A Survey of Chinese Citizens’ Perceptions on Farm Animal Welfare

Farm animal welfare has been gradually recognized as an important issue in most parts of the world. In China, domestic animals were traditionally raised in backyard and treated as an important component of family wealth. Industrialization of animal production brings forth the farm animal welfare concerns recently in China, yet the modern concept of animal welfare has not been publicized and a comprehensive recognition on how consumers and farmers perceive animal welfare is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a survey on public opinions toward farm animal welfare in China, based on pigs (including sows, piglets, and fattening pigs), domestic fowls (including layers and broilers) and their products. From 6,006 effective questionnaires approximately two thirds of the respondents had never heard of ‘animal welfare’; 72.9% of the respondents claimed that, for the sake of animal derived food safety, human beings should improve the rearing conditions for pigs and domestic fowls; 65.8% of the respondents totally or partly agreed on establishing laws to improve animal welfare; more than half of the respondents were willing, or to some extent willing, to pay more for high-welfare animal products, whereas 45.5% of the respondents were not willing or reluctant to pay more. In summary, farm animal welfare is still in its early stage of development and more efforts are needed to improve the public conception to animal welfare in the process of establishing farm animal welfare standards and legislations in China.     

The latest statistics of scientific procedures on living animals reveal little three rs progress in great britain in 2010

The 2010 Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals showed that the level of animal experimentation in Great Britain continues to rise, with just over 3.7 million procedures being conducted. This is almost exclusively due to the sustained increase in the breeding and utilisation of genetically-altered animals. Here, the general trends in the species used and the numbers and types of procedures are reviewed. In addition, the impact of the recent Government announcement to ban testing of household products on animals is discussed, along with the implications of the fish becoming the second most frequently used animal in scientific research. Finally, concerns about primate use, the REACH System, cosmetics testing and the new EU Directive on the protection of laboratory animals are explained.     

基于测序技术的畜禽基因组学研究进展

人类通过数千年的驯化和近代以来有计划性的育种,形成了当今多样化的畜禽品种,从而提供丰富的动物源性蛋白满足人类需求。在过去的100年里,数量遗传学应用于动物育种领域引发了畜禽育种技术的革命,但畜禽机体遗传发育体系相当复杂,一些性状仍然难以通过基于系谱的育种值进行高效选育,遗传潜能尚未充分发掘。人类基因组计划带来的理念和技术极大促进了畜禽基因组学的发展,使得人们可以从全基因组水平精准定位功能变异,挖掘功能元件的生物学意义,为畜禽分子设计育种提供重要的理论基础。本文对近10年来猪(Sus scrofa)、牛(Bos taurus)、牦牛(Bos grunniens)、山羊(Capra hircus)、绵羊(Ovis aries)、鸡(Gallus gallus)、鸭(Anas platyrhynchos)和鹅(Anser cygnoides)等主要畜禽的基因组学研究进展进行综述,分别从参考基因组构建和群体基因组学分析两个方面进行论述,并对畜禽基因组未来的研究工作进行了展望。     

The biochemistry of environmental heavy metal uptake by plants: Implications for the food chain

Plants absorb a number of elements from soil, some of which have no known biological function and some are known to be toxic at low concentrations. As plants constitute the foundation of the food chain, some concerns have been raised about the possibility of toxic concentrations of certain elements being transported from plants to higher strata of the food chain. Special attention has been given to the uptake and biotransformation mechanisms occurring in plants and its role in bioaccumulation and impact on consumers, especially human beings. While this review draws particular attention to metal accumulation in edible plants, researched studies of certain wild plants and their consumers are included. Furthermore, this review focuses on plant uptake of the toxic elements arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and lead and their possible transfer to the food chain. These elements were selected because they are well-established as being toxic for living systems and their effects in humans have been widely documented. Arsenic is known to promote cancer of the bladder, lung, and skin and can be acquired, for example, through the consumption of As-contaminated rice. Cadmium can attack kidney, liver, bone, and it also affects the female reproduction system. Cadmium also can be found in rice. Chromium can produce cancer, and humans can be exposed through smoking and eating Cr-laden vegetables. Lead and mercury are well known neurotoxins that can be consumed via seafood, vegetables and rice.     

