For example, they may provide more or better quality food, or allow farmers to feed more people. Selective breeding Selective breeding or artificial selection is when humans breed plants and animals for particular genetic characteristics.
Steps of selective breeding Selective breeding takes place over many generations. The main steps for both plants and animals involve: Deciding which characteristics are important enough to select. Choosing parents that show these characteristics from a mixed population. Breeding these parents together. Made possible because the systems for selective breeding were already well developed in dairy, and the widespread use of artificial insemination meant that new developments could be delivered quickly.
First introduced in the USA in , there has now been sufficient time to generate enough data to assess its impact. Read More Selective breeding of dairy cows is a major part of modern dairy farming. Farmers can select the bulls that they want to use to produce animals for their herd. One bull may sire thousands of daughter cows via highly developed systems for artificial insemination.
National information systems can be used to monitor threats to breeds caused by climate change or other pressures and develop predictive modelling and early warning systems. Governments can provide financial incentives for breeding and raising breeds that are more resilient to climate change, promote and support marketing of products derived from these breeds, and provide infrastructure supporting selective breed production. Government institutions should also consider importing new genetic stocks with greater resistance to high temperature, for example, should the adaptative capacity of the local gene pool be limited.
Knowledge of current climate impacts on livestock is important for the definition of desirable traits. Where available, climate change scenarios will facilitate planning processes by providing possible future impacts on livestock animals.
Livestock producers need to be trained to keep records, identify females on heat, identify key traits amongst animals, secure good quality water and feed for their livestock and build infrastructure for controlled mating. The implementing institution, or preferably the local community, must have a technician with good knowledge of the controlled mating process, capable of explaining it clearly to producers without encouraging them to reduce the number of animals they keep and recognising the need to create a nucleus of good quality livestock.
To apply this technology, mating pens made of adobe, stone or cattle mesh are required. Cattle mesh pens are the most expensive. Small animals can mate in wooden mating pens. Identification material such as ear tags and paint is required to monitor animals. It is also necessary to keep logbooks containing basic information on the livestock age, gender, colour , mating data dates, number, time , details of the offspring father, mother, colour and other basic data , animal culling, selling prices of meat, hides, dried meat, and fibre, among others.
There are knowledge gaps about how breeds react to conditions brought about by climate change. The FAO a; list many species and local breeds which are already adapted to high temperatures and harsh conditions, or are reported to be resistant or tolerant to various diseases. However, many of these reports are based on anecdotal evidence rather than scientific studies, and the underlying physiological and genetic mechanisms are not well understood.
This makes it difficult to predict climate change impacts or develop adaptation strategies for such production systems or breeds. Despite a lack of scientifically corroborated information, indigenous knowledge about livestock genetic diversity has been shown to provide an important knowledge base for selective breeding.
Integrating indigenous knowledge into selective breeding programmes is an opportunity for the development of low-cost, locally-appropriate strategies Moonga and Chitambo, Documentation of the indigenous knowledge of livestock keepers about animal breeds and breeding should be an integral part of the work of rural development projects, institutions and organisations because it can be a source of information about the existence of breeds that scientists have overlooked and which may have unrecognised advantages and potential.
Investments in science and technology for developing new breeds and genetic types also present an opportunity for larger-scale interventions where funding is available IFAD, Connecting countries to climate technology solutions. Toggle navigation. Breadcrumb Home. Selective breeding via controlled mating Objective:.
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