ABSTRACT Epilepsy describes a neurologically caused condition which involves seizures. Epilepsy can be classified according to different types of causes and the nature of seizures can vary. Medication for epilepsy in dogs is limited in comparison with human medicine. Idiopathic epilepsy is the most common neurological disease and one of the most common genetic diseases in dogs. Because epilepsy has a higher prevalence in certain breeds, there is reason to suspect that it is a hereditary disease. The inheritance of idiopathic epilepsy is for most breeds not determined, except for a few variants of the disease.

Rhodesian ridgeback is a dog breed that originates from southern Africa. The characteristic ridge (a dorsal ridge where the hair grows in the opposite direction to the general coat) is shared with an Asian breed, Thai ridgeback. The origin and inheritance of the ridge has been examined and defined. The ridge-mutation is a duplication that contains four complete genes, FGF3, FGF4, FGF19 and ORAOV1 and the 3´-end of CCND1. The ridge is inherited as an autosomal, dominant trait and predisposes for Dermoid sinus (DS), a disease that develops during embryogenesis.

More than 1000 Swedish Warmblood foals are shown every year at foal inspections which are arranged around the country. Six traits are evaluated at these inspections: type, head-neck-body, correctness of legs, walk, trot and canter. No previous genetic studies have been done on the data from these evaluations. The purpose of this study was to do genetic analyses of the traits which are evaluated at foal inspections. The purpose was also to see if there are any correlations between the results of the foal inspections and the results from the tests of three-year-old horses.

This essay describes and compares the extensive reindeer management to the more intensive, but grazing based, sheep management system in Sweden. Differences and similarities between the two production systems will be investigated by elucidating the economy, land use and possibilities to influence production and economy through Breeding, feeding and product development. The reindeer management area covers the northern part of Sweden whilst the sheep management is dispersed over the country. Both reindeer and sheep are ruminants and have relatively high demands on the quality and digestibility of the feed however reindeers graze on mountain-and forest lands whilst sheep often graze inaccessible areas or cultivated grasslands. Selection intensity is generally lower in the reindeer management compared to the intensity in sheep Breeding.

The Savi?s Warbler (Locustella luscinioides) is a recently established bird species in a few reedy shallow lakes of southern Sweden and has only been found nesting for the last twenty years. Little is known about the species' habitat preferences, Breeding biology and demands for specific territory structures at Breeding sites in Sweden. Knowledge of a newly established species? habitat requirements is essential to maintain a viable population and design action plans.

There is considerable variation between stallions in semen quality and fertility due to the fact that selection of stallions for Breeding is not based on fertility or semen quality but on performance. The increasing use of cooled semen for artificial insemination has resulted in decreasing pregnancy rates. Therefore the equine Breeding industry needs new methods for evaluation and development of sperm quality and fertility. This study is a part of such a project and is performed by SLU in cooperation with Flyinge AB. Ten stallions at the Flyinge National Stud were used in the study and three ejaculates were collected from each stallion.

Plagionotus detritus is a threatend longhorn beetle that only exists at one site in Sweden. It is saproxylic and depending on recently dead coarse oak wood for its larval development. Trees at Djurgården, Stockholm that have been colonized by Plagionotus detritus has been studied to find out the habitat preferences of the species and to see what affects the density of beetles in a tree. The bark of some trees and wood from the Breeding project at Nordens Ark has also been studied to find out what affects the species reproductive success. The reproductive success was measured in two ways, the larval mortality and the size of the hatching holes.

Maternal behaviour is crucial for the development of the rat pups? behaviour and stressresponses later in life. There are numerous studies evaluating the effects of the dams?behaviours on the pups, but not many addressing what can be made for wellbeing of the ratdams when Breeding. Few studies have addressed the question of how the commonly usedrearing environment effects the dams? behaviour and in the long run how it effect the ratsreared to become our research models.

The ability of a dog to perform some kind of practical work, for example hunting or herding, depends among other things on its behavioural characteristics. In animal Breeding it is not always easy though to select for behavioural traits. It may, for example, be difficult to identify traits that are not only heritable but also of importance for the dogs' ability to perform the practical work of interest. Moreover, it is often difficult to accomplish accurate measurements of behavioural traits. When selecting dogs for Breeding, it is usually preferable to evaluate them using an objective and standardized bahavioural test, rather than results from field trials.

This essay describes and compares the extensive reindeer management to the more intensive, but grazing based, sheep management system in Sweden. Differences and similarities between the two production systems will be investigated by elucidating the economy, land use and possibilities to influence production and economy through Breeding, feeding and product development. The reindeer management area covers the northern part of Sweden whilst the sheep management is dispersed over the country. Both reindeer and sheep are ruminants and have relatively high demands on the quality and digestibility of the feed however reindeers graze on mountain-and forest lands whilst sheep often graze inaccessible areas or cultivated grasslands. Selection intensity is generally lower in the reindeer management compared to the intensity in sheep Breeding.

The dairy cow?s ability to resume estrus after calving and to conceive is affected by their metabolic status after calving. For high yielding cows there is a high risk that the feed intake will not be sufficient to cope with the increased energy demands after calving, and the cow will end up in a state of negative energy balance. Energy balance can be measured in various ways, for example by body condition score or by plasma concentration of several metabolic hormones and metabolites. After calving, endocrine pathways stimulate tissue mobilization; insulin signaling is blocked, the concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and leptin decreases, and the concentration of growth hormone (GH) increases.

Many pedigree dogs are suffering from inherited diseases or personality disorders caused by selective Breeding. The Swedish lapphund is a breed that has been suffering from some loss of genetic variation due to the heavy use of only a few males. Concerns have arisen and crossBreeding has been discussed as a way to manage gene loss. Four breeds has been taken into consideration for this purpose; schipperke, finish lapphund, Norwegian buhund and Norwegian elkhound, black. These breeds has been tested theoretical by a comparison of mentality and health.

The Pallas cat is a small cat living in central Asia. The cat is approximately the size of a domestic cat but the Pallas cat is more stocky build and has a much thicker fur that enables the cat to live in a climate with temperatures plummeting to -50°C. The thick fur is one of the reasons this cat has been a popular game for hunters in the past. Nowadays there are other threats to the Pallas cat. One of the major threats today is the reduction of food sources.

This work describes the genus Helleborus both from a general point of view, and with individual descriptions of 17 species. The intention is not to make a complete description of the genus, but rather to give an overview and an introduction into the world of Helleborus. A separate chapter lists a few pests and diseases attacking the genus, followed by a brief summary of propagation methods and Breeding of the genus. Finally, there is a short discussion of thoughts about the genus and its future use..

Gene technology has become more and more attractive in plant Breeding during the last twenty years. This is probably because it can readily improve the existing commercial cultivars that have only one or a few drawbacks by modifying one or a few genes without changing the main genetic constitution. In this regard, gene technology is more effective than conventional Breeding.The aim of this project was to analyze the fruit quality of the non-transgenic apple scion ?Jonagold? grafted on non-transgenic and rolB-transgenic apple rootstocks. The rootstocks used were M9-rolB1, M9-rolB2, M26-rolB and non-transgenic controls M9 and M26.