Possible welfare benefits of qualitative rather than quantitative food restriction were investigated with growing female broiler breeder chickens (Ross 1). In Experiment 1, body-weight gains from 2 to 6 weeks of age were compared among different diet dilution, appetite suppression and low protein treatments, with free access to food at all times, to identify qualitative treatments causing weight gains similar to that recommended in the Ross 1 Parent Stock Management Manual. Based on these results, four diet dilution (400g kg−1 unmolassed sugar-beet pulp, 300 and 600g kg−1 oat hulls, 500g kg−1 softwood sawdust) and one appetite suppression (50g kg−1 calcium propionate) treatments were compared with two quantitative restriction (the recommended daily ration and twice that amount) and one ad libitum control treatments, from 2 to 10 weeks of age, in Experiment 2. As well as growth, food intake, excreta production and digestibility, measurements were also made of behaviour and blood indices of stress. Several conclusions were drawn. Different methods of qualitative food restriction can be used to control growth rate within desired limits. Problems with these methods include reduced uniformity in weight gain, increased excreta production and/or increased cost. Although they appear to suppress abnormal oral behaviours, they do not alter the increased general activity which is correlated with suppression of growth rate, and which may more accurately reflect associated hunger. Suppression of abnormal oral behaviours may only rarely correspond with reduction in blood indices of stress, and so cannot be taken to indicate improved welfare. Some of these methods can add to physiological stress. Finally, there was insufficient evidence of improved welfare, based on both behavioural and physiological criteria, to justify advocating the suitability of any of these methods for commercial use.

Although genetic selection for certain characteristics has compromised the well-being of domestic animals, selective breeding could and probably should be used to improve welfare. Three of the major behavioural problems facing the poultry industry are fear, feather pecking and social stress. However, these and many other behavioural traits respond readily to genetic selection. The present paper reports the results of selective breeding studies in which underlying fearfulness, sociality, feather pecking, adrenocortical responsiveness, and growth rate were manipulated in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, or in chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus. The apparent benefits of selection for appropriate levels of these characteristics are discussed, as are the ethical issues involved. The ultimate aims of the selection programmes and the studies described here are to improve the birds ‘ welfare and productivity by increasing their ability to interact successfully with their physical environment, with one another, and with human beings.

Background: Biallelic variants in POLR1C are associated with POLR3-related leukodystrophy (POLR3-HLD), or 4H leukodystrophy (Hypomyelination, Hypodontia, Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism), and Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS). The clinical spectrum of POLR3-HLD caused by variants in this gene has not been described. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study involving 25 centers worldwide was conducted between 2016 and 2018. The clinical, radiologic and molecular features of 23 unreported and previously reported cases of POLR3-HLD caused by POLR1C variants were reviewed. Results: Most participants presented between birth and age 6 years with motor difficulties. Neurological deterioration was seen during childhood, suggesting a more severe phenotype than previously described. The dental, ocular and endocrine features often seen in POLR3-HLD were not invariably present. Five patients (22%) had a combination of hypomyelinating leukodystrophy and abnormal craniofacial development, including one individual with clear TCS features. Several cases did not exhibit all the typical radiologic characteristics of POLR3-HLD. A total of 29 different pathogenic variants in POLR1C were identified, including 13 new disease-causing variants. Conclusions: Based on the largest cohort of patients to date, these results suggest novel characteristics of POLR1C-related disorder, with a spectrum of clinical involvement characterized by hypomyelinating leukodystrophy with or without abnormal craniofacial development reminiscent of TCS.

Objectives: Treatments for childhood brain tumors (BT) confer substantial risks to neurological development and contribute to neuropsychological deficits in young adulthood. Evidence suggests that individuals who experience more significant neurological insult may lack insight into their neurocognitive limitations. The present study compared survivor, mother, and performance-based estimates of executive functioning (EF), and their associations with treatment intensity history in a subsample of young adult survivors of childhood BTs. Methods: Thirty-four survivors (52.9% female), aged 18 to 30 years (M=23.5; SD=3.4), 16.1 years post-diagnosis (SD=5.9), were administered self-report and performance-based EF measures. Mothers also rated survivor EF skills. Survivors were classified by treatment intensity history into Minimal, Average/Moderate, or Intensive/Most-Intensive groups. Discrepancies among survivor, mother, and performance-based EF estimates were compared. Results: Survivor-reported and performance-based measures were not correlated, although significant associations were found between mother-reported and performance measures. Survivors in the Intensive/Most-Intensive treatment group evidenced the greatest score discrepancies, reporting less executive dysfunction relative to mother-reported F(2,31)=7.81, p<.01, and performance-based measures F(14,50)=2.54, p<.05. Conversely, survivors in the Minimal treatment group reported greater EF difficulties relative to mothers t(8)=2.82, p<.05, but not performance-based estimates (ps>.05). Conclusions: There may be a lack of agreement among survivor, mother, and performance-based estimates of EF skills in young adult survivors of childhood BT, and these discrepancies may be associated with treatment intensity history. Neuropsychologists should use a multi-method, multi-reporter approach to assessment of EF in this population. Providers also should be aware of these discrepancies as they may be a barrier to intervention efforts. (JINS, 2016, 22, 900–910)

