As reproductive performance is an important criterion in animal production, there is considerable interest in prolific breeds. Certain prolific breeds of sheep produce an average of more than two lambs per pregnancy. With the "discovery" of the Finnsheep and Romanov breeds, followed in the 1980s by the discovery of the Booroola gene in Australia, research into prolificacy has escalated. Also, artificial insemination and embryo transfer techniques now make it easier to move prolific breeds across continents and incorporate prolificacy into local populations. There have also been a number of recent studies on the physiology, nutrition and management of prolific sheep. Previously there has been no single book reviewing and collating current knowledge of prolific sheep. This book fills the gap and covers all aspects of the subject, including descriptions of the various breeds. Written by authors from every region of the world, the book is a comprehensive work on this subject.

FAO economic and social development series no/ 3/12. - Designed as handbooks for 2 year intermediate level agricultural and training course. Translated and adapted from the French

Systematics and phylogeny of the sheep;Genetic aspects of domestication, common breeds and their origin; Genetics of colour and hair texture; Genetics of morphological traits and inherited disorders; Biochemical genetics; Molecular genetics of sheep; Molecular genetics of immune molecules; Genetics of disease resistance and vaccine response; Molecular biology and genetics of scrapie in sheep; Cytogenetics: physical chromosome maps; The sheep linkage map; Genetics of behaviour; Biology and genetics of reproduction; Modern reproduction technologies and transgenics; Developmental genetics; Genetic resources and conservation; Genetic improvement of wool production; Genetics of meat quality; Genetics of milk production; Genetic improvement of sheep; Standardized genetic nomenclature for sheep.

Human reproductive cloning is an assisted reproductive technology that would be carried out with the goal of creating a newborn genetically identical to another human being. It is currently the subject of much debate around the world, involving a variety of ethical, religious, societal, scientific, and medical issues. Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning considers the scientific and medical sides of this issue, plus ethical issues that pertain to human-subjects research. Based on experience with reproductive cloning in animals, the report concludes that human reproductive cloning would be dangerous for the woman, fetus, and newborn, and is likely to fail. The study panel did not address the issue of whether human reproductive cloning, even if it were found to be medically safe, would beâ€"or would not beâ€"acceptable to individuals or society.

The objective of this Genetic Polymorphisms book is to rehighlight and provide few updates on the role of genetic polymorphisms in medicine and agriculture, which void emerging opinion on "full death" of genetic polymorphisms as useful genetic markers. Chapters presented here demonstrate the future benefit of SNPs in many genetic studies as well as prognosis disease and diagnosis.