Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-lqqdg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-04T18:08:53.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Environmental sensitivity differs between rabbit lines selected for reproductive intensity and longevity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2013

D. Savietto ,
C. Cervera ,
E. Blas ,
M. Baselga ,
T. Larsen ,
N. C. Friggens  and
J. J. Pascual
D. Savietto*
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Science and Technology (ICTA). Universitat Politècnica de València. Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
C. Cervera
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Science and Technology (ICTA). Universitat Politècnica de València. Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
E. Blas
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Science and Technology (ICTA). Universitat Politècnica de València. Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
M. Baselga
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Science and Technology (ICTA). Universitat Politècnica de València. Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
T. Larsen
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Integrative Physiology. Aarhus University. Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark
N. C. Friggens
Affiliation:
INRA UMR 791 Modélisation Systémique Appliquée aux Ruminants (MoSAR). 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231Paris, France AgroParisTech UMR 791 Modélisation Systémique Appliquée aux Ruminants (MoSAR). 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231Paris, France.
J. J. Pascual
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Science and Technology (ICTA). Universitat Politècnica de València. Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
*
†E-mail: dasavi@upv.es
Get access

Abstract

To better understand the mechanisms that allow some animals to sustain their productive effort in harsh environmental conditions, rabbit does from two selection lines (LP and V) were housed in normal (NC), nutritional (NF) or heat (HC) challenging environmental conditions from first to third partum. The LP line (n=85) was founded on reproductive longevity criteria by selecting does from commercial farms that had a minimum of 25 partum with more than 7.5 kits born alive per parity. Line V (n=79) was constituted from four specialised maternal lines into a composite synthetic line and then selected by litter size at weaning for 36 generations. Female rabbits in NC and NF environments were housed at normal room temperature (18°C to 24°C) and fed with control [11.6 MJ digestible energy (DE)/kg dry matter (DM)] or low-energy diets (9.1 MJ DE/kg DM). HC does were housed at high room temperatures (25°C to 35°C) and fed the control diet. Female rabbits in the HC and NF environments ingested 11.5% and 6% less DE than NC does, respectively (P<0.05). These differences between environments occurred in both lines, with the differences being higher for LP than for V does (+6%; P<0.05). Milk yield responses followed those of energy intake also being higher for LP does (+21.3 g/day; P<0.05). The environmental conditions did not affect the perirenal fat thickness (PFT), but a genotype by environment interaction was observed. In NC and HC, the PFT was higher for line V (+0.23 and +0.35 mm, respectively; P<0.05) than for LP does, but this was not the case at NF (−0.01 mm). Moreover, the PFT evolution was different between them. In the NC environment, LP does used the accreted PFT in late lactation (−0.29 mm), whereas V does did not (−0.08 mm). Conversely, in the HC environment, LP does showed a flat PFT evolution in late lactation, whereas V does accumulated PFT. In the NF environment, LP and V does had a similar PFT evolution. There was also a litter size reduction for V does of −2.59 kits total born in HC and −1.78 kits total born in NF environments, whereas this was not observed for LP does. The results for LP does indicate a direct use of DE ingested for reproduction with little PFT change, whereas V does actively use the PFT reserves for reproduction.

Keywords

rabbitgenotype environment interactionadaptabilityreproductive efficiencylongevity

Information

Type
Physiology and functional biology of systems
Information
animal , Volume 7 , Issue 12 , December 2013 , pp. 1969 - 1977
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

