One hundred and sixty pigs were used to evaluate dietary copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) supplementation on performance, fecal mineral levels, body mineral status and carcass and meat quality. Diets differed in mineral form (MF) (Cu and Zn in the form of proteinate amino acid chelate (organic) or sulfate (inorganic)) and inclusion level (IL) (27 mg/kg of total Cu and 65 mg/kg of total Zn (‘low’) or 156 mg/kg of total Cu and 170 mg/kg of total Zn (‘high’)) according to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Pigs were used from 25 to 107 kg body weight (BW) and fed their respective diets ad libitum. Blood and fecal samples were collected on days 14 and 77 of the experiment. Blood was analyzed for concentration of Cu and Zn, hemoglobin (Hb), Cu content of red blood cells (RBC Cu) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and feces for Cu and Zn concentration. Hot carcass weight (HCW) and backfat depth were measured at slaughter and indices of meat quality were assessed on a section of longissimus thoracis. Liver, kidney and bone samples were collected immediately after slaughter and liver and kidney were tested for Cu and Zn content, while bone was only tested for Zn. Over the entire experimental period (25 to 107 kg BW) no significant treatment differences in average daily gain (ADG) or average daily feed intake (ADFI) occurred; however, feed conversion ratio (FCR) was improved by the inclusion of proteinate amino acid chelate (P = 0.012). Copper and Zn concentrations in feces were in direct proportion to the IL in the diet. Blood mineral levels were within normal physiological ranges in all treatments and tissue Cu and Zn concentrations increased with dietary IL (P < 0.05). Results indicate that Cu and Zn fecal concentrations were reduced by approximately 6-fold for Cu and by 2.5-fold for Zn by feeding 27 mg/kg Cu and 65 mg/kg Zn, in either the proteinate amino acid chelate or the sulfate form, compared with a diet containing 156 mg/kg Cu and 170 mg/kg Zn. This decrease in total dietary Cu and Zn did not reduce performance or mineral status of pigs.

From 74 to 180 days of age, a complete diet was offered either ad libitum (AL) or at proportionately 0·8 of the observed consumption (R) to two groups of purebred Yorkshire gilts, comprising 128 and 127 animals, respectively. Half of the animals in each group was served at the first detected oestrus, and the other half at the third detected oestrus, according to a plan defined at the start of the experiment. Animals which failed to show oestrus before 240 days of age were culled.

At 100 kg live weight (LW), AL gilts were younger (-20 days) and had thicker backfat (+2.3 mm) than R gilts. At the first detected oestrus, AL females were also younger (198 v. 203 days), heavier (127 v. 117 kg LW) and fatter (17·8 v. 14·7 mm backfat thickness) than R gilts. No difference between feeding treatments during rearing was observed in the percentage of females detected on heat before day 240. Seventy-three animals were culled from the start of the experiment until service, half of them (54%) failing to show oestrus. At service, LW and backfat thickness in the four treatments ranged from 117 to 148 kg LW and 14·9 to 19·7 mm, respectively. The body fatness, estimated from the ratio of backfat to LW, was higher in AL than in R gilts (0·14 and 0·12 , respectively), whereas no difference was observed between E1 and E3 gilts (0·13 on average). After the first service 15% of the gilts came back into heat but the conception rate was not affected by feeding treatment during rearing.

One hundred and twenty-eight Landrace and Large White pigs were allocated on the basis of sex, litter origin and initial weight to one of 16 treatments, made up of four basal 16, 18, 20 and 22% protein diets, each supplemented with either 0·00, 0·10, 0·15 or 0·20% synthetic DL-methionine, at a common digestible energy level of 3740 kcal/kg. Pigs were reared between 8 and 50 kg live weight. Growth rate of pigs and efficiency of feed conversion were significantly improved as the protein levels were increased up to the 20% protein level, optimal performance being on the 20% protein diet, with added 0·15% methionine, giving a total methionine+cystine level of 0·65% and a lysine level of 1·07%. Addition of synthetic methionine to the diets resulted in significant improvement in the rate and efficiency of gain only at the 16 and 18% protein levels.

Carcass leanness and fatness increased and decreased respectively over the whole range of protein levels. Graded addition of DL-methionine within each protein level did not influence carcass characteristics.

Nitrogen retention showed optimal utilization of dietary nitrogen to be at the 18% protein level, with a total dietary methionine + cystine level of 0·61%, which was at variance with the levels indicated by both growth and feed efficiency.

