摘要：This study has examined the structure and function of the biliverdin reductase A (BLVRA) gene and its correlation with the green eggshell character in Jinyun ducks. The previously unknown sequences of 3' and 5' ends of duck BLVRA mRNA were cloned, using RT-PCR and 5' RACE methods with four pairs of primers designed from the known coding sequence (CDS) of the duck BLVRA gene. Gene expression levels of BLVRA in the shell gland were quantified by real-time PCR, and eggshell colors were determined objectively by the reflection coefficient. The cDNA sequence of BLVRA was comprised of 1071 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 303 amino acids with an isoelectric point of 7.15 and molecular weight of 34.3 kDa. The 5' and 3' ends of the duck BLVRA gene sequence published in the GenBank were extended by 238 and 199 bp, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence of duck BLVRA had 95.3% identity with Gallus gallus, 95.0% with Taeniopygia guttata, 70.0% with Xenopus tropicalis,61.1% with Bos taurus, 60.5% with Homo sapiens and 59.5% with Mus musculus, which indicated that the BLVRA gene was evolutionarily conserved. The relative gene expression level of BLVRA in shell glands of Jinyun ducks with white eggshells was 3 times higher than that in ducks with dark green eggshells (P<0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between reflection coefficient of eggshells and the relative expression of the BLVRA gene (r=0.719, P<0.05). Together, these findings suggest that the BLVRA gene could be a candidate gene for the molecule breeding of ducks with green eggshells.

摘要：ln this research, the whole contact-type large-scale sow house with fer-mentation bed was designed. The planning area of the entire piggery was 5 700 m2 with workplace and green belts. The sow house was 93 m long and 33 m wide, a total of 3 069 m2, including office area of 60 m2 and aisle area of 107 m2. The fer-mentation bed had an area of 2 902 m2 with length of 88.7 m and width of 27.7 m. lts area accounted for 95% of the total area of sow house. The fermentation mattress had a depth of 80 cm, and had a volume of 2 321 m3, equivalent to 733 t of coconut chaff and rice chaff. On a large fermentation bed, the areas for boars, replacement gilts, pregnant sows, obstetric tables, nursery pigs, etc. were designed. The large-scale sow house with fermentation bed was equipped with the automatic feeding system, automatic sprinkler system, automatic positioning column for preg-nant sows, sows＇ obstetric table system, fanning wet curtain cooling system, video monitoring system, environmental monitoring （light, temperature, water, humidity, CO2, NH3） and automatic control system. Every farming area was equipped with feeding trough and water trough. The water though was fixed with overflow pipe for removing the extra water. The house could hold 500-head sows. Each sow occu-pied 4.9 m2 of the fermentation bed in average. The designed sow house had a maximum annual output of 10 000 piglets.