title: Seasonal breeding in mammals: From basic science to applications and back.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France. Electronic address: hugues.dardente@tours.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Hugues
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dardente
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lomet
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decourt
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beltramo
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR85, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France; CNRS, UMR7247, Nouzilly, France; Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; IFCE, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: Maria-Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pellicer-Rubio
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology*; D017440:Photoperiod; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012621:Seasons
keywords: GnRH; Kisspeptin; Melatonin; Pars tuberalis; Photoperiodism; RFRP3