Nine sampling units for estimating southern pine beetle population within a tree are compared according to unit size, strata size, and number and type of sampling allocation. As a measure of performance of different sampling schemes or different unit sizes the ratio of the variances of the estimate is used, i.e. relative efficiency.

Relative efficiency decreases as unit size increases, where equal surface area is sampled. Unequal stratification, which allocates smaller area to the upper and lower strata, results in higher relative efficiencies than equal stratification. Thus, unequal stratification is recommended. Samples should be allocated to these strata according to the optimal sampling ratios.

Mice experimentally infected with the hydatid parasite Echinococcus granulosus (secondary echinococcosis), were used as spleen cell donors for hybridoma production. Two hybridomas were produced which secreted antibody with anti-E. granulosus cyst fluid (EgCF) activity. Radio-immunoassays comparing the binding of these hybridoma-derived antibodies to E. granulosus versus several other antigen preparations from sheep parasites showed that the antibodies had a high degree of specificity for the hydatid parasite. However, using a panel of clinically defined sheep sera in a competitive radio-immunoassay, the binding of the hybridoma-derived antibodies to EgCF was inhibited strongly by sera from sheep infected with the common parasites Fasciola hepatica and Taenia hydatigena. When the hybridoma-derived antibodies were conjugated to CNBr-activated Sepharose and the crude EgCF applied to the affinity column, the ‘run through’ antigen preparation showed a significant increase in specificity for experimental E. granulosus infection. A useful means of applying the hybridoma technology in the development of new immunodiagnostic reagents may be to select those murine hybridomas which produce high-affinity, cross-reacting antibodies and to use these antibodies in the processing of homologous antigen by affinity chromatography.

An experimental attempt was made to produce a fly-free corridor through a belt of savannah woodland containing the tsetse fly G. swynnertoni.

An area two miles wide and four miles long was treated with a coarse spray of a 4·6 per cent, w/v solution of DDT in Shell Diesoline. The dosage per application was 0·5 gallons per acre, and seven applications were made, at intervals of approximately two weeks, so that the treatment covered two pupal periods.

The fly density had fallen to a very low level by the end of the experiment, and the area remained virtually free from flies for the subsequent two months. An examination of the data suggests, however, that the fly population was maintained largely by immigrant flies, and was certainly subject to wide variations, and it seems certain that the effect of the applications would have been considerably less upon a stable, self-supporting population.

The drop spectrum of the ground deposit had a mass median diameter of 0·35 mm., and the recovery of insecticide in the area was approximately 60 per cent. Leeward and under sides of obstacles did not receive a dose although in some cases dosages were obtained on apparently leeward sides, probably because of local reversals of wind direction.

Elemental sulphur (32 kg S/ha) and urea (30 kg N/ha) were applied to the foliage of different winter wheat cultivars, halfat flag leaf emergence and halfat ear emergence, in factorial experiments in 1986, 1987 and 1988. There were no clear visual symptoms of S deficiency, but there was evidence from soil analysis, grain S concentration and grain N:S ratio that the crops were marginally deficient in sulphur. Disease severity was generally negligible. Leaf senescence at the end of grain growth was delayed by sulphur in two of the three years, both with and without urea in 1987, but only with urea in 1988. Sulphur, both alone and mixed with urea, increased grain S concentration from early grain growth in 1986 and 1987, but not until the end of grain growth in 1988. Urea alone reduced yield in 1986 and 1987, but mixing S with the urea compensated for this phytotoxic effect. Yield was not significantly increased by S when compared with plots receiving neither urea nor S.

Hagberg falling number (HFN) is used to estimate alpha-amylase activity in wheat grain (Perten, 1964) and it is utilized by flour millers and the Intervention Agencies of the European Economic Community as a grain quality measurement for breadmaking (Anon. 1983). High nitrogen fertilizer application can lead to lodging and can decrease HFN (Brun, 1982). This may result from damp conditions around the ear encouraging germination, and therefore increasing alpha-amylase activity (Stewart, 1984). However, since nitrogen application can also delay maturity, it has been suggested that this influence could maintain high falling number (Anon. 1985). Pushman & Bingham (1976) found that increased nitrogen application decreased alpha-amylase activity, lending support to the previous suggestion, but contrasting with the results of Brun (1982).

