Cattle have been invaluable for the transition of human society from nomadic hunter‐gatherers to sedentary farming communities throughout much of Europe, Asia and Africa since the earliest domestication of cattle more than 10,000 years ago. Although current understanding of relationships among ancestral populations remains limited, domestication of cattle is thought to have occurred on two or three occasions, giving rise to the taurine (Bos taurus) and indicine (Bos indicus) species that share the aurochs (Bos primigenius) as common ancestor ~250,000 years ago. Indicine and taurine cattle were domesticated in the Indus Valley and Fertile Crescent, respectively; however, an additional domestication event for taurine in the Western Desert of Egypt has also been proposed. We analysed medium density Illumina Bovine SNP array (~54,000 loci) data across 3,196 individuals, representing 180 taurine and indicine populations to investigate population structure within and between populations, and domestication and demographic dynamics using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). Comparative analyses between scenarios modelling two and three domestication events consistently favour a model with only two episodes and suggest that the additional genetic variation component usually detected in African taurine cattle may be explained by hybridization with local aurochs in Africa after the domestication of taurine cattle in the Fertile Crescent. African indicine cattle exhibit high levels of shared genetic variation with Asian indicine cattle due to their recent divergence and with African taurine cattle through relatively recent gene flow. Scenarios with unidirectional or bidirectional migratory events between European taurine and Asian indicine cattle are also plausible, although further studies are needed to disentangle the complex human‐mediated dispersion patterns of domestic cattle. This study therefore helps to clarify the effect of past demographic history on the genetic variation of modern cattle, providing a basis for further analyses exploring alternative migratory routes for early domestic populations.

Livestock conservation practice is changing rapidly in light of policy, climate change and market demands. The last decade saw a step change in technological and analytical approaches to define, manage and conserve Farm Animal Genomic Resources (FAnGR). These changes pose challenges for FAnGR conservation in terms of technological continuity, analytical capacity and the methodologies needed to exploit new, multidimensional data. The ESF Genomic Resources program final conference addressed these problems attempting to contribute to the development of the research and policy agenda for the next decade. We broadly identified four areas related to methodological and analytical challenges, data management and conservation. The overall conclusion is that there is a need for the use of current state-of-the-art tools to characterise the state of genomic resources in non-commercial and local breeds. The livestock genomic sector, which has been relatively well-organised in applying such methodologies so far, needs to make a concerted effort in the coming decade to enable to the democratisation of the powerful tools that are now at its disposal, and to ensure that they are applied in the context of breed conservation as well as development.

The introduction of Iberian cattle in the Americas after Columbus’ arrival imposed high selection pressures on a limited number of animals over a brief period of time. Knowledge of the genomic regions selected during this process may help in enhancing climatic resilience and sustainable animal production. We first determined taurine and indicine contributions to the genomic structure of modern Creole cattle. Second, we inferred their demographic history using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), linkage disequilibrium (LD) and N_e Slope (NeS) analysis. Third, we performed whole genome scans for selection signatures based on cross‐population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP‐EHH) and population differentiation (F_ST) to disentangle the genetic mechanisms involved in adaptation and phenotypic change by a rapid and major environmental transition. To tackle these questions, we combined SNP array data (~54,000 SNPs) in Creole breeds with their modern putative Iberian ancestors. Reconstruction of the population history of Creoles from the end of the 15th century indicated a major demographic expansion until the introduction of zebu and commercial breeds into the Americas ~180 years ago, coinciding with a drastic N_e contraction. NeS analysis provided insights into short‐term complexity in population change and depicted a decrease/expansion episode at the end of the ABC‐inferred expansion, as well as several additional fluctuations in N_e with the attainment of the current small N_e only towards the end of the 20th century. Selection signatures for tropical adaptation pinpointed the thermoregulatory slick hair coat region, identifying a new candidate gene (GDNF), as well as novel candidate regions involved in immune function, behavioural processes, iron metabolism and adaptation to new feeding conditions. The outcomes from this study will help in future‐proofing farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) by providing molecular tools that allow selection for improved cattle performance, resilience and welfare under climate change.

Inclusion of prebiotics in the diet is known to be advantageous, with positive influences both on health and growth. The current study investigated the differences in the hepatic transcriptome profiles between chickens supplemented with inulin (a storage carbohydrate found in many plants) and controls. Liver is a major metabolic organ and has been previously reported to be involved in the modification of the lipid metabolism in chickens fed with inulin. A nutrigenomic approach through the analysis of liver RNA hybridized to the Affymetrix GeneChip Chicken Genome Array identified 148 differentially expressed genes among both groups: 104 up-regulated (≥1.4-fold) and 44 down-regulated (≤0.6-fold). Quantitative real-time PCR analysis validated the microarray expression results for five out of seven genes tested. The functional annotation analyses revealed a number of genes, processes and pathways with putative involvement in chicken growth and performance, while reinforcing the immune status of animals, and fostering the production of long chain fatty acids in broilers supplemented with 5 g of inulin kg⁻¹ diet. As far as we are aware, this is the first report of a microarray based gene expression study on the effect of dietary inulin supplementation, supporting further research on the use of this prebiotic on chicken diets as a useful alternative to antibiotics for improving performance and general immunity in poultry farming, along with a healthier meat lipid profile.