Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, School of Animal Biology M085, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Reprod Biol. 2011 Dec;11 Suppl 3:61-77.
Several factors such as season, genetics, social interaction and metabolic status control or modulate the reproductive capacity of sheep. In addition to these well-studied factors in sheep, the influence of emotional reactivity on the reproductive success of sheep has started to be investigated over the last two decades. In this paper, after briefly reviewing the impact of classical factors affecting reproduction in sheep, we define emotional reactivity and the expression of its inter-individual variability, named temperament. Then, following a description of the protocol to measure temperament in sheep and discussion on the heritability of temperament traits, we illustrate how this selection affects the reproductive biology of sheep. We will be mainly using results obtained from a unique flock of sheep selected for low or high emotional reactivity. In conclusion, we propose that energy partitioning could be one of the mechanisms by which selection for temperament in sheep affects the different steps of the reproductive cycle.
季节、遗传、社会互动和代谢状态等多种因素控制或调节绵羊的繁殖能力。除了绵羊中这些研究充分的因素外，过去二十年开始研究情绪反应对绵羊繁殖成功的影响。在本文中，在简要回顾了影响绵羊繁殖的经典因素的影响之后，我们定义了情绪反应及其个体间可变性的表达，称为气质。然后，在描述了测量绵羊气质的方案并讨论了气质特征的遗传性之后，我们说明了这种选择如何影响绵羊的生殖生物学。我们将主要使用从一个经过选择具有低或高情绪反应性的独特绵羊群体中获得的结果。总之，我们提出，能量分配可能是绵羊气质选择影响生殖周期不同阶段的机制之一。
