Seasonal breeding in mammals: from basic science to applications and back

Proceedings of the 18th ICAR, 26-30 June 2016, Tours, FranceSeasonal breeding is a remarkable adaptive feature, which allows animals to coordinate physiological functions throughout the year. However, in the context of animal production it becomes an undesirable complication, which needs to be circumvented. Therefore, eco-friendly methods based on photoperiodic treatments and the use of the male effect have been developed in order to control reproduction in small ruminants. In practice such treatments are seldom used and hormonal treatments constitute the benchmark; but practicality of hormonal treatments comes at a high cost for human health and the environment. Here, we summarize our current understanding of the molecular and neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying seasonal breeding in small ruminants. We then move on to describe current methods to control reproduction and detail why such methods are not sustainable. Finally, using the neuropeptide Kisspeptin as an example, we show that an improved understanding of the molecular and neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlie photoperiodism might help design novel strategies for the development of improved and sustainable breeding schemes