Livestock Improvement

Evolution of Livestock Improvement

Since the first domestication of livestock, people have been attempting to alter specific traits in animals that we deem to be desirable for various reasons. In doing, so we have been indirectly altering the genetic makeup of these species by selecting and breeding animals with specific traits, and therefore, particular genetic make-ups related to these traits. This initial form of genetic impr...

Genetic Engineering of Livestock Improvement

Is Continued Genetic Improvement of Livestock Sustainable?

Large genetic improvements in the quantitative traits of growth, production, and efficiency of farmed livestock have been made over recent decades, and by introduction of genomic technology these are being enhanced. Such continued improvement requires that there be available variation to utilize. The evidence is that little variation has been lost and such rates are indeed sustainable in the fu...

Epigenetic marks: regulators of livestock phenotypes and conceivable sources of missing variation in livestock improvement programs

Improvement in animal productivity has been achieved over the years through careful breeding and selection programs. Today, variations in the genome are gaining increasing importance in livestock improvement strategies. Genomic information alone, however, explains only a part of the phenotypic variance in traits. It is likely that a portion of the unaccounted variance is embedded in the epigeno...

Selection within and across populations in livestock improvement.

Genetic evaluations within and across populations (countries, breeds, herds) allow ranking on estimated genetic merit and selecting breeding individuals across populations. Selection within and across populations (combined selection) should by definition always be as good as, or better than, within-population selection, the limiting case. The advantage depends on the sizes of the populations, t...