ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9045-289X
Current Organisation
Rothamsted Research
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Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 11-08-2021
DOI: 10.3390/ANI11082368
Abstract: Climate change is an imminent threat to livestock production. One adaptation strategy is selection for heat tolerance. While it is established that the ATP1A1 gene and its product play an important role in the response to many stressors, there has been no attempt to characterize the sequence or to perform expression profiling of the gene in production animals. We undertook a field experiment to compare the expression profiles of ATP1A1 in heat-tolerant Vechur and Kasaragod cattle (Bos taurus indicus) with the profile of a heat-susceptible crossbreed (B. t. taurus × B. t. indicus). The cattle were exposed to heat stress while on pasture in the hot summer season. The environmental stress was quantified using the temperature humidity index (THI), while the heat tolerance of each breed was assessed using a heat tolerance coefficient (HTC). The ATP1A1 mRNA of Vechur cattle was lified from cDNA and sequenced. The HTC varied significantly between the breeds and with time-of-day (p 0.01). The breed–time-of-day interaction was also significant (p 0.01). The relative expression of ATP1A1 differed between heat-tolerant and heat-susceptible breeds (p = 0.02). The expression of ATP1A1 at 08:00, 10:00 and 12:00, and the breed–time-of-day interaction, were not significant. The nucleotide sequence of Vechur ATP1A1 showed 99% homology with the B. t. taurus sequence. The protein sequence showed 98% homology with B. t. taurus cattle and with B. grunniens (yak) and 97.7% homology with Ovis aries (sheep). A molecular clock analysis revealed evidence of ergent adaptive evolution of the ATP1A1 gene favoring climate resilience in Vechur cattle. These findings further our knowledge of the relationship between the ATP1A1 gene and heat tolerance in phenotypically incongruent animals. We propose that ATP1A1 could be used in marker assisted selection (MAS) for heat tolerance.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1071/RD20205
Abstract: Ruminant livestock are raised under erse cultural and environmental production systems around the globe. Ruminant livestock can play a critical role in food security by supplying high-quality, nutrient-dense food with little or no competition for arable land while simultaneously improving soil health through vital returns of organic matter. However, in the context of climate change and limited land resources, the role of ruminant-based systems is uncertain because of their reputed low efficiency of feed conversion (kilogram of feed required per kilogram of product) and the production of methane as a by-product of enteric fermentation. A growing human population will demand more animal protein, which will put greater pressure on the Earth’s planetary boundaries and contribute further to climate change. Therefore, livestock production globally faces the dual challenges of mitigating emissions and adapting to a changing climate. This requires research-led animal and plant breeding and feeding strategies to optimise ruminant systems. This study collated information from a global network of research farms reflecting a variety of ruminant production systems in erse regions of the globe. Using this information, key changes in the genetic and nutritional approaches relevant to each system were drawn that, if implemented, would help shape more sustainable future ruminant livestock systems.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-02-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FSUFS.2023.1104229
Abstract: The reintegration of crops with livestock systems is proposed as a way of improving the environmental impacts of food production globally, particularly the impact involving nitrogen (N). A detailed understanding of processes governing N fluxes and budgets is needed to design productive and efficient crop–livestock systems. This study aimed to investigate regional differences in N balance (NBAL, defined as all N inputs minus outputs), N use efficiency (NUE, defined as N outputs/inputs × 100), and N surplus (NSURP, defined as all N inputs minus only outputs in food products) in the rice–livestock system of Uruguay. Three regions across Uruguay are distinguished based on soil fertility and length of pasture rotation. The northern region has high soil fertility and short length of rotation (HFSR) the central region has medium soil fertility and medium length of rotation (MFMR) the eastern region has low fertility and long pasture rotation (LFLR). Results for the last 18 years show a very high NUE (90%) for the rice component in all rotations, associated with negative NBALs ranging from −35 kg N ha −1 yr −1 in HFSR to −3 kg N ha −1 yr −1 in LFLR. However, the livestock component, which overall had low animal productivity (& kg N ha −1 yr −1 ), had low NUE (& %) but positive NBALs in all the rotations, sustaining N supply in the rice component. At the system level, NUE was high (60%) and NBAL was slightly positive in all rotations (from +2.8 kg N ha −1 yr −1 in HFSR to +8.5 kg N ha −1 yr −1 in LFLR). Because of a recent increase in the N fertilizer dose in rice, NSURP for the overall system was intermediate (40 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ) and should be monitored in the future. Efforts to improve the system's efficiency should focus on the livestock component.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 03-04-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FSUFS.2023.1103118
Abstract: Rotational rice systems, involving pastures, other crops and/or livestock, are common in temperate South America, exemplified by the rice-pasture-livestock system of Uruguay which combines very high rice yields with tight nitrogen (N) balances. The generally good nutrient use efficiency in these systems provides a template for nutrient management in other mixed farming systems, if the underlying processes can be sufficiently well quantified and understood. Here, we studied N balances in rice–non-rice rotations in a long-term experiment in Uruguay, with the aim of parameterizing and testing the DNDC model of N dynamics for such systems for use in future work. The experiment includes three rotations: continuous rice (RI-CONT), rice-soybean (RI-SOY) and rice-pasture (RI-PAST). We considered 9 years of data on N balances ( NBAL ), defined as all N inputs minus all N outputs N surplus ( NSURP ), defined as all N inputs minus only N outputs in food products and N use efficiency ( NUE ), defined as the fraction of N inputs removed in food products. We parameterized DNDC against measured yield and input and output data, with missing data on N losses inferred from the N balance and compared with literature values. The model performance was assessed using standard indices of mean error, agreement and efficiency. The model simulated crop yields and rice cumulative N uptake very well, and soil N reasonably well. The values of NBAL were +45 and−20 kg N ha −1 yr −1 in RI-CONT and RI-SOY, respectively, and close to zero in RI-PAST (−6 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ). Values of NSURP decreased in the order RI-CONT & & RI-SOY & RI-PAST (+115, +25 and +13 kg N ha −1 yr −1 , respectively). Values of NUE (84, 54, and 48% for RI-SOY, RI-PAST, and RI-CONT, respectively) decreased as NBAL increased. The sensitivity of DNDC's predictions to the agronomic characteristics of the different crops, rotations and water regimes agreed with expectations. We conclude that the DNDC model as parameterized here is suitable for exploring how to optimize N management in these systems.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for M. Jordana Rivero.