The present study aims to assess the effects of pig’s genotype (lean v. fatty) and dietary protein level (control v. reduced) on intramuscular fat (IMF) content, fatty acid composition and fibre profile of psoas major, a representative red muscle in pig’s carcass scarcely studied relative to white longissimus lumborum. The experiment was conducted on 40 intact male pigs (20 Alentejana purebred and 20 Large White×Landrace×Pietrain crossbred) from 60 to 93 kg of live weight. Pigs were divided and allocated to four dietary groups: control protein diet equilibrated for lysine (17.5% of CP and 0.7% of lysine) and reduced protein diet (RPD) not equilibrated for lysine (13.1% of crude protein and 0.4% of lysine) within a 2×2 factorial arrangement (two genotypes and two diets). Alentejana purebred had higher IMF content (15.7%) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (8.9%), whereas crossbred pigs had higher PM weight (46.3%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (20.1%). The genotype also affected colour with higher lightness (15.1%) and yellowness (33.8%) and lower redness (9.9%) scores in crossbred pigs. In line with this, fatty pigs displayed more oxidative fibres (29.5%), whilst lean pigs had more glycolytic (54.4%). Relative to fatty acids, RPD increased MUFA (5.2%) and SFA (3.2%) but decreased PUFA (14.8%). Ultimately, RPD increased IMF content (15.7%) in the red muscle under study, with no impact on glycolytic to oxidative fibre type transformation.

Rapid assessment of the nutritional quality of diets ingested by grazing animals is pivotal for successful cow–calf management in east Mediterranean rangelands, which receive unpredictable rainfall and are subject to hot-spells. Clipped vegetation samples are seldom representative of diets consumed, as cows locate and graze selectively. In contrast, faeces are easily sampled and their near-IR spectra contain information about nutrients and their utilization. However, a pre-requisite for successful faecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (FNIRS) is that the calibration database encompass the spectral variability of samples to be analyzed. Using confined beef cows in Northern and Southern Israel, we calibrated prediction equations based on individual pairs of known dietary attributes and the NIR spectra of associated faeces (n=125). Diets were composed of fresh-cut green fodder of monocots (wheat and barley), dicots (safflower and garden pea) and natural pasture collected at various phenological states over 2 consecutive years, and, optionally, supplements of barley grain and dried poultry litter. A total of 48 additional pairs of faeces and diets sourced from cows fed six complete mixed rations covering a wide range of energy and CP concentrations. Precision (linearity of calibration, R2cal, and of cross-validation, R2cv) and accuracy (standard error of cross-validation, SEcv) were criteria for calibration quality. The calibrations for dietary ash, CP, NDF and in vitro dry matter digestibility yielded R2cal values >0.87, R2cv of 0.81 to 0.89 and SEcv values of 16, 13, 39 and 31 g/kg dry matter, respectively. Equations for nutrient intake were of low quality, with the exception of CP. Evaluation of FNIRS predictions was carried out with grazing animals supplemented or not with poultry litter, and implementation of the method in one herd over 2 years is presented. The potential usefulness of equations was also established by calculating the Mahalanobis (H) distance to the spectral centroid of a calibration population of 796 faecal samples collected throughout 2 years in four herds. Seasonal trends in pasture quality and responses to management practices were identified adequately and H<3.0 for 98% of faecal samples collected. We conclude that the development of FNIRS equations with confined animals is not only unexpensive and ethically acceptable, but their predictions are also sufficiently accurate to monitor dietary composition (but not intake) of beef cattle in east Mediterranean rangelands.

The effect of castration on the cellular characteristics of dissected fat partitions was examined in 20 Dorset Horn rams and 20 Dorset Horn wethers. Cellular characteristics of dissected carcass (subcutaneous and intermuscular partitions) and non-carcass (kidney fat, omental and mesenteric partitions) fat partitions were examined in 13 mature animals, and the rate of change in adipocyte volume relative to the change in chemical-fat weight in that partition, examined in 27 immature animals.

Mature wethers had a greater concentration of chemical fat in the subcutaneous fat partition than mature rams (917 v. 885 g/kg, respectively). This, in combination with a greater weight of dissected subcutaneous fat, resulted in a greater weight of chemical fat in the subcutaneous partition of wethers compared with rams. Mature wethers had larger adipocytes than mature rams in all dissected fat partitions, with the largest increase in the subcutaneous and omental fat partitions. The increased adipocyte volume in the dissected fat partitions in mature wethers resulted in a smaller total estimated number of adipocytes in all carcass and non-carcass fat partitions compared with mature rams.

