Search

National trotting races held in Spain between 1990–2022 were used to estimate genetic para meters for 5 precocity criteria: age at first ranked race (AFR), age when the animal reached 50% of ranked races (A50%), age when the animal reached the first 10 ranked races (A10), total num ber of races in which the animal has competed before the first ranked race (NRC) and percent age of first placings/year of participation (PFP), in order to evaluate their usefulness for genetic evaluation and their possible inclusion in the Spanish Trotter Horse official genetic program. A total of 176,137 records belonging to 4947 animals were used. A Bayesian multivariate BLUP ani mal model showed heritability values between 0.08 (NRC) and 0.44 (A10). Medium-high genetic co-rrelations were obtained between precocity traits, ranging between −0.78 (A10-PFP) and 0.96 (A50%-A10). NRC and PFP exhibited negative correlations, with the lowest range for NRC. Additionally, a Random Regression Model (RRM) was applied to PFP to evaluate changes in per formance during the animals’ sporting life. Heritability values decreased slightly up to 4 years of age (0.26–0.17), with a slight increase after the age of 5 (0.22). Genetic and permanent environ mental correlations between age groups were in the high range between the nearest age groups. Variations of the expected breeding values (EBV) over the trajectory of all the age groups allowed us to differentiate robust and plastic animals (animals capable of maintaining sporting potential throughout their lives or not). Correlations between the EBV estimated with both methodologies evidenced the benefits of PFP for the early selection of performance traits in STH. Therefore, the application of an RRM for the PFP trait is recommended as it has shown acceptable heritability and adequate correlations with the rest of the precocity criteria studied. The incorporation of this trait in the breed improvement program will allow breeders to have early genetic infor

Limb-conformation defects significantly influence equine performance and welfare, neces sitating thorough investigation for effective management. This study examines the prevalence and genetic parameters of 14 limb-conformation defects in Menorca Purebred horses using data from 1120 records (509 animals with an average age of 101.87 ± 1.74 months) collected between 2015 and 2023. Defects were evaluated using a three-class scale by three appraisers, and a Bayesian approach via Gibbs sampling was employed to estimate genetic parameters including gender, birth period, stud selection criteria, evaluation age and appraiser as fixed effects. Splay-footed forelimb and closed hocks were the most prevalent defects (67.20% and 62.53%, respectively). Horses with any of the defects analyzed have been observed to obtain significantly lower scores for both walk and trot. Heritability estimates range from 0.12 (s.d.: 0.025) for closed hock to 0.30 (s.d.: 0.054) for base narrow, confirming the genetic influences on the expression of limb conformation defects. The divergent defect in hind limbs showed the highest genetic correlations with forelimb defects (camped under, −0.69; s.d: 0.32 and camped out, 0.70; s.d: 0.27). The significant genetic correlations between defects highlight the complexity of the relationships, which requires careful consideration.

El presente libro recoge los trabajos científicos presentados en el 11º Workshop en Investigación Agroalimentaria para jóvenes investigadores -WIA2022-. El WiA2022 es un Workshop Científico anual organizado por el Programa de Doctorado en Técnicas Avanzadas en Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (TAIDA) de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT). Se celebró el 20 de junio de 2022, con más de 50 participantes que presentaron sus avances en investigación durante el último año. Fue un evento internacional que conectó a nuestros jóvenes investigadores de varios países. Las presentaciones mostraron un gran interés científico y revelaron el destacado potencial de los Equipos de Investigación involucrados en el Programa pertenecientes a varias instituciones de investigación de la Región de Murcia (UPCT, CEBAS-CSIC e IMIDA). El evento ha favorecido el intercambio de ideas y experiencias entre doctorandos y grupos de investigación. El programa científico se estructura en tres sesiones: Presentación de los planes de investigación de nuevos doctorandos, Tecnología e Ingeniería de la Producción Vegetal y Biotecnología Agroalimentaria y Tecnología de Alimentos. En esta edición, 5 jóvenes investigadores han sido premiados por sus ponencias. El Comité Científico y Organizador considera que es necesario que los doctorandos en TAIDA realicen esta actividad formativa para adquirir las competencias típicas de un doctor, destacando cómo resumir sus resultados, sintetizando los principales resultados en el tiempo que se dispone para presentar y difundirlos clara y concisamente a una audiencia diversa, como suele suceder en las presentaciones en congresos científicos a nivel mundial.

