Seasonal 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 to control seasonal reproduction in small ruminants. In practice, such treatments are hardly 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.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 November 2022.
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#8,887,050
of 26,237,895 outputs
Outputs from Theriogenology
#550
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Outputs of similar age
#115,834
of 315,492 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Theriogenology
#9
of 89 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,237,895 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,270 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 315,492 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 89 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 79% of its contemporaries.