Standardized allometric coefficients for adipocyte volume relative to chemical-fat weight in that partition showed that increases in chemical-fat weight were due to a combination of hypertrophy and hyperplasia. In the omental and kidney fat partitions, hypertrophy contributed more to the increase in chemical-fat weight in wethers compared with rams.

(1) Observations were made on a group of dairy bulls at pasture during the summer of 1964. The grazing behaviour of the bulls was similar to that of cows except that they were more sensitive to disturbance and the herd instinct as seen in cows was absent.

(2) Dairy bulls in a group formed a restless community. Apart from dis turbances within the group, the presence of men, dogs, vehicles and bulls from other groups could disturb the group equilibrium. The signs of disturbance were bellowing, pawing and horning the ground, fighting and outbursts of sexual activity.

(3) No clearly defined order of social dominance could be detected and the bulls retained their individuality at all times.

Multielemental stable isotope ratio (SIR) analysis was used in lamb plasma, erythrocytes and muscle to detect the switch from a pasture- to a concentrate-based diet, with the aim of verifying the possibility to trace the change of feeding in animal tissues. During 89 days of experimental feeding, lambs were subjected to four dietary treatments: pasture (P), pasture followed by concentrate in the stall for either 14 days (P-S14) or 37 days (P-S37) or concentrate in the stall (S). Pasture and concentrate diets comprised C3 plants only and had different values of 13C/12C, 18O/16O, 2H/1H and 34S/32S ratios. Muscle 13C/12C and 34S/32S and plasma 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in P, P-S14 and P-S37 lambs were significantly different. A multivariate analytical approach revealed that 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in plasma were the most powerful variables for the discrimination among the dietary treatments.

There is evidence that, in cattle, rapid compensatory growth after a period of growth restriction may increase the variability of beef quality and that variability is greater in breeds which reach larger body size at maturity. This experiment investigated the effect of compensatory growth following a period of winter growth restriction on carcass quality in steers of small and large mature size grazed on pasture. Angus (no. = 120) and South Devon ✕ Angus (SD✕ A; no. = 110) steers were allocated to non-restricted or restricted growth treatment groups and for 126 days over winter their grazing was managed to achieve mean live-weight gains of approximately 0·7 kg/day or to maintain live weight for each group respectively. Steers were slaughtered at the start (no. = 10 per breed) and end (no. = 20 per nutrition group (10 from each breed)) of the winter period for carcass evaluation. Thereafter, remaining steers were grazed together at a high pasture allowance to maximize growth and were slaughtered for carcass evaluation as they reached target live weights (Angus, 590 kg; SD✕ A, 620 kg). SD✕ A steers grew faster ( P < 0·05) during both the winter and finishing periods and reached target slaughter live weights approximately 20 days earlier than Angus steers. SD✕ A steers also had leaner carcasses than Angus steers at each slaughter although there was no significant difference in meat quality between breeds. However, there was a significant effect of restriction treatment on carcass weight and meat quality. The non-restricted steers grew faster, had heavier carcasses and more tender steaks than restricted steers, although there was no significant difference in carcass fatness (adjusted for hot carcass weight). Muscle calpain activities were positively correlated with live-weight gain during the finishing period suggesting increased potential for post-mortem myofibrillar proteolysis and therefore increased meat tenderness. However, in the present experiment this was confounded by an increase in shear force with age-at-slaughter, especially in the non-restricted steers. Nevertheless, steers which were heaviest at the start of the experiment reached slaughter live weight earliest, were leaner than average and had higher calpain system activities at slaughter regardless of breed or restriction treatment. Furthermore, in the non-restricted group, high initial live weight and early slaughter was associated with lower pH and more tender meat. In conclusion, although restriction affected meat quality attributes, it appears that live weight prior to food restriction also had a considerable effect on carcass characteristics at slaughter. Therefore, the characteristics of the early growth phase prior to the finishing period may have important consequences for meat quality.