[SPA] Este trabajo expone la necesidad de un cambio en la producción de alimentos. La forma de producir ha cambiado, presionado por las políticas de la Unión Europea y El Pacto Verde, producir-usar-tirar, ya no es sostenible, el consumidor quiere alimentos manufacturados por empresas respetuosas con el medio ambiente, que su manera de producir sea mediante la estrategia de la Economía Circular y este cambio es percibido por el consumidor como un valor positivo. El consumidor también preocupado por su salud, busca alimentos lo más sanos posibles, ya que se ha comprobado la relación de una buena alimentación con la buena salud. [ENG] This paper exposes the need for a change in food production. The way of producing has changed under pressure from the policies of the European Union and The Green Deal, produce-use-throw away, it is not sustainable, the consumer wants food produced by companies that respect the environment, that their way of producing is through Circular Economy strategy and this change is perceived by the consumer as a positive attitude. Consumers also concerned about their health, look for foods that are as healthy as possible, since the relationship between a good diet and good health has been proven.

Technology represents a benchmark ally for today’s rural world and is a sine qua non-condition for achieving sustainable development. Indeed, today the arrival of digitization and information and communication tools makes life easier for the inhabitants of the rural world in general and for those who work in agriculture. However, not everyone has and knows how to use these technologies. There are very visible differences between the rural world and the urban one in the accessibility and use of technology, especially among vulnerable people (unemployed, elderly, women, etc.), causing a digital divide that reflects the great discrimination suffered by the rural world, full of stereotypes and very traditional role assignments. The objective of this study is to evaluate the differences in terms of access and use of technology. For this reason, the results of a survey carried out on the Spanish rural population have been analyzed with the structural equations tool “PLS-SEM”. They show digital gaps, as well as a disturbance between the different gaps and the socioeconomic situation of users, which imposes the need to take immediate measures to reduce and fight against this type of inequality.

[SPA] Esta tesis doctoral se presenta bajo la modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. Muchas han sido las lecciones aprendidas por cada uno de nosotros durante la pandemia (COVID-19). En efecto, la enfermedad, el aislamiento, la distancia, la crisis económica, y el miedo nos han enseñado a actuar de manera diferente. A nivel general, esta pandemia ha puesto en evidencia dos elementos de interés común muy relacionados entre ellos. El primero, es la importancia de la tecnología en este mundo que camina hacia la digitalización, y el segundo es la importancia de apoyarse y de crear una alianza contra las desigualdades, porque los que más sufren en situaciones de crisis son los más vulnerables. Hoy en día, las Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación (TICs), representan un elemento imprescindible en la vida personal y profesional de cada uno, afectando a la educación, al trabajo, a la tramitación de papeleo, hasta la compra e incluso el transporte, entre otros. Esta realidad se ha evidenciado en la crisis sanitaria dónde casi todo el mundo ha tenido que pasar a otra forma de trabajar y de enseñar, que requieren disponer y saber usar la tecnología. No obstante, esta crisis ha mostrado también que los que más dificultades han tenido y menos han podido acceder a estas ventajas de las TICs, han sido las poblaciones vulnerables, que se quedaron excluidas de muchas operaciones sencillas, que cualquier ciudadano del mundo tendría que saber hacer. Entre ellas, se sitúan las mujeres, las personas mayores, los ciudadanos del medio rural, las personas con renta baja, los desempleados y las personas con niveles de estudios bajos. En esta tesis, se desea abarcar la amenaza que representan los diferentes tipos de brechas y los factores que les afectan, con un enfoque especifico hacia la mujer, ya que no se puede ignorar el factor de género cuando la mitad del planeta tiene nombre de mujer, y es lo que representa el objetivo principal del trabajo de investigación. Para ello

La reciente demanda de la sociedad sobre productos alimentarios con beneficios sobre la salud es evidente. Desde la pandemia de COVID-19 el auge por una alimentación más saludable ha disparado el consumo de superalimentos, como los microgreen. Estos pequeños micro brotes, que se pueden cultivar en un espacio reducido y con pocos recursos, tienen un corto ciclo de cultivo y unas cualidades nutricionales muy apreciadas. El presente estudio consiste en una evaluación económica y medioambiental del cultivo de microgreen de rúcula en agricultura vertical indoor, partiendo de una experiencia en cámara de cultivo. Para ello, en primer lugar, se estudia el rendimiento de dos variedades de microgreen de rúcula, una variedad comercial de la casa Tozer Seeds, y una variedad local denominada Accession 254, en distintos tipos de sustratos compuestos por la mezcla en diferentes proporciones de turba y compost. Los tratamientos considerados son: T1 (100% turba), T2 (75% turba, 25% compost), T3 (50% turba, 50% compost), T4 (25% turba, 75% compost) y T5 (100% compost), y corresponden a las combinaciones de las variedades con los sustratos estudiados. De los resultados obtenidos en la experiencia, se realiza un análisis de costes y de rentabilidad de la inversión del proyecto de microgreen para su comercialización km 0, en la modalidad de producción de agricultura vertical indoor. Finalmente, se realiza un análisis del ciclo de vida (ACV) del producto en el que se conoce su huella de carbono para obtener el impacto ambiental del proceso global, en un estudio “de la cuna a la tumba” usando el software SIMAPRO. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron que la variedad comercial resulta más productiva en cantidad y calidad en los tratamientos T1 y T2. Por otra parte, el rendimiento económico de ambos tratamientos resultó próximo entre sí, debido a la práctica similitud del desarrollo de los cultivos, así como a la producción obtenida en cada uno de los tratamientos. Por último, la huella de

