Reproductive capacityis controlled by a large number of factors such as season, social interactionsand metabolic status. However, the influence of emotional reactivity on reproductivesuccess has not been intensively investigated in farm animals. In this review,we define emotion reactivity and the expression of its inter individual variabilitynamed temperament. We briefly describe our protocol to measure temperament insheep and discuss the heritability of temperament traits. Using the resultsobtained from our flock of sheep selected for calm or nervous temperament, weillustrate how this selection affects the reproductive biology from changingthe inexperienced ewe's response to the male effect to improving lamb survivaland ovulation rate. We conclude that the mechanisms by which selection for temperamentaffects the different steps of the reproductive cycle are not yet understoodbut nevertheless this type of selection could have a great impact on reproductionefficiency of sheep and other domestic ruminants.