Urea (supplying 15 kg N/ha) applied to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) at flag leaf emergence and again at ear emergence improved grain yield in only two, but increased grain nitrogen (N) in four out of five experiments. The size of the improvements in yield and nitrogen content differed over varying sites and seasons but were not affected by cultivar or propiconazole (250 g a.i./ha) plus tridemorph (500 g a.i./ha) fungicide applied with the urea. Breadmaking quality was assessed on grain from one site in 1985 and in 1986. The beneficial effects on loaf quality of urea and fungicide applied separately were reduced when they were applied as a mixture. In 1986 this negative interaction was associated with effects on sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) sedimentation volume, flour sulphur content (S), N/S ratio and dough resistance. The effect of urea also interacted with cultivar on SDS sedimentation volume in 1985 and dough resistance in 1986.

The pre-natal and post-natal development of wool follicles in sheep of five genotypes with contrasting wool types was examined to provide data on which to base studies of physiological factors affecting wool type via follicle development. This study was conducted following Autumn mating in 1992 at Palmerston North, New Zealand (40° S, 176° E). The rate and timing of follicle development in midside skin samples from Romney, Merino, Merino × Romney (M × R), Drysdale and Wiltshire foetuses and lambs collected at weekly intervals from days 76 to 143 of gestation and 1, 3, 7, 12 and 32 weeks after birth were examined.

Primary (P) follicle density had a similar pattern of development in each of the genotypes, although the Merino had a significantly greater density of P follicles than the other genotypes. There was a difference in the rate of P follicle maturation between genotypes with the Drysdale, Wiltshire and M × R completing P follicle maturation before the other two genotypes. However, the majority of P follicles in all genotypes were producing fibres by 111 days of gestation. It was concluded that the small differences in the density and time of development of the P follicles could not cause the differences in wool type between genotypes.

The pattern of development of the secondary (S) follicle population was examined by comparing S: P ratios. The initiation of S follicles began at similar ages in the five genotypes, but initiation was completed earlier in the Romney, Drysdale and Wiltshire than in the Merino and M × R, as indicated by a significant genotype by age interaction (P < 0·001). There was no difference between genotypes in S:P ratio from 90 to 104 days of gestation. The S:P ratio of the Romney, Drysdale and Wiltshire did not change significantly from 104 days of gestation until the end of the study, indicating that few S follicles were initiated in these genotypes after 104 days of gestation. The M × R data showed a significant increase in S:P ratio until 119 days of gestation and the Merino S:P ratio increased until 126 days of gestation.

The period between days 90 and 125 of gestation was identified as being the critical period for the development of different follicle populations in Merino and non-Merino genotypes and it is this period which should be the focus for studies to determine physiological factors controlling secondary follicle development.

Mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) within commercial populations circumvents the need to verify segregation of QTL detected under experimental crosses. Variance component (VC) mapping combines information from all relationships within a pedigree to provide a breeding value for the animal and QTL with immediate potential for marker assisted selection. Variance components are estimated by modelling the covariance structure between relatives sharing alleles identical by descent (IBD). Commercial poultry data and simulation will be used as a model to explore how VC methodology behaves under varying population structures. Data is available from the Cobb Vantress broiler population to evaluate extensions to the additive QTL model. Computer simulation will be used to test models including additive, dominance, epistatic and imprinting effects over a range of pedigree structures including family sizes and number of generations.

The major selection criterion in the turkey breeding industry is increased breast muscle and body weight in order to adapt to market demands. In female lines a dual selection for both body weight and egg production is performed. However, most published estimates indicate a variable correlation between growth and egg number (Nestor et al., 1996) and so the challenge posed is how to best to select for those opposing goals. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of simultaneous selection for body weight and egg number by estimating the genetic parameters for a research population held by a commercial company in two different locations.

This study investigated whether quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified in experimental crosses of chickens provide a short cut to the identification of QTL in commercial populations. A commercial population of broilers was targeted for chromosomal regions in which QTL for traits associated with meat production have previously been detected in extreme crosses. A three-generation design, consisting of 15 grandsires, 608 half-sib hens and over 15000 third-generation offspring, was implemented within the existing breeding scheme of a broiler breeding company. The first two generations were typed for 52 microsatellite markers spanning regions of nine chicken chromosomes and covering a total of 730 cM, approximately one-fifth of the chicken genome. Using half-sib analyses with a multiple QTL model, linkage was studied between these regions and 17 growth and carcass traits. Out of 153 trait×region comparisons, 53 QTL exceeded the threshold for genome-wide significance while an additional 23 QTL were significant at the nominal 1% level. Many of the QTL affect the carcass proportions and feed intake, for which there are few published studies. Given intensive selection for efficient growth in broilers for more than 50 generations it is surprising that many QTL affecting these traits are still segregating. Future fine-mapping efforts could elucidate whether ancestral mutations are still segregating as a result of pleiotropic effects on fitness traits or whether this variation is due to new mutations.

