Efficacy of a New Multivalent Vaccine for the Control of Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) in a Randomized Clinical Trial in Commercial Fattening Units.

A new multivalent vaccine (DIVENCE), containing live gE/tk double-gene-deleted BoHV-1, live-attenuated BRSV, inactivated PI3, and BVDV-1, and BVDV-2 recombinant proteins, has been designed to protect cattle against the main viral pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD). The aim of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of DIVENCE against BRD in field conditions. A total of 360 animals from three different farms were included in this study.

Research note: Indirect evidence of avian Metapneumovirus circulation in broilers in Italy.

The clinical relevance of avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) is growing in the poultry sector, especially in broiler farming, where no vaccination is administered in Italy. Given the naïve status of the birds, a serological survey was conducted in a densely populated area of Northern Italy, to evaluate aMPV circulation. Seven farms were selected and sampled in summer/fall, then sampling was repeated in the following season (winter/spring) to assess a possible seasonal effect.

Inter- and intra-breed genome-wide copy number diversity in a large cohort of European equine breeds.

Background: Copy Number Variation (CNV) is a common form of genetic variation underlying animal evolution and phenotypic diversity across a wide range of species. In the mammalian genome, high frequency of CNV differentiation between breeds may be candidates for population-specific selection. However, CNV differentiation, selection and its population genetics have been poorly explored in horses.

Genome-wide association study for insect bite hypersensitivity susceptibility in horses revealed novel associated loci on chromosome 1.

Equine insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a pruritic skin allergy caused primarily by biting midges, Culicoides spp. IBH susceptibility has polygenic inheritance and occurs at high frequencies in several horse breeds worldwide, causing increased costs and reduced welfare of affected horses. The aim of this study was to identify and validate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with equine IBH susceptibility.

Genetic structure and connectivity analysis in a large domestic livestock meta-population: The case of the Pura Raza Español horses.

The Pura Raza Español (PRE) is an autochthonous Spanish horse population distributed in 65 countries and managed by a single association. Since 1960s, breeding animals have been steadily exported to other countries to establish local subpopulations. We analysed the genetic structure of a PRE horse meta-population (MP) of 215,500 animals from countries with at least 80 active animals (27 countries comprising 77% of the total animals in the complete pedigree).

Stress level effects on sport performance during trotting races in Spanish Trotter Horses.

The stress level is suggested to have a negative effect on horses during equestrian competitions, specifically in trotter racing. The main objectives of this study were to measure stress levels in Spanish Trotter Horse races with a reliable non-invasive method, and determining the threshold level of stress that leads to the best performance results and also shows when the stress perceived by the horse becomes distress. One hundred and thirty individuals were evaluated, measuring their performance (based on racing time per kilometre (TPK)) and their stress (based on eye temperature, assessed with infrared thermography, and heart rate) in different competitions.

Age-based partitioning of individual genomic inbreeding levels in Belgian Blue cattle.

Background: Inbreeding coefficients can be estimated either from pedigree data or from genomic data, and with genomic data, they are either global or local (when the linkage map is used). Recently, we developed a new hidden Markov model (HMM) that estimates probabilities of homozygosity-by-descent (HBD) at each marker position and automatically partitions autozygosity in multiple age-related classes (based on the length of HBD segments). Our objectives were to: (1) characterize inbreeding with our model in an intensively selected population such as the Belgian Blue Beef (BBB) cattle breed; (2) compare the properties of the model at different marker densities; and (3) compare our model with other methods.