Geschichte und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung des Hausrindes (Bos taurus L.) in der Schweiz von der Jungsteinzeit bis ins frühe Mittelalter

A passion for beef: Post-domestication changes in cattle body size in China from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age

The introduction and the later dispersal of domestic cattle in China had played an enormous part in food production, handicraft manufacture, and ritual activities. However, we lack the details of pastoral economies, herding strategies, and utilization patterns of cattle in ancient China. This study, for the first time, uses biometrical assessments to investigate post-domesticated cattle husbandry and how it changed over time. Biometric data from eight sites dating from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age were evaluated using kernel analysis and mixture analysis. Results indicated that the general body size of cattle first decrease and then increase. By combining the estimated distribution of male and female individuals, we can see that the sex ratios affect size variation during Bronze Age times. Although no breed improvement has been detected so far, the herding and slaughtering strategies over time are different.

Traces of history conserved over 600 years in the geographic distribution of genetic variants of an RNA virus: Bovine viral diarrhea virus in Switzerland

The first records of smallpox and rabies date back thousands of years and foot-and-mouth disease in cattle was described in the 16th century. These diseases stood out by their distinct signs, dramatic way of transmission from rabid dogs to humans, and sudden appearance in cattle herds. By contrast, infectious diseases that show variable signs and affect few individuals were identified only much later. Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), endemic in cattle worldwide, was first described in 1946, together with the eponymous RNA virus as its cause. There is general agreement that BVD was not newly emerging at that time, but its history remains unknown. A search for associations between the nucleotide sequences of over 7,000 BVD viral strains obtained during a national campaign to eradicate BVD and features common to the hosts of these strains enabled us to trace back in time the presence of BVD in the Swiss cattle population. We found that animals of the two major traditional cattle breeds, Fleckvieh and Swiss Brown, were infected with strains of only four different subgenotypes of BVDV-1. The history of these cattle breeds and the events that determined the current distribution of the two populations are well documented. Specifically, Fleckvieh originates from the Bernese and Swiss Brown from the central Alps. The spread to their current geographic distribution was determined by historic events during a major expansion of the Swiss Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries. The association of the two cattle populations with different BVD viral subgenotypes may have been preserved by a lack of cattle imports, trade barriers within the country, and unique virus-host interactions. The congruent traces of history in the distribution of the two cattle breeds and distinct viral subgenotypes suggests that BVD may have been endemic in Switzerland for at least 600 years.

Size diversity in Swiss Bronze Age cattle

To date, osteometric data for Swiss Bronze Age cattle, particularly from Alpine sites, are scarce. In the present study, using a large dataset generated by combining preexisting data with recent data obtained from a large Alpine site, cattle size from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in populations from different sites and regions was evaluated using the logarithmic size index and other statistical analysis. Additionally, the finite mixture model and a meta-analytic technique were used to observe possible effects of sex ratios on cattle size. Results indicated that sex ratios did not affect size distribution. Cattle populations did not differ over time, but the Alpine cattle were smaller than the Central Plateau cattle. There were two distinct sizes in the Alpine cattle populations. It is suggested that the different economic interrelationships between Alpine and other geographically related communities might have led to the emergence of size diversity in Swiss Bronze Age cattle. Further interdisciplinary studies with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these possibilities.

Illegal product manufacturing and exportation from Pakistan: Revealing the factuality of highly processed wildlife skin samples via DNA mini-barcoding

Illegal trade is a major threat to the biodiversity and the efforts initiated for the conservation of wildlife. The shortcomings of the traditional taxonomic identification methods have been coped by a revolutionary and emerging technique, the "DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) barcoding". Here we report a case of trader who was allegedly making footwear for a famous international celebrity from wild animal cutis. The samples confiscated during a raid on a footwear manufacturing industry by KP Wildlife department in August, 2016, were received by Bioresource Research Centre (BRC) for molecular identification on 1^st September, 2016. The study costed about USD 88 from processing to the identification of the samples. The samples identified via DNA mini-barcoding by targeting cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene belong to Gazella bennettii and Bos taurus. Such studies are helpful for credible investigations that only lead to effective prosecution and control of illegal wildlife trade ultimately helping in conservation of wild animals.

Spotted phenotypes in horses lost attractiveness in the Middle Ages

Horses have been valued for their diversity of coat colour since prehistoric times; this is especially the case since their domestication in the Caspian steppe in ~3,500 BC. Although we can assume that human preferences were not constant, we have only anecdotal information about how domestic horses were influenced by humans. Our results from genotype analyses show a significant increase in spotted coats in early domestic horses (Copper Age to Iron Age). In contrast, medieval horses carried significantly fewer alleles for these phenotypes, whereas solid phenotypes (i.e., chestnut) became dominant. This shift may have been supported because of (i) pleiotropic disadvantages, (ii) a reduced need to separate domestic horses from their wild counterparts, (iii) a lower religious prestige, or (iv) novel developments in weaponry. These scenarios may have acted alone or in combination. However, the dominance of chestnut is a remarkable feature of the medieval horse population.

Size Reduction in Early European Domestic Cattle Relates to Intensification of Neolithic Herding Strategies

Our analysis of over 28,000 osteometric measurements from fossil remains dating between c. 5600 and 1500 BCE reveals a substantial reduction in body mass of 33% in Neolithic central European domestic cattle. We investigate various plausible explanations for this phenotypic adaptation, dismissing climatic change as a causal factor, and further rejecting the hypothesis that it was caused by an increase in the proportion of smaller adult females in the population. Instead we find some support for the hypothesis that the size decrease was driven by a demographic shift towards smaller newborns from sub-adult breeding as a result of intensifying meat production strategies during the Neolithic.

Dual origins of dairy cattle farming--evidence from a comprehensive survey of European Y-chromosomal variation

BACKGROUND

Diversity patterns of livestock species are informative to the history of agriculture and indicate uniqueness of breeds as relevant for conservation. So far, most studies on cattle have focused on mitochondrial and autosomal DNA variation. Previous studies of Y-chromosomal variation, with limited breed panels, identified two Bos taurus (taurine) haplogroups (Y1 and Y2; both composed of several haplotypes) and one Bos indicus (indicine/zebu) haplogroup (Y3), as well as a strong phylogeographic structuring of paternal lineages.

METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Haplogroup data were collected for 2087 animals from 138 breeds. For 111 breeds, these were resolved further by genotyping microsatellites INRA189 (10 alleles) and BM861 (2 alleles). European cattle carry exclusively taurine haplotypes, with the zebu Y-chromosomes having appreciable frequencies in Southwest Asian populations. Y1 is predominant in northern and north-western Europe, but is also observed in several Iberian breeds, as well as in Southwest Asia. A single Y1 haplotype is predominant in north-central Europe and a single Y2 haplotype in central Europe. In contrast, we found both Y1 and Y2 haplotypes in Britain, the Nordic region and Russia, with the highest Y-chromosomal diversity seen in the Iberian Peninsula.

CONCLUSIONS

We propose that the homogeneous Y1 and Y2 regions reflect founder effects associated with the development and expansion of two groups of dairy cattle, the pied or red breeds from the North Sea and Baltic coasts and the spotted, yellow or brown breeds from Switzerland, respectively. The present Y1-Y2 contrast in central Europe coincides with historic, linguistic, religious and cultural boundaries.