Animal Sciences electronic theses and dissertations (MU)
The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Division of Animal Sciences. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Columbia. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Investigating sire fertility : the relationship between spermatozoa characteristics and early embryonic development
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] Early embryonic mortality in cattle occurs between days 1-27 of gestation and is one of the primary contributors to economic failure in the dairy industry. Specifically, by day 7 of gestation, ... -
Altering the timing of fixed-time artificial insemination and the interval from progestin withdrawal to prostaglandin F2a administration in estrus synchronization protocols for beef heifers
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)An experiment (Chapter 2) was designed to evaluate later timepoints for fixedtime artificial insemination (FTAI) of beef heifers, with the hypothesis that use of a later timepoint would allow a greater proportion of heifers ... -
Generation of a reference genome to investigate population fitness and transitional cell carcinoma occurrence in the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Many species are vulnerable or on the verge of extinction as a result of increased habitat degradation and fragmentation. Conservation genetics has attempted to apply an understanding of species genetics to reduce the risk ... -
An examination of influenza immunity in pigs and their role in assessing antiviral therapies for humans
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/1/2023] The lung is dynamic barrier organ with a complex cell population. Pulmonary immune cells must balance an effective and tolerogenic response to keep homeostasis. Due to numerous similarities to ... -
Effects of long-term postgastric infusion of casein or glutamic acid on small intestinal starch digestion, energy balance, body composition, and metabolic fates of luminally assimilated glucose carbon in cattle
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Small intestinal starch digestion (SISD) in ruminants is limited, but SISD can be improved by postruminal supply of casein or glutamic acid. There are no reports on the effects of increases in SISD in response to greater ... -
Investigating the role of a lncRNA (4833427F10Rik) in mouse placental development and function
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 8/1/2023] Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have traditionally been viewed as transcriptional noise. However, experimental evidence of their cell-type-specific expression, presence of functional genetic ... -
Reduced autophagy contributes to inefficient DNA damage repair in mouse oocytes
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 8/1/2023] The DNA damage is a major problem that, in somatic cells, leads to mutagenesis and premature aging. However, this is not the case in fully differentiated germ cells. Why DNA damage repair (DDR) ... -
Tracing cat domestication through population genetics and capturing genotype-by environment interactions in US beef cattle genomic predictions
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 8/1/2023] Cat domestication initiated as a symbiotic relationship between wildcats and the peoples of developing agrarian societies in the Fertile Crescent. To refine the sites of cat domestication, over ... -
Regulation of fetal brain development in short versus long lived mice
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)How fetal brain development is regulated in mice with reduced life span is a primary objective of this research. Three studies were performed to investigate the fetal brain development in short and lived mice strains. The ... -
Involvement of aberrant chromosome architecture and locus-specific vulnerability to DNA methylation epimutations in bovine large offspring syndrome
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Large/abnormal offspring syndrome (LOS/AOS) and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) are similar congenital overgrowth syndromes which occur naturally in ruminants and humans, respectively. The incidence of these syndromes ... -
Dissecting the genetic basis of carbohydrate partitioning in maize and sugarcane
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 5/31/2023] Carbohydrate partitioning, the process by which carbohydrates synthesized in the photosynthetic source tissues (mature leaves) are mobilized to non-photosynthetic (sink) tissues, such as roots, ... -
Genomics of heifer pregnancy, days open, and days to conception in Red Angus heifers
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Although it is challenging to collect information on reproductive traits, fertility traits are believed to play a significant role in the growth of the beef industry and bring revenue to the producers. It has been challenging ... -
Characterization of the genetic landscape of feline oral squamous cell carcinoma
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Over 94 million domestic cats are susceptible to cancers and other common and rare diseases. While cancer treatment in cats increasingly mirrors that available in humans, treatment failures are more frequent. There are no ... -
Interaction of metsulfuron and nitrogen fertilizer in Tall Fescue forage systems
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2022)Tall Fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) is an introduced cool-season bunch grass that is a vital component of forage systems that support beef cattle production in Missouri and much of the eastern United States. This ... -
Using metabolic and biochemical characteristics of postmortem muscle to investigate the interconnectedness of beef color, flavor, and tenderness
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)Understanding relationships between beef palatability and quality components are crucial for continued production of high quality and consistent beef products. Myoglobin concentrations at 48 and 336 h resulted in moderate, ... -
Glutamine metabolism and interactions with mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 in porcine preimplantation embryos
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)The ability to culture embryos has created opportunities for animal agriculture, including the refined selection of superior genetics, and for the medical field, allowing couples experiencing infertility to have biological ... -
Implications of ovarian and uterine maturity evaluated in replacement heifer candidates
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)Profitability across the reproductive lifetime of a cow depends on reproductive success in the first breeding season and requires heifers to attain puberty prior to this time. Pre-breeding evaluations may be used to determine ... -
Exploration of fecal microbial transfer and the competitive exclusion concept in broilers as a possible alternative to antibiotic growth promoters
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)Four studies were conducted to explore the effects of early life Fecal Microbiota Transfer (FMT) from healthy feed efficient finished broilers into day-old broiler chicks on growth performance indices, changes and or ... -
Paternal effects on pre-implantation embryo development in cattle
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)Currently, sire fertility is measured using sire conception rate (SCR), which is not always indicative of embryo development. Since the majority of pregnancy loss in dairy cattle occurs during the early embryonic period, ... -
Effects of the bovine slick mutation on heat stress responses and hair growth in mice
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)The bovine slick mutations result from more than one allele variant causing a slick hair phenotype and improved thermotolerance to elevated ambient temperatures in cattle. These mutations result in the truncation of the ...