Assessment of genetic variation for pathogen-specific mastitis resistance in Valle del Belice dairy sheep

BMC Veterinary Research

Research Article

Maria Teresa Sardina¹  Baldassare Portolano¹  Marco Tolone¹  José M. Yáñez²  Cristian Larrondo²  Scott Newman³ 

[1] Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy;Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Chile, Av. Santa Rosa, 11735, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile;Genus plc, 37075, Hendersonville, TN, USA;

关键词: Ewes;    Mastitis;    Pathogen;    Resistance;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12917-016-0781-x

 received in 2015-10-24, accepted in 2016-07-20,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMastitis resistance is a complex and multifactorial trait, and its expression depends on both genetic and environmental factors, including infection pressure. The objective of this research was to determine the genetic basis of mastitis resistance to specific pathogens using a repeatability threshold probit animal model.ResultsThe most prevalent isolated pathogens were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS); 39 % of records and 77 % of the animals infected at least one time in the whole period of study. There was significant genetic variation only for Streptococci (STR). In addition, there was a positive genetic correlation between STR and all pathogens together (ALL) (0.36 ± 0.22), and CNS and ALL (0.92 ± 0.04).ConclusionThe results of our study support the presence of significant genetic variation for mastitis caused by Streptococci and suggest the importance of discriminating between different pathogens causing mastitis due to the fact that they most likely influence different genetic traits. Low heritabilities for pathogen specific-mastitis resistance may be considered when including bacteriological status as a measure of mastitis presence to implement breeding strategies for improving udder health in dairy ewes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016