Today in Sweden, apples are mostly cultivated for direct consumption, i.e. dessert apples. Apple breeding aims at developing cultivars with new and improved qualities in order to meet the demands of different target groups and to increase the interest in apples on the market. Different target groups have different views on the qualities of an apple. The consumer, for instance, wants an apple that is tasty and beautiful, while the grower, in addition, wants an apple cultivar that is healthy, has good winter hardiness and a predictable, annual productivity.

Tolerance and resistance are two different defence mechanisms within the immune system that differ from each other in many ways: However it is not clear which of the two is the most advantageous in dairy production. Resistance is described as the ability to fight a pathogen in a host. Tolerance is, on the other hand, not aggressive to the pathogen per se, but rather protects the host and its tissues. Furthermore tolerance rather offsets the toxin from, for example, a parasite whilst resistance offsets the parasite itself. Resistance is however disease specific, which means breeding for a large number of diseases is needed in order to make resistance worth the cost for the host.

This thesis describes the genus Hemerocallis, the trading with daylily from hybridizer to seller with emphasis on the Swedish market. The first part describes the daylilies biology its botany, breeding, production, pests and diseases. Also the tobacco ringspot nepovirus recently confirmed in Sweden is described. Since the breeding of daylily is mainly done in Florida topics like hardiness and influence of the climate are included. The first part is mainly based on literature studies, but also interviews with growers and breeders from Sweden, USA, Holland and Germany.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a significant vector-borne zoonotic pathogen, causing devastating encephalitis in humans. Its geographical range includes a majority of Asian countries and has also been recognized in some western Pacific areas. The main vectors of JEV are mosquitoes belonging to the genus Culex. Birds and pigs function as hosts and virus amplifiers, whereas humans are accidental hosts. Japanese encephalitis is commonly regarded as a rural disease.

The heterosis effect and breed group effect of crossbreds between Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SRB) was estimated in this study. Observations on cows born between 1990 and 2012 were used to estimate the heterosis effect and breed group effect for several traits included in the Nordic breeding goals: production, fertility, udder health, calving performance, survival and other diseases. Breeding within the Holstein dairy breed has earlier been focused on increased milk production and conformation. This, combined with an intensive use of individual animals, has resulted in a radical increase of milk yield in the Holstein dairy cow population all over the world. However, this breeding strategy has resulted in increased inbreeding and several functional traits have impaired.

Sweden signed, in 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and has thus assumed responsibility for the indigenous biodiversity. That also means that Sweden has a conservation responsibility for the Swedish Friesian (SLB) (SJV, 2007a). In a survey conducted by the Board of Agriculture (SJV) in 1996, it appeared that there were around 780 cows and heifers of the SLB breed (SJV, 1997). SJV did in 2006 a plan for the development of livestock genet-ic resources and the number of cows of SLB was estimated at approximately 200. This meant that the SLB was in need of being conserved and SJV assumed it would be categorized as threatened.The primary objective of conservation of a breed is to reduce the loss of the original genetic variation (Lacy et al., 1995).

VikingGenetics is one of the world's largest breeding companies. 2008 was launched two new products, X-Vik and GenVik. Now VikingGenetics want to get information about the effects of the marketing. We have investigated the differences in knowledge and use of the products between different livestock associations, size of herd and farmers' breeding interests. The method used was by sending out a questionnaire by mail.

The use of artificial insemination (A.I.) as an alternative to normal mating in dog breeding in Sweden are controlled by regulations from the Swedish Board of Agriculture and by ethical rules assigned by the Swedish Kennel Club. Only veterinarians, who have a specific certificate and are specially trained and educated, are allowed to perform inseminations in dogs. Each artificial insemination must be documented and reported to the Swedish Kennel Club (SKK) which, on the behalf of the Swedish Board of Agriculture, yearly presents statistics concerning the use of A.I. in Sweden. The objective of this study was to illustrate the use of artificial insemination in dog breeding in Sweden for the last decade, using the yearly reports from the Kennel Club during the period of 1995 to 2004.

Sweden signed, in 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and has thus assumed responsibility for the indigenous biodiversity. That also means that Sweden has a conservation responsibility for the Swedish Friesian (SLB) (SJV, 2007a). In a survey conducted by the Board of Agriculture (SJV) in 1996, it appeared that there were around 780 cows and heifers of the SLB breed (SJV, 1997). SJV did in 2006 a plan for the development of livestock genet-ic resources and the number of cows of SLB was estimated at approximately 200. This meant that the SLB was in need of being conserved and SJV assumed it would be categorized as threatened.The primary objective of conservation of a breed is to reduce the loss of the original genetic variation (Lacy et al., 1995).

Cardiomyopathy is the most common type of cardiac disease in the cat. Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is comparably uncommon and only a few studies have been conducted in this disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the presence and inheritance pattern of RCM in a family of Birman cats. The family comprised 177 known cats. 107 of these cats were examined by echocardiography, 23 of the cats died/were euthanized and a diagnosis could be established post mortem.

In Swedish sheep industry it is desired to have lambs slaughtered evenly distributed over the year. Swedish sheep are generally seasonal breeders with lambs born in the spring and slaughtered in the autumn. Some of the breeds, e.g. Swedish Finewool and Roslag sheep breeds have shown ability to lamb out of season. For increased knowledge on the possibilities to breed for out-of-season lambing in Swedish sheep breeds, the aim of this master thesis is to study the variation in frequency of two alleles in the MTNR1A gene in the three breeds; Gotland, Swedish Finewool, and Roslag sheep.

Animal welfare is of increasing concern in present society. In commercial pig farming, animal welfare problems are common. One of the causes for these problems is the barren environment in which pigs are housed, which can cause oral manipulation of pen mates. Providing straw might be one solution to this problem. Another solution could be reached through genetic selection.

Relationship between social behaviour, feeding behaviour and performance of boars using single-space feeders A study on the behavioural patterns of growing boars is presented. The study was preformed at Quality Genetics? boar testing station Månseryd in Sweden. The boars were purebred Yorkshire, Hampshire or Landrace, born in nine different nucleus farms. The study is based on two batches of boars, with 63 and 69 boars respectively.

Ethiopia is the country with most livestock per capita on the continent of Africa. There are 34.5 million cattle that are used for drought, meat- and milkproduction and 85% of the population rely on agriculture for their survival in some way. Milk is produced in four main systems, through pastoralism in the lowlands, in mixed crop-livestock systems in the highlands, in and near big cities with only one or two cows, and in intensive farming systems. There are 17 cattle breeds in Ethiopia and some of them are more suitable for milk production than others. Several environmental and economic problems arise from livestock holding in the country, for example overgrazing, low production due to feed shortage, low quality of the avaible feed and non-existing breeding programs.

Background The Shetland Sheepdog is a popular breed of dogs in Sweden. The breed is mostly used as a companion dog and is also popular within certain dog sports such as agility. The Shetland Sheepdog is not included in any breeding programs regarding joint health. The animal insurance company, Agria had recently informed the Swedish Shetland Sheepdog Club (SSSK) that they had noted an increasing number of arthritis in the elbow joints, therefore they wanted to exclude elbow joints from the insurance until SSSK started a breeding program against elbow dysplasia. After the start of this study Agria withdrew their demand, but the study went on as planned. Aims of this study The aims of this study was to investigate if there is any data that may show if there is a larger or smaller reason than before to suspect that the breed has a problem with elbow dysplasia and therefore would benefit from a breeding program regarding this.