Background: The objectives of this study were to (1) simultaneously estimate genetic parameters for BW, feed intake (FI), and body weight gain (Gain) during a FI test in broiler chickens using multi-trait Bayesian analysis; (2) derive phenotypic and genetic residual feed intake (RFI) and estimate genetic parameters of the resulting traits; and (3) compute a Bayesian measure of direct and correlated superiority of a group selected on phenotypic or genetic residual feed intake. A total of 56,649 male and female broiler chickens were measured at one of two ages ([Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] days). BW, FI, and Gain of males and females at the two ages were considered as separate traits, resulting in a 12-trait model. Phenotypic RFI ([Formula: see text]) and genetic RFI ([Formula: see text]) were estimated from a conditional distribution of FI given BW and Gain using partial phenotypic and partial genetic regression coefficients, respectively.
Results: Posterior means of heritability for BW, FI and Gain were moderately high and estimates were significantly different between males and females at the same age for all traits. In addition, the genetic correlations between male and female traits at the same age were significantly different from 1, which suggests a sex-by-genotype interaction. Genetic correlations between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were significantly different from 1 at an older age but not at a younger age.
Conclusions: The results of the multivariate Bayesian analyses in this study showed that genetic evaluation for production and feed efficiency traits should take sex and age differences into account to increase accuracy of selection and genetic gain. Moreover, for communicating with stakeholders, it is easier to explain results from selection on [Formula: see text] than selection on [Formula: see text], since [Formula: see text] is genetically independent of production traits and it explains the efficiency of birds in nutrient utilization independently of energy requirements for production and maintenance.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12711-019-0494-2 | DOI Listing |
Sci Adv
January 2025
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Predicting the dynamics of turbulent fluids has been an elusive goal for centuries. Even with modern computers, anything beyond the simplest turbulent flows is too chaotic and multiscaled to be directly simulatable. An alternative is to treat turbulence probabilistically, viewing flow properties as random variables distributed according to joint probability density functions (PDFs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2025
Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
CaSiO[Formula: see text] perovskite (CaPv) is the last major mineral in the Earth's lower mantle whose elasticity remains largely unresolved. Here, we investigate the elasticity of CaPv using ab initio machine-learning force fields (MLFF). At room temperature, the elasticity of tetragonal CaPv determined by MLFF molecular dynamics (MD) agrees well with experimental measurements after considering temperature induced variations in the hydrostatic structure, proving the effectiveness of the method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Comput Biol
January 2025
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Persistent homology applied to the activity of grid cells in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex suggests that this activity lies on a toroidal manifold. By analyzing real data and a simple model, we show that neural oscillations play a key role in the appearance of this toroidal topology. To quantitatively monitor how changes in spike trains influence the topology of the data, we first define a robust measure for the degree of toroidality of a dataset.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
January 2025
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Eravacycline is a broad-spectrum fluorocycline currently approved for complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs). In lung-infection models, it is effective against methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and tetracycline-resistant MRSA. As such, we aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model to evaluate eravacycline's pulmonary distribution and kinetics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
January 2025
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
The factors contributing to the persistence and stability of life are fundamental for understanding complex living systems. Organisms are commonly challenged by harsh and fluctuating environments that are suboptimal for growth and reproduction, which can lead to extinction. Many species contend with unfavourable and noisy conditions by entering a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity, a phenomenon known as dormancy.
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