实验室条件下达乌尔黄鼠的越冬繁殖

达乌尔黄鼠（Spermophilusdauricus）是国内研究冬眠生理学的主要模式动物,且日益为医学研究所关注。实验室条件下繁殖种群具有明确生活史特征,是相关研究的理想对象,但以往研究中,达乌尔黄鼠实验室条件下繁殖成功率及后代成活率均很低。本研究通过采取丰富饲料种类、雄性出眠后的暖温暂养、“双笼配对”等措施,对实验室条件下越冬达乌尔黄鼠进行配对,从21对动物中成功繁殖出18窝子代,繁殖成功率85.7 %。78只子代饲养至3月龄,仍有67只存活,存活率为85.9 %。通过本实验,得出改进达乌尔黄鼠实验室条件下繁殖的主要措施如下：（1）繁殖期母鼠及发育期幼鼠,除饲喂标准大鼠饲料外,适量添加幼犬粮、胡萝卜,以补充营养;（2）出眠的雄性达乌尔黄鼠放入18℃房间暂养2周,有助于其性腺发育,促进繁殖成功;（3）“双笼配对”能有效地降低外界干扰,减少动物的杀婴行为。       

Justice For All? Children’s Moral Reasoning about the Welfare and Rights of Endangered Species

This study reports children’s developing moral concerns for endangered animals. Three questions were addressed: 1) Do children conceive of not harming an endangered animal as a moral obligation? 2) Do children use biocentric (nature-centered) moral reasoning? and 3) Does a developmental shift in biocentrism occur between the ages of 7and 10-years-old? Fifty-two urban children (gender balanced and evenly divided between two ages groups: 7 and 10-year-olds) from the Pacific Northwest were interviewed regarding their understanding of, and beliefs and values about, endangered animals, their moral obligatory concerns, and their conceptions of animal rights. Many questions focused on a single species—the gray wolf— as it presents a canonical example of a local, familiar, charismatic endangered animal. The semi-structured interview methodology and the coding procedures followed well-established methods in social-cognitive psychology. Results were that the 7 and 10-year-olds valued endangered animals, extended moral obligations to gray wolves, and endorsed animal rights. Quantitative analysis of the content responses revealed a typology of seven rights that children spontaneously offered when asked which rights animals have: food, companionship, reproduction, habitat, play/exercise, welfare, and autonomy. The 10-year-olds were significantly more likely to endorse autonomy rights than the 7-year-olds. The findings reveal the highest rates of biocentrism observed in young children, and the 10-year-olds endorsed biocentrism to a greater degree than the 7-year-olds. Children drew on their understanding of human moral concerns to extend these concerns to the animal. Sentiency and biological needs are salient features that allow children to take the perspective of the animal in ways that build upon and diverge from their own experiences. These findings provide a comparative baseline for extending our understanding of biocentrism across cultures, animal kinds, and in human–wildlife conflict scenarios.     

Genetic dissection of phenotypic diversity in farm animals

Farm animal populations harbour rich collections of mutations with phenotypic effects that have been purposefully enriched by breeding. Most of these mutations do not have pathological phenotypic consequences, in contrast to the collections of deleterious mutations in model organisms or those causing inherited disorders in humans. Farm animals are of particular interest for identifying genes that control growth, energy metabolism, development, appetite, reproduction and behaviour, as well as other traits that have been manipulated by breeding. Genome research in farm animals will add to our basic understanding of the genetic control of these traits and the results will be applied in breeding programmes to reduce the incidence of disease and to improve product quality and production efficiency.     

