Influence of the microbiota of the reproductive tracts of females and males of the sheep species on their fertility
Using the technique of massive sequencing, interesting results over the influence of the microbiota of the reproductive tracts of females and males of the sheep species on their fertility.
Artificial insemination (AI) is an essential tool in genetic improvement programs, especially in dairy ruminants. In sheep, AI fertility has low percentages ranging between 30% and 60%, there are many factors that contribute to this fact.
The majority of fertility-related characters show very low heritability, between 1 and 4% (Andersen-Ranberg et al. 20015; Chang et al. 2006; González-Recio et al. 2006), which, together with The difficulty and time required for the collection of phenotypes, and the complexity and impression of the statistical models for their evaluation, make the selection of these characters using traditional methods inefficient.
Traditionally, the complete microbiota of the tract is not cultivable, so it has been tried to find out by other methodologies.
The INIA Animal genetic improvement group have found good conclusions about the influence of the microbiota of the reproductive tracts of females and males of the sheep species on their fertility , but there is still much to work on to clarify these issues and improve sheep production as in other species.
Information: Publication for veterinarians of Production animals, albéitar (November 2019, vol. 230)
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