Farrowing site choice was examined in 40 sows. In group 1, the preference of 16 sows was tested for pre-formed lying areas which incorporated the characteristics of previously observed farrowing nests: a hollow (H), a mattress (M), a nest box (B) and a flat control (C). None of the sows farrowed on C which indicated that choice was based on some evaluation of the lying surface. However, there was no significant preference for the three nest features: H6, M6, B 4. In group 2, C was replaced by a straw area (S). Four different amounts of straw were offered: 18, 9, 4·5 and 2·25 kg with four, four, eight, eight sows on trial at each amount respectively. All the sows farrowed on S at the 18, 9 and 4·5 levels; at 2·25 kg, three farrowed on S and five moved the straw to other lying areas on which they farrowed. The results indicated that the location of nest material has an important influence on farrowing site choice because it allows the performance of nesting behaviour. Although performance of the behaviour was not affected by the amount of straw available, 2·25 kg appeared to be inadequate for a satisfactory nest.

1. Jersey calves were fed on milk substitute at the rate of 10% of live weight per day for 5 weeks and were offered either chopped dried grass or ground, pelleted dried grass to appetite. Calves were slaughtered at birth and after 5, 6, 7, 9 and 12 weeks on experiment, and the weights of the component parts of the alimentary tract and their contents were measured.

2. There were close correlations between the weights of the sections of the alimentary tract or their contents and the solid food intake at slaughter, total solid food intake, or empty body weight of the calves. There were no consistent changes with age in the DM concentration or the density of the digesta in any section of the alimentary tract except the abomasum, or in the digestibility or mean retention time of the diets.

3. Grinding and pelleting the diet increased the DM concentration but did not affect the density of the digesta. The increase in the weight of rumen contents per unit increase in dry-matter intake was much greater for chopped than for pelleted diets. The reverse was true for the contents of the abomasum and small intestine. There were relatively small variations between diets in the predicted weight of rumen contents, total digesta, or the volume of organs in the abdomen, at the within-diet mean levels of dry-matter intake.

1. An analysis has been made of the association between transferrin genotype and progeny test for both milk yield and fat content in a sample of 879 bulls of five dairy cattle breeds, the majority used in artificial insemination in Great Britain. Although significant effects were found in only one of the ten analyses when the breeds were considered separately, a significant effect on milk yield was found when the results from all breeds were combined. A significant effect was not found for fat content, although the effects of the allele substitutions were in the opposite direction to that on milk yield in five cases out of six.

2. Although our results were in the same direction as those of Ashton, the effects were smaller. It was estimated that the locus accounted for 1·1% of the genetic variation in yield and 0·4% of the genetic variation in fat content.

3. Some information based on the production records of 178 experimental cows with known genotypes was also analysed. For milk yield, the pattern of effects was similar to that in the sire data though the differences were much larger. The variance removed by fitting constants was not statistically significant for milk yield or fat content. It was estimated that the sire data contained some fifty times as much information as did the cow data.

Newborn Scottish Blackface lambs from lines previously selected for high (H) or low (L) resistance to body cooling were tested for their metabolic response (O2 consumption) to cold exposure in a water bath or to subcutaneous injections of exogenous noradrenaline as a measure of non-shivering thermogenesis (NST). Six rams from the H line and six rams from the L line were used to produce lambs such that each sire had both cold-tested (no. = 48) and noradrenaline-tested (no. = 86) progeny.

The mean elevations in metabolic rate produced by cold exposure and by noradrenaline were, respectively, 3·4 times and 2·4 times resting (thermoneutral) metabolic rate. H lambs showed significantly greater cold resistance and metabolic response to cold than L lambs. H lambs showed greater NST than L lambs but the difference was not significant. There were significant sire effects on NST, indicating genetic variation. There was a significant correlation between the metabolic responses to cold and those o t noradrenaline among the sire progeny groups. NST capability appears to be a phenotypic component of neonatal cold resistance which would respond to genetic selection, but this genetic variation is not a major component of that determining cold resistance.

1. The voluntary water intakes of eight housed lactating cows were measured. Four of them were subsequently deprived of 40% of this water intake for three weeks. Feed consumption, milk yield and quality, water, Na and K balances, and serum and urine osmolalities were measured. The cows were weighed weekly and their pulse, respiration and rumination rates and rectal temperatures were measured daily.

2. In deprived cows there was a decrease in the mean intake of dry matter by 24% and in milk yield by 16%. These changes were apparent after 24 h, but subsequently there were no further changes. Faecal water was reduced significantly and the percentage faecal dry matter increased significantly. Urine osmolality increased but the reduction in urine volume was not statistically significant.