动物遗传标记辅助选择研究及其应用

随着分子数量遗传学及其相关学科的发展,有关动物遗传标记辅助选择方面的研究也在不断深入,且已经在动物遗传改良中有了一些成功应用的示例。就如何综合利用表型、系谱和遗传标记信息进行育种值估计的统计学方法研究方面,目前已基本形成了较为完善的统计学方法。同时,在标记辅助选择相对效率及其影响因素,以及标记辅助选择实施方案的研究上也取得了不少喜人的成果。本文综述了动物遗传标记辅助选择研究的一些进展,并对标记辅助选择在动物遗传改良中应用的有关问题进行了讨论。 Abstract:With the development of molecular and quantitative genetics and its related subjects,it made a great progress on the research about animal genetic marker-assisted selection (MAS).There were also some successful examples on the application of MAS to animal genetic improvement.The statistical method which using phenotypic,pedigree and genetic marker information to predict individual breeding values has already been developed.Many achievements were obtained from the researches,which carried on MAS relative efficiency and its affecting factors and selection schemes.The present paper reviewed some progresses of MAS research and discussed some problems about MAS application to animal breeding.     

Livestock genomics: bridging the gap between mice and men

Dissecting the genetic control of variation in complex traits, such as disease resistance and agricultural-product quality, remains very challenging. Farm animals are now well placed to bridge the gap between human biology and traditional model species. Livestock species share with model species the benefits of controlled breeding, and their biology is often much closer to that of humans. Genetic research in model species focuses on differences between homogenous lines, whereas genetic research in humans focuses on genetic variation within populations. Livestock genetics has the strengths of both human and model-species genetics because researchers can exploit both the abundant genetic variation between divergent breeds and the variation that is segregating within breeds. Therefore, livestock genomics fills the void where the genetics of model species proves intractable or where model species are not a good proxy for human biology.     

Strategies to enable the adoption of animal biotechnology to sustainably improve global food safety and security

The ability to generate transgenic animals has existed for over 30 years, and from those early days many predicted that the technology would have beneficial applications in agriculture. Numerous transgenic agricultural animals now exist, however to date only one product from a transgenic animal has been approved for the food chain, due in part to cumbersome regulations. Recently, new techniques such as precision breeding have emerged, which enables the introduction of desired traits without the use of transgenes. The rapidly growing human population, environmental degradation, and concerns related to zoonotic and pandemic diseases have increased pressure on the animal agriculture sector to provide a safe, secure and sustainable food supply. There is a clear need to adopt transgenic technologies as well as new methods such as gene editing and precision breeding to meet these challenges and the rising demand for animal products. To achieve this goal, cooperation, education, and communication between multiple stakeholders—including scientists, industry, farmers, governments, trade organizations, NGOs and the public—is necessary. This report is the culmination of concepts first discussed at an OECD sponsored conference and aims to identify the main barriers to the adoption of animal biotechnology, tactics for navigating those barriers, strategies to improve public perception and trust, as well as industry engagement, and actions for governments and trade organizations including the OECD to harmonize regulations and trade agreements. Specifically, the report focuses on animal biotechnologies that are intended to improve breeding and genetics and currently are not routinely used in commercial animal agriculture. We put forward recommendations on how scientists, regulators, and trade organizations can work together to ensure that the potential benefits of animal biotechnology can be realized to meet the future needs of agriculture to feed the world.     

猪主要经济性状候选基因的研究进展

随着人类基因组计划的完成和动物基因组计划的进行,许多控制动物经济性状的主基因逐渐被发现,并显示出巨大的应用前景。本文概述了影响猪繁殖、肉质、生长发育等主要经济性状的主基因的基因大小、基因定位和基因效应等,对主基因的研究在动物遗传育种科学发展中的意义也作了一些阐述。 Abstract:With the accomplishment of human genome project and the development of animal genome project,many major genes affecting animal economic traits were gradually detected,and they show great application prospect.Major genes affecting reproductive traits,meat quality traits,growing and developing traits of pig are summarized from their size,location and effect.In addition,the meaning of major gene in the improvement of animal breeding and genetics is also discussed.     

