Dataset Information

Daily calving frequency and preterm calving is not associated with lunar cycle but preterm calving is associated with weather conditions in Japanese Black cows.

ABSTRACT: Several external factors including lunar cycle and weather conditions might be associated with calving conditions. Our objective here was to determine the effects of lunar cycle and weather conditions on calving frequency and the occurrence of preterm calving in Japanese Black cows. Calving records were obtained from 905 farms in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. Data were collected from 41,116 calvings. We conducted two studies: Study 1 investigated the effects of lunar cycle and weather conditions on daily calving frequency (DCF) with the observational unit of each day and Study 2 investigated those effects on the occurrence of preterm calving with the observational unit for each calving. Preterm calving was defined by whether or not a cow calving before 280 days of gestation, lower 10th percentile of gestation length of the collected data, and by whether or not a cow calving before 289 days of gestation, median of the gestation length. For Study 1, lunar cycle was not associated with DCF in all cows, in only primiparous cows and in only multiparous cows. As well as lunar cycle, weather conditions such as temperature, diurnal temperature variation, the temperature-humidity index, precipitation amount, barometric pressure, relative humidity and solar radiation, were also not associated with DCF. For Study 2, lunar cycle phases were not associated with the occurrence of preterm calving. However, preterm calving was associated with all of the weather conditions (P < 0.05) except for precipitation amounts and solar radiation. Temperature, the temperature-humidity index and relative humidity were positively associated with the occurrence of preterm calving. In contrast, diurnal temperature variations and barometric pressure were negatively associated with the occurrence of preterm calving. In conclusion, the lunar cycle was not associated with DCF and preterm calving, but the weather conditions were associated with preterm calving.

SUBMITTER: Sasaki Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6650079 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Daily calving frequency and preterm calving is not associated with lunar cycle but preterm calving is associated with weather conditions in Japanese Black cows.

Sasaki Yosuke Y Kitai Narumi N Uematsu Mizuho M Kitahara Go G Osawa Takeshi T

PloS one 20190723 7

Several external factors including lunar cycle and weather conditions might be associated with calving conditions. Our objective here was to determine the effects of lunar cycle and weather conditions on calving frequency and the occurrence of preterm calving in Japanese Black cows. Calving records were obtained from 905 farms in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. Data were collected from 41,116 calvings. We conducted two studies: Study 1 investigated the effects of lunar cycle and weather conditions o ...[more]

PMID: 31335883

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Project description:BackgroundCalving efficiency can be described as the measure of a cow's ability to produce viable offspring within a specific period of time. This trait is crucial in beef cattle because calves are necessary both for the production of beef and for heifer replacements. Recently, the number of calves produced at 4 years of age (NCP4) has been used to evaluate the calving efficiency of Japanese Black cattle. To identify variants associated with calving efficiency in Japanese Black cattle, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 688 animals with extreme NCP4 values selected from 15,225 animals.ResultsWe identified genetic variants on bovine chromosome 12 (BTA12) that were associated with NCP4. The General Transcription Factor IIF, polypeptide 2 (GTF2F2), located in the 132 kbp-associated region, proved to be in strong linkage disequilibrium. We found 15 associated variants in the promoter and the 3' UTR regions. Consistent with this finding, transcripts of GTF2F2 derived from the haplotype (Q) with the increased number of calves were 1.33-fold more abundant than q-derived transcripts. Furthermore, luciferase assays revealed that the activity of the 3' UTR, a region that includes nine SNPs, was higher in constructs with the Q haplotype than in those with the q haplotype by approximately 1.35-fold. In contrast, the activity of the promoter region did not differ between haplotypes. The association was replicated in an independent sample of 827 animals that were randomly selected from the remainder of the cohort from the same farms used in the GWAS. In the replicated population, the frequency of the Q haplotype is 0.313, and this haplotype accounts for 2.69% of the total phenotypic variance. The effect of the Q to q haplotype substitution on NCP4 was 0.054 calves. These findings suggest that variants in the 3' UTR of GTF2F2 affect the level of GTF2F2 mRNA, which is associated with calving efficiency.ConclusionsThis GWAS has identified variants in the 3' UTR of GTF2F2 that were associated with the NCP4 of Japanese Black cattle, and this association was validated in an independent sample. The Q haplotype will be immediately useful in improving the calving efficiency of Japanese Black cattle.

Dataset Information

Daily calving frequency and preterm calving is not associated with lunar cycle but preterm calving is associated with weather conditions in Japanese Black cows.

Publications

Daily calving frequency and preterm calving is not associated with lunar cycle but preterm calving is associated with weather conditions in Japanese Black cows.

Similar Datasets

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