The scientific manuscripts presented in the 10th Workshop on Agri-Food Research for young researchers (WIA2021) are here reported. The WiA2021 is an annual Scientific Workshop organized by the Doctoral Program in Advanced Techniques for Research and Development in Food and Agriculture (TAIDA) of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT) in Spain, in where PhD candidates present their research works. This WIA edition was virtually held on July 21st 2021 with more than 50 TAIDA PhD candidates from the Agri-food sector who presented the main advances of their annual research activities. It was an international event connecting our young researches from several countries. Presentations showed a great scientific interest and reflect the outstanding potential of the Research Groups involved in the TAIDA PhD Program belonging to several Research institutions of the Region of Murcia (UPCT, CEBAS-CSIC and IMIDA), other Spanish Regions, and to several foreign institutions. We expect that during its celebration, an exchange of research ideas and experiences among PhD candidates, and research groups, have been favored. The scientific program is structured into three sessions: three sessions: Food Technology & Agri-food Economy, Plant Production Technology & Engineering, and Agri-Food Biotechnology & Gardening. In this edition, 4 young researchers have been awarded for their presentations. The Scientific & Organizing Committee considers that it is necessary for TAIDA PhD candidates to undertake this formative training activity to acquire the typical skills of a PhD, remarking how to summarize their results, highlighting the main important results while presenting and disseminating clearly and concisely to a diverse audience in a limited time, as usually happens in the presentations at worldwide scientific conferences.

The gene underlying the melon fruit shape QTL fsqs8.1 is a member of the Ovate Family Proteins. Variation in fruit morphology is caused by changes in gene expression likely due to a cryptic structural variation in this locus. Melon cultivars have a wide range of fruit morphologies. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified underlying such diversity. This research focuses on the fruit shape QTL fsqs8.1, previously detected in a cross between the accession PI 124112 (CALC, producing elongated fruit) and the cultivar 'Piel de Sapo' (PS, producing oval fruit). The CALC fsqs8.1 allele induced round fruit shape, being responsible for the transgressive segregation for this trait observed in that population. In fact, the introgression line CALC8-1, carrying the fsqs8.1 locus from CALC into the PS genetic background, produced perfect round fruit. Following a map-based cloning approach, we found that the gene underlying fsqs8.1 is a member of the Ovate Family Proteins (OFP), CmOFP13, likely a homologue of AtOFP1 and SlOFP20 from Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato, respectively. The induction of the round shape was due to the higher expression of the CALC allele at the early ovary development stage. The fsqs8.1 locus showed an important structural variation, being CmOFP13 surrounded by two deletions in the CALC genome. The deletions are present at very low frequency in melon germplasm. Deletions and single nucleotide polymorphisms in the fsqs8.1 locus could not be not associated with variation in fruit shape among different melon accessions, what indicates that other genetic factors should be involved to induce the CALC fsqs8.1 allele effects. Therefore, fsqs8.1 is an example of a cryptic variation that alters gene expression, likely due to structural variation, resulting in phenotypic changes in melon fruit morphology.

The studbook of Pura Raza Menorquina horses only permits the use of black-coated animals with a small quantity of white marks as breeding stock. Its breeding program uses linear morpho-functional traits as selection criteria. Our aim was to estimate the genetic parameters of linear morpho-functional traits, and reveal relationship of quality of black coat color (QB) and percentage of white marks (WM) with the other morphological and functional linear traits in this breed. A total of 46 linear traits were scored by four appraisers using seven classes, with a total of 772 records from 333 animals (≥4 years old). Univariate animal models using a Bayesian approach were used, with a pedigree of 757 animals. Sex (two) and appraiser-season (13) were included as fixed effects, age as a linear covariate, and permanent environmental and additive genetic as random effect. The heritabilities of the morpho-functional traits were low to medium (0.09–0.58) and matched the range in the bibliography. Heritabilities for coat color traits were 0.36 for QB and 0.23 for WM. The highest genetic correlations were obtained between QB and upper neck line (0.816) and between WM and form of the hoof (0.638). The negative signs of most of the genetic correlations between WM and the functional traits is also remarkable, contributing to the selection of functional traits against the presence of white marks in this population. A clear genetic differentiation was observed between animals with better breeding values for QB and WM, corroborated by a study on founders. In conclusion, QB and WM could show different genetic backgrounds.