浅谈兽医在非人灵长类动物实验福利中的作用

非人灵长类实验动物作为人类的“替身”,在生理学、病理学、病毒学、药物动力学、毒理学、生殖生理学、免疫学、遗传学、基因工程药和生物医药等科学研究领域具有无可替代的重要作用。因此,在其实验过程中的动物福利问题应当引起人们的足够重视。本文根据工作实践和动物福利的要求,从疾病的监视、诊断、治疗、预防、实验操作技术、猴类捕捉、保定、镇静、止痛、麻醉和安乐死术等方面,总结了兽医及其护理在灵长类实验动物福利中的作用。     

A comparative study of distant hybridization in plants and animals

Distant hybridization refers to crosses between two different species, genera, or higher-ranking taxa, which can break species limits, increase genetic variation, and combine the biological characteristics of existing species. It is an important way of creating genetic variation, fertile strains, and excellent characteristics in new strains and populations. Combining analyses and summaries from many inter-related documents in plants and animals, both domestic and international, including examples and long-standing research on distant hybridization in fish from our laboratory, we summarize and compare the similarities and differences in plant and animal distant hybridization. In addition, we analyze and review the biological characteristics of their different ploidy progenies and the possible causes of disparity in survival rates. Mechanisms of sterility in animal and plant distant hybrids are also discussed, and research methods for the study of biological characteristics of hybrids, including morphology, cytology,and molecular cytogenetics are presented. This paper aims to provide comprehensive research materials and to systematically compare the general and specific characteristics of plant and animal hybrids with regards to reproduction, genetics, growth traits,and other biological characteristics. It is hoped that this paper will have great theoretical and practical significance for the study of genetic breeding and biological evolution of plant and animal distant hybridization.     

Reproductive performance of Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus in an agricultural landscape with a mosaic of land uses

There are serious concerns about the environmental and ecological degradation caused by modern agriculture and its impact on animal populations. There is therefore a need to assess the reproductive performance of free‐living animals in agricultural landscapes. We undertook a 4‐year study on the reproductive biology of Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus in the Parma district of Italy. Kestrels breeding in areas of intensive agriculture delayed egg‐laying and their offspring were in poorer condition compared with those breeding in areas of temporary or permanent grasslands. However, egg volume and fledging success were similar among sites. The availability of temporary and permanent grasslands may limit the negative impacts of intensive agriculture on the breeding activity of Kestrels.     

Local knowledge held by farmers in Eastern Tyrol (Austria) about the use of plants to maintain and improve animal health and welfare

Background

The sustainable management of animal health and welfare is of increasing importance to consumers and a key topic in the organic farming movement. Few systematic studies have been undertaken investigating farmers’ local knowledge related to this issue. Ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) is a discipline focusing on local knowledge and folk methods in veterinary medicine, however most ethnoveterinarian studies primarily address the treatment of animal diseases. Very few studies have explored prophylactic methods.

Methods

An ethnoveterinary research project in Eastern Tyrol (Austria) was conducted in 2004 and 2005 to gather information about local knowledge of animal husbandry from 144 informants, with the emphasis on plants that maintain livestock health and welfare.

Results

Informants mentioned a total of 87 plants and 22 plant-based generic terms in the context of maintaining and improving livestock health and welfare. The most important preventive measures for maintaining and improving animal health and welfare were practices related to “fodder” and “feeding”. In this category the plants mentioned could be grouped according to three different perceptions about their effect on animals: “Good or bad fodder”, “Functional fodder” and “Fodder medicine”. In addition to fodder, environmental management, the human-animal relationship, household remedies and cultural/religious activities were also mentioned. When asked about practices in the past that maintained animal health and well-being, interviewees mentioned, for example, the importance of the diversity of sources that used to be available to obtain feed and fodder.

Conclusions

The informants’ approach that feeding is central to livestock welfare is in line with the standard scientific literature on animal health, including in organic farming. Various scientific studies into common fodder evaluate the nutritive and dietary value, efficiency and safety of fodder. Future studies also have to consider the evaluation of traditional, local fodder resources. In fact, the value of ‘food as medicine’ for humans in the context of local knowledge has been widely assessed, but the potential health benefits of fodder and nutraceuticals in local and traditional ethnoveterinary methods require further attention.

