Selection

Genetic trend for milk yield in Guzerat herds participating in progeny testing and MOET nucleus schemes

M. G. C. D. Peixoto, Verneque, R. S., Teodoro, R. L., Penna, V. M., and Martinez, M. L., “Genetic trend for milk yield in Guzerat herds participating in progeny testing and MOET nucleus schemes”, vol. 5, pp. 454-465, 2006.

Genetic trends for 305-day milk yield (P305) in Brazilian Guzerat herds under selection were compared. Data from 4898 lactations of 3179 purebred and crossbred cows from various regions of Brazil were used. Milk yield was adjusted for mature age and the contemporary groups were defined as herd and calving year. Genetic parameters were estimated using the MTDFREML program. The model included the random effects of animals and permanent environment, and herd-calving year, calving season and genetic composition as fixed effects.

Cassava diversity in Brazil: the case of carotenoid-rich landraces

N. M. A. Nassar, Vizzotto, C. S., Schwartz, C. A., and Júnior, O. R. Pires, “Cassava diversity in Brazil: the case of carotenoid-rich landraces”, vol. 6, pp. 116-121, 2007.

In Brazil, the center of cassava origin, cassava landraces have acquired through their domestication a large diversity in relation to many economic traits such as high content of carotenoids and excellent palatability among other characters. One of these clones, which has been grown by indigenous Brazilian farmers and is now being maintained in the University of Brasília gene bank, showed a high level of lycopene content (5 mg/kg viz. a viz. zero in common cultivars, and 12-20 mg/kg in tomato, a lycopene-rich vegetable).

Selection and estimation of the heritability of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen collection behavior in Apis mellifera colonies

M. Basualdo, Rodríguez, E. M., Bedascarrasbure, E., and De Jong, D., “Selection and estimation of the heritability of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen collection behavior in Apis mellifera colonies”, vol. 6, pp. 374-381, 2007.

We selected honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) with a high tendency to collect sunflower pollen and estimated the heritability of this trait. The percentage of sunflower pollen collected by 74 colonies was evaluated. Five colonies that collected the highest percentages of sunflower pollen were selected. Nineteen colonies headed by daughters of these selected queens were evaluated for this characteristic in comparison with 20 control (unselected) colonies.

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