Archaeol is a cell membrane lipid of methanogenic archaea excreted in feces. This study, based on respiration chamber measurements, revealed that fecal archaeol concentration offers some potential in serving as a proxy for individual methane emission but that it also cannot be implemented easily on a farm because diet composition, dry matter intake, and the time for fecal sampling have to be taken into account.

The aim of this review was to evaluate the relationship between the body condition of cows and reproduction. Reproduction was evaluated from the viewpoint of animal husbandry traits, ovarian activity and embryo transfer.

Lanping black-boned sheep is a novel and rare sheep breed discovered in the 1950s in China and has the same hyperpigmentation trait as silk fowl. Lanping black-bones sheep has same morphology with Lanping native sheep such as coat color, and horns and tail shape, so it's interesting to investigate the genetic relationship of the two breeds and the genetic origin of Lanping black-boned sheep. Lanping black-boned sheep and Lanping native sheep have great genetic similarity.

In sheep production, the body condition score has the potential to be a useful management tool for producers to lift animal performance especially during pregnancy and lactation. In the present study, it was shown that the ewe’s body condition score at lambing had no effect on lamb birth weight. However, the lamb growth rate and their weight at 30 and 70 days were higher for offspring of ewes with middle and high BCS.

Indigenous chickens (ICs) are known for disease resistance and hardiness. The role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in disease resistance is well known. The present study carried out to find out variability at the MHC revealed higher genetic variability at the MHC of ICs over White Leghorn birds. ICs are likely to have new alleles of the LEI0258 marker of MHC. Some alleles were found to be associated with growth, production, survivability and antibody titres to Newcastle disease virus.

We tried to find important influencing factors of SHF growth cycle in skin tissue from Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Based on the results of comprehensive analysis of differentially expressed genes, GO enrichment and KEGG enrichment, we found that FGF5, FGFR1 and RRAS had an effect on the hair follicle growth cycle. The results of this study may provide a theoretical basis for further research on the growth and development of SHF in Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats.

Male fertility is important in horse breeding and depends largely on the quality of the sperm. Horses are seasonal breeders with a natural breeding season that begins in spring and ends in midsummer. This study shows that there is an interaction between seasonal effects and endogenous effects on semen quality and fertility. Semen quality of fertile stallions is more influenced by the seasons than that of subfertile stallions.

The study used 46 Muscovy and 44 mule ducks. The analysed ducks of different genotype differed significantly in the water content, sodium content, and redness of breast muscles; in the water, fat, and zinc content of leg muscles; and in the sodium, iron, and copper content of liver. The sex of birds had a significant effect on the mineral content (Na, K, P, Mg, Zn, Fe, Cu) of liver and leg muscles (except for iron and zinc) and on the sodium content of the breast muscle.