     

鸡快慢羽性状遗传学基础分析综合实验探索与实践

随着全国“卓越农林人才教育培养计划”的开展,我校动物科学专业设置了“卓越班”,以突出培养学生的系统思维和创新创业能力为目标开展了系列教育教学管理和课程改革。为此,我们以“鸡快、慢羽性状”为实验对象,设计了“鸡快慢羽性状遗传学基础分析”综合实验,突出培养学生用理论知识解决生产实践问题的思维和能力。本文重点介绍了该实验作为动物遗传学实验教学案例的实施过程及效果,首先从鸡的表型观察逐步深入到遗传学基础分析,利用遗传学理论指导鸡快、慢羽品系培育的育种实践。实验内容涉及伴性遗传规律和性别决定机制等遗传学理论知识,同时还涉及基因组DNA提取、基因扩增、酶切及电泳分析等一系列分子遗传学的技术方法。不仅有利于学生综合分析能力和专业技能的掌握,还有助于培养学生对动物科学专业的科研兴趣和创新意识。此综合性实验还展现了用遗传学理论指导动物品种培育实践过程,符合动物科学专业复合应用型人才培养目标的要求,其中的教学理念和方法可推广应用于其他生物学实验教学。     

Understanding of genetic information in higher secondary students in northeast India and the implications for genetics education

Since the work of Watson and Crick in the mid-1950s, the science of genetics has become increasingly molecular. The development of recombinant DNA technologies by the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries led to the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). By the end of the twentieth century, reports of animal cloning and recent completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP), as well techniques developed for DNA fingerprinting, gene therapy and others, raised important ethical and social issues about the applications of such technologies. For citizens to understand these issues, appropriate genetics education is needed in schools. A good foundation in genetics also requires knowledge and understanding of topics such as structure and function of cells, cell division, and reproduction. Studies at the international level report poor understanding by students of genetics and genetic technologies, with widespread misconceptions at various levels. Similar studies were nearly absent in India. In this study, I examine Indian higher secondary students' understanding of genetic information related to cells and transmission of genetic information during reproduction. Although preliminary in nature, the results provide cause for concern over the status of genetics education in India. The nature of students' conceptual understandings and possible reasons for the observed lack of understanding are discussed.     

益生菌的安全性

益生菌是指一类活的,摄入足够量就能够对人体产生有益作用的微生物,目前广泛应用于食品发酵、工业乳酸发酵以及医疗保健领域.随着市场上商品化益生菌的不断出现,它所带来的安全性问题也更加引起人们的关注.目前益生菌主要存在四个方面的安全问题:致病性和感染能力;有害的代谢活动:过度的免疫反应和可能的基因转移.传统的益生菌安全性评价方法具有一定的局限性.我们需要针对目前益生菌安全性存在的问题建立一套包含基因组学,代谢组学,蛋白质组学等研究内容的评估方法,对益生菌的安全性进行系统全面的评估.本文总结了一些对于益生菌安全性的研究进展和研究方法,以提示我国应尽快完善益生菌及其制品的安全性评价方法指标并建立安全性评价体系,使益生菌更好的为人们的健康服务.     

Farm Animal Production: Changing Agriculture in a Changing Culture

Western attitudes toward animals have undergone a gradual evolution during recent centuries, driven by the scientific recognition that humans and many other species share a common anatomical template, a common phylogenetic ancestry, and certain similarities in their social and emotional lives. This evolving view has been accompanied by a heightened popular respect for animals, which has caused increasing opposition to the relatively utilitarian treatment of animals in modern farming. Western culture also tends to venerate the pastoralist image of humans caring diligently for animals, and North Americans tend to venerate the agrarian life-style of farm families living in harmony with domestic animals and the land. These positive images, which have traditionally lent legitimacy to animal agriculture, have been diminished by changes in production methods during recent decades. The resulting debate between critics and defenders of modern animal production has led to widespread confusion and concern about how animal agriculture affects animal welfare, human health, the environment, and world food security. To resolve this situation will require research to create an accurate understanding of the diverse effects of modern animal agriculture, together with measures to harmonize agricultural practices with changing public values.