Various behavioral signs of estrous and their relationship with time of ovulation in dairy cattle

Subfertility has negative effects for dairy farm profitability, animal welfare and sustainability of animal production. Increasing herd sizes and economic pressures restrict the amount of time that farmers can spend on counteractive management. Genetic improvement will become increasingly important to restore reproductive performance. Complementary to traditional breeding value estimation procedures, genomic selection based on genome-wide information will become more widely applied. Functional genomics, including transcriptomics (gene expression profiling), produces the information to understand the consequences of selection as it helps to unravel physiological mechanisms underlying female fertility traits. Insight into the latter is needed to develop new effective management strategies to combat subfertility. Here, the importance of functional genomics for dairy cow reproduction so far and in the near future is evaluated. Recent gene profiling studies in the field of dairy cow fertility are reviewed and new data are presented on genes that are expressed in the brains of dairy cows and that are involved in dairy cow oestrus (behaviour). Fast-developing new research areas in the field of functional genomics, such as epigenetics, RNA interference, variable copy numbers and nutrigenomics, are discussed including their promising future value for dairy cow fertility.

Section: Genomic Regulation Of Oestrus (Behaviour) From the Brainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Genomic Regulation Of Oestrus (Behaviour) From the Brainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expression profiles of genes regulating dairy cow fertility: recent findings, ongoing activities and future possibilities

Beerda

Wyszyńska-Koko

Pas

et al. 2008

“…The interval between onset of mounting behavior and ovulation in cows is approximately 27 h (Lopez et al, 2002;Roelofs et al, 2005b). In modern Holstein cows the duration of estrus, defined as the time between first and last recorded standing event, has been reported to be 7 h (Dransfield et al, 1998;Lopez et al, 2004).…”

Section: Estrous Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the start of estrus, a cow typically sniffs the vulva of other cows and rests her chin on the back of others. Such behavior is followed by mounting of other cows and ultimately the cow displays standing heat (Roelofs et al, 2005b). Van Eerdenburg et al (1996) defined a protocol based on these behavioral signs in order to detect whether a cow is in heat.…”

Section: Estrous Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Estrous behavior in dairy cows: identification of underlying mechanisms and gene functions

Bôer

Veerkamp

Beerda

et al. 2010

Selection in dairy cattle for a higher milk yield has coincided with declined fertility. One of the factors is reduced expression of estrous behavior. Changes in systems that regulate the estrous behavior could be manifested by altered gene expression. This literature review describes the current knowledge on mechanisms and genes involved in the regulation of estrous behavior. The endocrinological regulation of the estrous cycle in dairy cows is well described. Estradiol (E2) is assumed to be the key regulator that synchronizes endocrine and behavioral events. Other pivotal hormones are, for example, progesterone, gonadotropin releasing hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1. Interactions between the latter and E2 may play a role in the unfavorable effects of milk yield-related metabolic stress on fertility in high milk-producing dairy cows. However, a clear understanding of how endocrine mechanisms are tied to estrous behavior in cows is only starting to emerge. Recent studies on gene expression and signaling pathways in rodents and other animals contribute to our understanding of genes and mechanisms involved in estrous behavior. Studies in rodents, for example, show that estrogen-induced gene expression in specific brain areas such as the hypothalamus play an important role. Through these estrogen-induced gene expressions, E2 alters the functioning of neuronal networks that underlie estrous behavior, by affecting dendritic connections between cells, receptor populations and neurotransmitter releases. To improve the understanding of complex biological networks, like estrus regulation, and to deal with the increasing amount of genomic information that becomes available, mathematical models can be helpful. Systems biology combines physiological and genomic data with mathematical modeling. Possible applications of systems biology approaches in the field of female fertility and estrous behavior are discussed.

“…These studies do not directly discriminate between within-cow and betweencow variation in oestrus duration, as cows were generally observed for only one or two consecutive cycles. However, the fact that duration of oestrus is often seen to be associated with traits such as parity (Roelofs et al, 2005) or milk yield (Lopez et al, 2004) suggests that there is a cow component in the variation in oestrous duration. Lopez et al (2004) reported a negative correlation between the duration of true oestrus (recorded by a radio telemetry system) and the average milk production during the 10 days preceding the day of oestrus (r = − 0.51; P < 0.0001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Central genomic regulation of the expression of oestrous behaviour in dairy cows: a review

Woelders

Lende²,

Kommadath

et al. 2014

The expression of oestrous behaviour in Holstein Friesian dairy cows has progressively decreased over the past 50 years. Reduced oestrus expression is one of the factors contributing to the current suboptimal reproductive efficiency in dairy farming. Variation between and within cows in the expression of oestrous behaviour is associated with variation in peripheral blood oestradiol concentrations during oestrus. In addition, there is evidence for a priming role of progesterone for the full display of oestrous behaviour. A higher rate of metabolic clearance of ovarian steroids could be one of the factors leading to lower peripheral blood concentrations of oestradiol and progesterone in high-producing dairy cows. Oestradiol acts on the brain by genomic, non-genomic and growth factor-dependent mechanisms. A firm base of understanding of the ovarian steroid-driven central genomic regulation of female sexual behaviour has been obtained from studies on rodents. These studies have resulted in the definition of five modules of oestradiol-activated genes in the brain, referred to as the GAPPS modules. In a recent series of studies, gene expression in the anterior pituitary and four brain areas (amygdala, hippocampus, dorsal hypothalamus and ventral hypothalamus) in oestrous and luteal phase cows, respectively, has been measured, and the relation with oestrous behaviour of these cows was analysed. These studies identified a number of genes of which the expression was associated with the intensity of oestrous behaviour. These genes could be grouped according to the GAPPS modules, suggesting close similarity of the regulation of oestrous behaviour in cows and female sexual behaviour in rodents. A better understanding of the central genomic regulation of the expression of oestrous behaviour in dairy cows may in due time contribute to improved (genomic) selection strategies for appropriate oestrus expression in high-producing dairy cows.Keywords: sexual behaviour, dairy cow, oestrus, gene expression, brain ImplicationsReduced oestrus expression is one of the factors contributing to the current suboptimal reproductive efficiency in dairy cows. A recent series of publications that correlated the level of oestrous behaviour expression to gene expression levels in the cow brain and anterior pituitary are reviewed here and their findings placed in perspective of what is known about sexual behaviour from studies on other species. The improved understanding of the central genomic regulation of oestrous behaviour expression may in due time contribute to improved (genomic) selection strategies for appropriate oestrus expression in high-producing dairy cows. IntroductionMaintaining good fertility and thereby optimum reproductive performance in dairy cows is of great economic importance for the dairy industry. Artificial insemination of cows is widely practiced in modern dairy farming. To ensure timely insemination and thereby maximize conception rates in the herd and profitability of the farm, it is important that the farmer does not m...