3. Concentrations of urea and Na in serum and serum osmolality were significantly higher in deprived cows throughout the experimental period and increased slightly but significantly each day from the time the deprived animals were last offered water to appetite.

4. The deprived cows lost weight during the 1st week of deprivation but showed no further change until rehydration, after which normal body weight was regained within 4 days. The deprived cows had consistently lower mean rates of respiration and rumination than the control cows throughout the period of deprivation but they showed no signs of distress.

The main purpose of this work was to compare two breeds of improved rams (Suffolk and Merino Precoce) with the local Galego Bragangano breed for the production of crossbred slaughter lambs and to evaluate which cross was more adapted for meat production from the local breed in locations in the north-east of Portugal. The experiment was carried out over a 4-year period in three locations: (1) a farm with an intensive management; (2) an upland farm (400 to 600 m); and (3) a hill farm (above 800 m). Within each flock with 90 Galego Bragangano ewes, two rams of each of the sire breeds were used: Galego Bragangano, Suffolk and Merino Precoce. The lambs were slaughtered at 20 and 40kg, to obtain the carcass weight range of 8 to 14kg. The left sides of 151 carcasses were dissected into muscle, subcutaneous fat, intermuscular fat and bone. The lambs from location 1 had the highest carcass muscle proportion and the lowest carcass intermuscular fat proportion; their differences over locations 2 and 3 were 13 and 16 g/kgfor muscle proportion and 11 and 19 g/kgfor intermuscular fat proportion, respectively. The differences between breeds were relatively small and not significant. However the Suffolk crosses had less kidney, knob and channel fat than the other genotypes (5 and Uglkg less than Merino crosses and Bragangano, respectively). The Suffolk crosses tended to have less body fat.

Four groups of does (16 per group) were remated either 1, 7, 14 or 21 days after parturition over a 1-year production cycle. Doe mortality rate was independent of treatment and overall was 0·27. The remating interval after parturition had no effect on conception rate, which was high on all treatments (0·86 to 0·93). The high overall conception rate resulted in more litters being born as the parturition to remating interval decreased. Expressed on a common 365-day experimental period the number of litters per doe was 8·9, 8·5, 7·8 and 6·7 (average s.e. of difference 0·33) for treatments 1, 7, 14 and 21 respectively. Litter size was not significantly affected by treatment and consequently the number of pups born per doe per year increased as remating interval decreased: 75·0, 73·4, 67·4 and 591 respectively. Pup mortality rate at birth and subsequently was high (0·42) on all treatments and the number of pups weaned per doe per year for treatments 1, 7, 14 and 21 was 48·3, 43·5, 40·0 and 33·3 respectively. Pup birth weight, 21-day litter weight and weaning (25-day) weight were all unaffected by treatment, as was doe body-weight change.

The objective of this study was to examine the changes of serum leptin levels in heifers and steers during fattening. Seven steers and seven heifers at 14 months of age were used in the experiment. Live weight and serum leptin levels were determined at 2-month intervals. Initial live weight was greater in steers than heifers and a similar trend of growth was recorded during the experiment. As a result, live weight was higher in the steers than in the heifers during the experiment. Serum leptin concentration in both groups increased during the experiment and reached optimum level at 22 months of age and did not change thereafter. The increase in serum leptin level was more marked in heifers and leptin level was higher (P < 0·05) in heifers than steers between 18 and 26 months of age. The results suggest that serum leptin level increases during fattening in cattle and the trend is possibly affected by gender.

Two factorial experiments were designed to determine the effects of stage of lactation, and season of the year, on cow responses to supplementary feeding. These experiments were conducted over consecutive years with 128 high genetic merit multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows in early, mid and late lactation in spring, summer, autumn and winter. At each stage of lactation, and in each season of the year, cows were offered a restricted pasture allowance (25 to 35 kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day), either unsupplemented (control) or supplemented with 50 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) per cow per day in experiment 1 and 80 MJ ME per cow per day in experiment 2. Two different supplements were offered, namely, rolled maize grain (MG) and a mixture of foods (BR) formulated to nutritionally balance the diet. In experiment 2, a fourth treatment consisting solely of a generous pasture allowance (60 to 75 kg DM per cow per day, AP) was introduced. Offering MG and BR increased DM intake (DMI). At the restricted pasture allowance, increasing total ME allowance (MEA) by offering supplementary foods increased ME intake (MEI) by 0·68 (s.e. 0·047) MJ per extra MJ ME offered. This highly significant (P<0·001) linear relationship was consistent across seasons, and did not diminish at higher MEA. In experiment 2, cows in early lactation had lower substitution rates than mid and late lactation cows irrespective of season. Substitution rate was higher when higher pasture allowance or quality of pasture on offer enabled the unsupplemented cows to achieve higher DMI from pasture than at other times of the year. These results suggest that one of the key factors determining the intake response to supplementary foods is pasture allowance. Within spring calving dairying systems, the largest increases in total DMI per kg of supplement offered is likely when offering supplements to early lactation cows grazing restricted allowances of high quality pasture.

