Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production
Open Access

Abstract

During domestication, farm animals have adapted to constraints typical of their production systems, such as diseases, parasitosis product demand or seasonal weight loss (SWL). SWL is in fact one of the major constraints to animal production in tropical and Mediterranean regions. Coupled to production studies, the study of the metabolic changes to food restriction, highlighting energy and protein metabolic saving mechanisms, can be a useful approach to identify the physiological pathways relevant in breed selection, allowing the identification of biomarkers that could be used for the selection of breeds and varieties with metabolic pathways more capable of energy and nitrogen retention, thus increasing productivity. Over the last 15 years, we have been conducting studies on several aspects related to weight loss physiology, focusing primarily on small ruminants after using the rabbit as a model. We have conducted a Systems Biology approach aiming to combine proteomics with transcriptomics and more recently metabolomics. Here, we present the results of three major experiments: 1. Experiments with rabbits; 2. Experiments with meat producing sheep and 3. Experiments with dairy goats. In the three cases breeds of animals susceptible to SWL were compared to breeds of animals that show a certain tolerance to SWL. An overview of the major results and conclusions herein obtained will be described as well as major implications on research directions.

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