Physiology and Endocrinology III.

This article presents abstracts of various papers related to animal physiology and endocrinology, that were presented during the symposium held on July 26, 2005, Cincinnati, Ohio, which was organized by the American Dairy Science Association, the American Society of Animal Science and the Canadian Society of Animal Science. One of the papers presented is "Measuring Aseasonality in a Crossbred Pedigree Developed for Mapping QTL," by R.G. Mateescu, M.L. Thonney and others. An experimental crossbred pedigree was created to identify QTL contributing to aseasonality by crossing Dorset ewes with East Friesian rams and breeding F1 rams to Dorset ewes. Aseasonality in 117 yearling backcross ewes was assessed using a blood progesterone profile prior to, during and after the spring 2003 breeding season. Another paper discussed is "Effect of Maternal Undernutrition on Capillary Vascularity of the Bovine Placentome," by K. Vonnahme, L. Reynolds and others. Improper maternal nutrition during pregnancy in ewes greatly impacts the capillary vascularity of placentomes. In the beef cow, the effect of early maternal undernutrition followed by realimentation on placentomal capillary vascular density was determined.