**Meet the editor**

Dr. Khalid Javed was born on January 02, 1959 in a village in Pakistan. He graduated in Animal Husbandry during the year 1982 from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). He obtained master and doctorate degrees in Animal Breeding and Genetics from the same institute during 1989 and 1999, respectively. He served in various research and extension organizations

in various capacities. He joined University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore as Assistant Professor in the discipline of Animal Breeding and Genetics during 2003. At present he is a Professor and Chairman at the Department of Livestock Production.

Contents

**Preface VII** 

**Section 1 Genetics and Breeding 1** 

Sajjad Toghiani

Chapter 1 **Quantitative Genetic Application** 

Chapter 3 **Breeding Dairy Cows to Reduce** 

**Section 2 Livestock Management 59** 

O.A. Lawal-Adebowale

Chapter 2 **Some Peculiarities of Horse Breeding 33**  Marcilio Dias Silveira da Mota and Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano

> **Greenhouse Gas Emissions 47**  M.J. Bell, R.J. Eckard and J.E. Pryce

Chapter 4 **Dynamics of Ruminant Livestock Management in** 

Chapter 5 **Livestock-Handling Related Injuries and Deaths 81**  Kamil Hakan Dogan and Serafettin Demirci

**Over the Last Decade and Its Prospects 117** 

Chapter 7 **Reducing Enteric Methane Losses from Ruminant Livestock –** 

**Its Measurement, Prediction and the Influence of Diet 135** 

Chapter 6 **Status of Beef Cattle Production in Argentina** 

J.C. Guevara and E.G. Grünwaldt

M. J. Bell and R. J. Eckard

**in the Selection Process for Livestock Production 3** 

**the Context of the Nigerian Agricultural System 61** 

## Contents

#### **Preface XI**


Chapter 7 **Reducing Enteric Methane Losses from Ruminant Livestock – Its Measurement, Prediction and the Influence of Diet 135**  M. J. Bell and R. J. Eckard

Preface

express my thanks to all of them

Innumerable publications on livestock production are available in the world market. The book under discussion has not been produced to burden the market with another such publication it has rather been brought out employing a novice format to meet the requirements of students, researchers who are working in different parts of the world in different environments. Most of the books present in the market discuss details on a particular species in a particular environment whereas information on breeding, management, nutrition, marketing in different sets of environments on different aspects of a number of species are not available. An invitation to write chapters on various aspects of livestock production was initiated by the publisher. As a result researchers/authors from different parts of the globe contributed different chapters of the book covering very important aspects of livestock production. I would like to

> **Dr. Khalid Javed**  Professor/ Chairman

> > Lahore- Pakistan

Department of Livestock Production

University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,

## Preface

Innumerable publications on livestock production are available in the world market. The book under discussion has not been produced to burden the market with another such publication it has rather been brought out employing a novice format to meet the requirements of students, researchers who are working in different parts of the world in different environments. Most of the books present in the market discuss details on a particular species in a particular environment whereas information on breeding, management, nutrition, marketing in different sets of environments on different aspects of a number of species are not available. An invitation to write chapters on various aspects of livestock production was initiated by the publisher. As a result researchers/authors from different parts of the globe contributed different chapters of the book covering very important aspects of livestock production. I would like to express my thanks to all of them

> **Dr. Khalid Javed**  Professor/ Chairman Department of Livestock Production University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore- Pakistan

**Section 1** 

**Genetics and Breeding** 

## **Genetics and Breeding**

**Chapter 1** 

© 2012 Toghiani, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 Toghiani, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

influence animal's genetic progress during the selection process.

**Quantitative Genetic Application** 

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Sajjad Toghiani

**1. Introduction** 

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51027

**in the Selection Process for Livestock Production** 

Quantitative genetic analysis is performed on traits showing a continuous range of values, such as height and weight. However, traits displaying a discrete number of values (such as number of offspring) and even binary traits (such as disease presence or absence) are all amenable to quantitative genetic analysis. The genetic architecture of a complex trait consists of all the genetic and environmental factors that affect the trait, along with the magnitude of their individual effects and interaction effects among the factors. The quantitative genetics approach has diverse applications. It is fundamental to an understanding of the variation and co-variation among relatives in natural and managed populations, of the dynamics of evolutionary change, and of the methods for animal improvement and alleviation of complex disease. The roots of quantitative genetics trace back to the work of Galton and Pearson in 1880–1900, who developed many of the basic statistical tools (such as regression and correlation) used in quantitative genetics. Indeed, many of the basic statistical tools now commonly in use were first introduced and developed in the context of quantitative genetics. A major principle of animal breeding is to select those animals to become parents that will improve the genetic level in the next generation. For quantitative traits that are unable to observe the genotype, it can only measure the phenotypic value, which is influence both by genotype and by environment. Therefore, it needs a way to infer the breeding value from the phenotypic value in such a way to maximize the probability of choosing the correct animals to become parents. The purpose of animal breeding is not to genetically improve individual animals, but to improve animal populations. To improve populations, basic tools are required to identify and utilize genetic differences between animals for the traits of interest. In animal breeding, knowledge of the genetic properties of the traits that are interested in is the first prerequisite in establishing a selection program. This chapter will try to define and explain the factors that