BOE 2005. Real decreto 1201/2005, de 10 de octubre, sobre protección de los animales utilizados para experimentación y otros fines científicos. Boletín Oficial del Estado 252, 34367–34391.Google Scholar
Brecchia, G, Bonanno, A, Galeati, G, Federici, C, Maranesi, M, Gobbetti, A, Zerani, M and Boiti, C 2006. Hormonal and metabolic adaptation to fasting: effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and reproductive performance of rabbit does. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 31, 105–122.Google Scholar
Cervera, C and Fernández-Carmona, J 2010. Nutrition and the climatic environment. In Nutrition of the rabbit, 2nd edition (ed. C de Blas and J Wiseman), pp. 267–284. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
de Blas, C and Mateos, GC 2010. Feed Formulation. In Nutrition of the rabbit, 2nd edition (ed. C de Blas and J Wiseman), pp. 222–232. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Engblom, L, Lundeheim, N, Dalin, AM and Andersson, K 2007. Sow removal in Swedish commercial herds. Livestock Science 106, 76–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estany, J, Baselga, M, Blasco, A and Camacho, J 1989. Mixed model methodology for the estimation of genetic response to selection in litter size of rabbits. Livestock Production Science 21, 67–75.Google Scholar
Estany, J, Camacho, J, Baselga, M and Blasco, A 1992. Selection response of growth rate in rabbits for meat production. Genetic Selection and Evolution 24, 527–537.Google Scholar
Fernández-Carmona, J, Cervera, C, Sabater, C and Blas, E 1995. Effect of diet composition on the production of rabbit breeding does housed in a traditional building and at 30°C. Animals Feed Science and Technology 52, 289–297.Google Scholar
Fernández-Carmona, J, Alqedra, I, Cervera, C, Moya, J and Pascual, JJ 2003. Effect of lucerne-based diets on performance of reproductive rabbit does at two temperatures. Animal Science 76, 283–295.Google Scholar
Ferrian, S, Blas, E, Larsen, T, Sánchez, JP, Friggens, NC, Corpa, JM, Baselga, M and Pascual, JJ 2013. Comparison of immune response to lipopolysaccharide of rabbit does selected for litter size at weaning or founded for reproductive longevity. Research in Veterinary Science 94, 518–525.Google Scholar
Friggens, NC, Brun-Lafleur, L, Faverdin, P, Sauvant, D and Martin, O 2012. Advances in predicting nutrient partitioning in the dairy cow: recognizing the central role of genotype and its expression through time. Animal 7, 89–101.Google Scholar
García-Diego, FJ, Pascual, JJ and Marco-Jiménez, F 2011. Technical note: design of a large variable temperature chamber for heat stress studies in rabbits. World Rabbit Science 19, 225–231.Google Scholar
Harano, Y, Ohtsuki, M, Ida, M, Kojima, H, Harada, M, Okanishi, T, Kashiwagi, A, Ochi, Y, Uno, S and Shigeta, Y 1985. Direct automated assay method for serum or urine levels of ketone bodies. Clinica Chimica Acta 151, 177–183.Google Scholar
Littell, RC, Henry, PR and Ammerman, CB 1998. Statistical analysis repeated measured data using SAS procedures. Journal of Animal Science 76, 1216–1231.Google Scholar
Mehaisen, GMK, Vicente, JS and Lavara, R 2004. In vivo embryo recovery rate by laparoscopic technique from rabbit does selected for growth rate. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 39, 347–351.Google Scholar
Pascual, JJ, Blanco, J, Piquer, O, Quevedo, F and Cervera, C 2004. Ultrasound measurements of perirenal fat thickness to estimate the body condition of reproducing rabbit does in different physiological states. World Rabbit Science 12, 7–21.Google Scholar
Pascual, JJ, Motta, W, Cervera, C, Quevedo, F, Blas, E and Fernández-Carmona, J 2002. Effect of dietary energy source on the performance and perirenal fat thickness evolution of primiparous rabbit does. Animal Science 75, 267–279.Google Scholar
Piles, M, Garreau, H, Rafael, O, Larzul, C, Ramon, J and Ducrocq, V 2006. Survival analysis in two lines of rabbit selected for reproductive traits. Journal of Animal Science 84, 1658–1665.Google Scholar
Quevedo, F, Cervera, C, Blas, E, Baselga, M and Pascual, JJ 2006. Long-term effect of selection for litter size and feeding program on the performance of reproductive rabbit does 1. Pregnancy of multiparous does. Animal Science 82, 739–750.Google Scholar
Quevedo, F, Cervera, C, Blas, E, Baselga, M, Costa, C and Pascual, JJ 2005. Effect of selection for litter size and feeding program on the performance of young rabbit females during rearing and first pregnancy. Animal Science 80, 161–168.Google Scholar
Ragab, M and Baselga, M 2011. A comparison of reproductive traits of four maternal lines of rabbits selected for litter size at weaning and founded on different criteria. Livestock Science 136, 201–206.Google Scholar
Ramón, J, Rafel, O and Piles, M 2004. Resultados de gestión en España. GTE 2002: Algo falla. Boletín de Cunicultura 133, 24–28.Google Scholar
Rosell, JM 2003. Technical note: health status of commercial rabbitries in the Iberian peninsula. A practitioner’s study. World Rabbit Science 11, 157–169.Google Scholar
Rosell, JM and de La Fuente, FL 2009. Culling and mortality in breeding rabbits. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 88, 120–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosell, JM, de La Fuente, FL, Badiola, JL, Fernández de Luco, D, Casal, J and Saco, M 2009. Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997–2007. World Rabbit Science 17, 127–136.Google Scholar
Sánchez, JP, Baselga, M and Ducrocq, V 2006. Genetic and environmental correlations between longevity and litter size in rabbits. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 123, 180–185.Google Scholar
Sánchez, JP, de La Fuente, LF and Rosell, JM 2012. Health and body condition of lactating females on rabbit farms. Journal of Animal Science 90, 2353–2361.Google Scholar
Sánchez, JP, Theilgaard, P, Mínguez, C and Baselga, M 2008. Constitution and evaluation of a long-lived productive rabbit line. Journal of Animal Science 86, 515–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SAS Institute Inc. 2009. SAS/STAT® 9.2 user’s guide, 2nd edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Savietto, D, Blas, E, Cervera, C, Baselga, M, Friggens, NC, Larsen, T and Pascual, JJ 2012. Digestive efficiency in rabbit does according to environment and genetic type. World Rabbit Science 20, 131–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strandberg, E and Sölkner, J 1996. Breeding for longevity and survival in dairy cattle. In Proceedings of international workshop on genetic improvement of functional traits in cattle Gembloux. Interbull Bulletin 12, Belgium, pp. 111–119.Google Scholar
Theilgaard, P, Baselga, M, Blas, E, Cervera, C and Pascual, JJ 2009. Differences in productive robustness in rabbits selected for reproductive longevity or litter size. Animal 3, 637–646.Google Scholar
Theilgaard, P, Sánchez, JP, Pascual, JJ, Berg, P, Friggens, NC and Baselga, M 2007. Late reproductive senescence in a rabbit line hyper selected for reproductive longevity, and its association with body reserves. Genetic Selection Evolution 39, 207–223.Google Scholar
Vicente, JS, Llobat, L, Viudes-de-Castro, MP, Lavara, R, Baselga, M and Marco-Jiménez, F 2012. Gestational losses in a line selected for growth rate. Theriogenology 77, 81–88.Google Scholar
Xiccato, G, Bernardini, M, Castellini, C, Dalle Zotte, A, Queaque, PI and Trocino, A 1999. Effect of postweaning feeding on the performance and energy balance of female rabbits at different physiological states. Journal of Animal Science 77, 416–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Savietto Supplementary Material

Tables S1-S2

Download Savietto Supplementary Material(File)
File 27.2 KB