Testing and characterization of herding dogs' behaviors.

Breeding for phenotype in herding dogs (HDs) mainly relies on their performance in national field trial competitions, which has been shown to be inadequate for identifying HDs suited for real livestock farming conditions. In this study, a different field trial with a new scoring system consisting of 28 items to consider was designed to assess young HDs, the results of which culminated in a statement of adequate phenotype (AP) or non-adequate phenotype (NAP). An AP HD was defined as being able: to control the direction of a flock, to keep it grouped close to a handler when needed, to confront animals it is dealing with in a respectful manner, and able to create movement of the flock without excessive disturbance, threatening or attacking it through chasing, or uncontrolled biting.

Genetic consistency between gait analysis by accelerometry and evaluation scores at breeding shows for the selection of jumping competition horses.

The aim was to assess the efficiency of gaits characteristics in improving jumping performance of sport horses and confront accelerometers and judge scores for this purpose. A sample of 1,477 young jumping horses were measured using accelerometers for walk, trot, and canter. Of these, 702 were genotyped with 541,175 SNPs after quality control.

Genotype imputation accuracy in multiple equine breeds from medium- to high-density genotypes.

Genotype imputation is now a key component of genomic analyses as it increases the density of available genotypes within a population. However, many factors can influence imputation accuracy. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the accuracy of imputation of high-density genotypes (Affymetrix Axiom Equine genotyping array, 670,806 SNPs) from two moderate-density genotypes (Illumina Equine SNP50 BeadChip, 54,602 SNPs and Illumina Equine SNP70 BeadChip, 65,157 SNPs), using single-breed or multiple-breed reference sets.

Genotype by environment interactions for behavioral reactivity in sheep.

In sheep, social reactivity and reactivity to humans are relevant behavioral responses that are used to investigate the behavioral adaptation of farm animals to various rearing conditions. Such traits were previously reported as heritable and associated with several QTLs. However, few behavior-related genotype by environment (G × E) interactions have been reported to date.