the group, the accuracy is high unless groups are very small.

Three trials were performed in order to establish a method of estimation of colostrum intake based on weight gain in newborn pigs. The first trial involved 33 piglets, bottle-fed with sow colostrum and weighed regularly for 25 h. A regression equation relating colostrum intake (CI in g) to birth weight (BWB in kg), weight at CI estimation (BW in kg), age at first suck (tFS in min) and duration of colostrum intake (t in min and with 17 h < t < 25 h) was established with a root mean-square error equal to 33 g. This equation was evaluated with a second data set using 15 further bottle-fed piglets (trial 2). Measured and predicted values were very close (R2 = 0.90). The third trial compared colostrum intake estimated either with the previous equation or with the deuterium oxide dilution method in catheterized sow-reared or bottle-fed piglets (no. = 12 per group). The equation underestimated colostrum intake of those piglets, probably due to prior surgery. However, the feeding method (bottle-feeding v. sow-rearing) had no effect on the relationship between weight gain and colostrum intake. Therefore, the equation established in bottle-fed piglets may be applied to sow-reared piglets.

The effects of high and low dietary dietary intake on reproduction in female cattle and sheep will be considered at the level of the pituitary gland, ovary and uterus. In sheep, increased dietary intake for a relatively short time will increase ovulation rate, by increasing gonadotropin secretion. Dietary intake can affect steroids such as progesterone and also intra-follicular concentrations of some growth factors such as IGF-1 and IGF-2. The effects of altered energy intake on gonadotropins and steroids in cattle are not as repeatable as those in sheep but follicular growth rates can be altered. High nutrition has a negative effect on oocyte quality, with animals on ad-libitum high energy diets particularly at risk. Overfeeding can decrease embryo quality in both sheep and cattle and it appears that this results from changes primarily at the level of the follicle or oocyte. Restricted nutrition for a short time will enhance pregnancy rates in cattle; most of this benefit appears to occur if food is restricted before insemination. Thus feeding levels before mating are particularly important to subsequent reproductive success. High dietary crude protein may decrease pregnancy rate in lactating cows. In ewes and heifers supplementation with urea failed to have any effect on pregnancy rates when good quality embryos were transferred to recipient animals exposed to high dietary crude protein. In donor ewes there were adverse effects on early embryo development following urea treatment, suggesting that the mechanism affecting the reproductive process was primarily operating at the level of the oocyte. Collectively, these data identify the overall deleterious effects of high dietary intake and excess crude protein on fertility and highlight the importance of dietary intake before ovulation on the likelihood of establishing a viable pregnancy.

Animal production and health (APH) is an important sector in the world economy, representing a large proportion of the budget of all member states in the European Union and in other continents. APH is a highly competitive sector with a strong emphasis on innovation and, albeit with country to country variations, on scientific research. Proteomics (the study of all proteins present in a given tissue or fluid – i.e. the proteome) has an enormous potential when applied to APH. Nevertheless, for a variety of reasons and in contrast to disciplines such as plant sciences or human biomedicine, such potential is only now being tapped. To counter such limited usage, 6 years ago we created a consortium dedicated to the applications of Proteomics to APH, specifically in the form of a Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, termed FA1002 – Proteomics in Farm Animals: www.cost-faproteomics.org. In 4 years, the consortium quickly enlarged to a total of 31 countries in Europe, as well as Israel, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. This article has a triple purpose. First, we aim to provide clear examples on the applications and benefits of the use of proteomics in all aspects related to APH. Second, we provide insights and possibilities on the new trends and objectives for APH proteomics applications and technologies for the years to come. Finally, we provide an overview and balance of the major activities and accomplishments of the COST Action on Farm Animal Proteomics. These include activities such as the organization of seminars, workshops and major scientific conferences, organization of summer schools, financing Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) and the generation of scientific literature. Overall, the Action has attained all of the proposed objectives and has made considerable difference by putting proteomics on the global map for animal and veterinary researchers in general and by contributing significantly to reduce the East–West and North–South gaps existing in the European farm animal research. Future activities of significance in the field of scientific research, involving members of the action, as well as others, will likely be established in the future.