New Zealand × Californian rabbit does were offered ad libitum three diets: diet A, with 960 g lucerne per kg dry matter (DM), having 8•7 MJ digestible energy (DE) and 108 g digestible protein (DP) per kg DM; diet AF with 920 g lucerne and 50 g animal fat per kg DM, having 9•6 MJ DE and 105 g DP per kg DM; and diet C, as a control diet having 12•0 MJ DE and 122 g DP per kg DM. Productive parameters were measured for the first five parities, and food intake and milk yield during the first two parities.

In experiment 1, 79 does (342 parities) were housed in a cooled building, litters were standardized to eight kits and weaned at 28 days of age. DM intake during lactation was lower (P < 0•001) but DE intake, milk yield and litter growth were higher for group C. Values for does on diet AF generally were between those of groups A and C. Average results for groups A, AF and C were respectively: 59, 65 and 51 days for the parturition interval; 160, 170 and 193 g for daily milk output in the first two lactations; 3•7, 4•0 and 4•5 kg for litter weight at weaning.

In experiment 2, 64 does (294 parities) were housed in a climatic chamber at a constant temperature of 30oC, litters were standardized to six kits and weaned at 35 days of age. DM intake during lactation was lower (P < 0•001) but milk yield and litter growth were higher (P < 0•001) for C does. Average results for groups A, AF and C were respectively: 70, 70 and 56 days for parturition interval; 106, 128 and 128 g for daily milk output in the first two lactations; 3•7, 4•4 and 4•4 kg for litter weight at weaning. Lucerne-based diets allowed a reasonable performance of reproductive rabbit does in the long term, even under hot conditions.

Reggiana is an autochthonous cattle breed reared mainly in the province of Reggio Emilia, located in the North of Italy. Reggiana cattle (originally a triple-purpose population largely diffused in the North of Italy) are characterised by a typical solid red coat colour. About 2500 cows of this breed are currently registered to its herd book. Reggiana is now considered a dual-purpose breed even if it is almost completely dedicated to the production of a mono-breed branded Protected Designation of Origin Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, which is the main driver of the sustainable conservation of this local genetic resource. In this study, we provided the first overview of genomic footprints that characterise Reggiana and define the diversity of this local cattle breed. A total of 168 Reggiana sires (all bulls born over 35 years for which semen was available) and other 3321 sires from 3 cosmopolitan breeds (Brown, Holstein and Simmental) were genotyped with the Illumina BovineSNP50 panel. ADMIXTURE analysis suggested that Reggiana breed might have been influenced, at least in part, by the other three breeds included in this study. Selection signatures in the Reggiana genome were identified using three statistical approaches based on allele frequency differences among populations or on properties of haplotypes segregating in the populations (fixation index (FST); integrated haplotype score; cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity). We identified several regions under peculiar selection in the Reggiana breed, particularly on bovine chromosome (BTA) 6 in the KIT gene region, that is known to be involved in coat colour pattern distribution, and within the region of the LAP3, NCAPG and LCORL genes, that are associated with stature, conformation and carcass traits. Another already known region that includes the PLAG1 gene (BTA14), associated with conformation traits, showed a selection signature in the Reggiana cattle. On BTA18, a signal of selection included the MC1R gene that causes the red coat colour in cattle. Other selection sweeps were in regions, with high density of quantitative trait loci for milk production traits (on BTA20) and in several other large regions that might have contributed to shape and define the Reggiana genome (on BTA17 and BTA29). All these results, overall, indicate that the Reggiana genome might still contain several signs of its multipurpose and non-specialised utilisation, as already described for other local cattle populations, in addition to footprints derived by its ancestral origin and by its adaptation to the specialised Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese production system.