Females of four strains of commercial turkeys, including one large strain with a characteristically high rate of oviducal prolapse, were given food either ad libitum or controlled to reach proportionately 0·8 or 0·6 of the body weight of birds fed ad libitum at 24 weeks of age. Two pens of five turkeys from each treatment were photostimulated at 24 and 30 weeks of age. Each turkey was autopsied after it had laid its first egg. The relationships between egg weight and body weight, and between the weight of abdominal fat, diameter of the vent and distance between the pubic bones and egg weight were studied by regression analysis. Egg weight was a function of body weight raised to the power 0·29 which was significantly different from the allometric relationship for Galliform species of 0·64. There was no evidence that differences existed in the quantity of abdominal fat which could impede oviposition and contribute to oviducal prolapse. There were strain differences in the diameter of the vent and distance between the pubic bones in relation to egg weight but the smallest and largest strains were similar. It was concluded that artificial selection had changed the species relationship between egg weight and body mass and that the susceptibility to oviducal prolapse in sire line turkeys was probably physiological in origin.

Protein degradation rates were assessed by the excretion of Nt-methylhistidine (NtMH) in four strains of mature chickens, two White Leghorns and two broilers (dwarf and normal), fed on diets containing two levels of dietary protein. Over 0.9 of labelled NtMH was recovered within 7 d of injection from three White Leghorn, three dwarf and three normal broiler males. Protein degradation, measured by NtMH output, was related to adult body-weight by the power 0.71 and strain intercepts were significantly different. Strain differences disappeared when the rate of output of NtMH per unit lean was evaluated. The rate of output of NtMH per unit muscle was higher in birds fed on a low-protein diet of 100 g crude protein (nitrogen x 6.25; CP)/kg compared with males fed on 150 g CP/kg. It was concluded that the lower rate of protein degradation in broiler compared with layer strains at young ages is related to increased adult body-weight in agreement with well-established biological principles.

Factors affecting survival to first and second calving and successful completion of a > 168-day first lactation were assessed in 3075 purebred and crossbred dairy heifer calves. Growth, disease, frequency, reproduction, calving, udder and lactation traits were examined in females of a breeding project conducted jointly at five research stations (herds) of Agriculture Canada. Losses included mortalities and non-discretionary culling. About 0·23 of potential heifers were culled or died before first calving, and 0·25 of those calving once did not calve a second time. Results from retrospective selection index and stepwise linear logistic analyses showed that predictability of culling prior to 308 days post partum was poor. With few exceptions, survival rates from birth to 82 weeks varied among herds (P < 0·001) and among lines (P < 0·05). Heterosis for the probability of completing a lactation and of survival to second calving was significant (P < 0·05) and positive (0·05 to 0·09). Heavier heifers were more likely to survive to first calving. Sire's estimated breeding values (SEBV) for milk yield and fat, protein and lactose concentration were not important in predicting survival to first calving. SEBV lactose was negatively associated with survival after first calving as predicted from data available at most preceding stages of life. An age greater than 82 weeks at last insemination was associated with a lower probability of survival to first and second calving (P < 0·001). Cows which conceived for a second gestation and subsequently aborted had a lower probability of survival to second calving than cows which did not abort (0·57 v. 0·76, P < 0·01). The only continuous traits with large effects on survival or the probability of completing a first lactation were days to last insemination (a measure of fertility) and milk yield. It was concluded that (1) there is considerable scope for improved management to increase survival in early life by prevention of calfhood diseases; (2) losses in early life do not bias sire evaluation on first lactation records; (3) improved reproductive success would greatly enhance overall survival rates; and (4) crossbreeding could have a large impact on overall herd profitability through increased survival.

The excavation of a large circular dished earthwork near Carnforth, North Lancashire, in 1982, has revealed a substantial Bronze Age funerary monument. The earliest structure was a sub-rectangular enclosure of limestone boulders dated to c. 1740–1640 BC cal. and associated with parts of two poorly preserved inhumation burials lying on the previously cleared ground surface. Both burials were accompanied by typologically early metalwork. The central inhumation was associated with a flat axe and dagger, suggesting an individual of high status as well as providing an important link between the early stages of development of both bronze types. The subsequent overlying cairn of smaller stones included eleven fairly discrete concentrations of inhumed bone, and seven of cremated bone and pottery. All this material was extremely fragmentary, and was probably derived from later re-use of the cairn.