Sustainable Breeding in Dairy Production: Balancing Welfare, Productivity and Profitability
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Cattle".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 December 2026 | Viewed by 458
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Balancing animal welfare, productivity, and profitability is a central challenge for the global dairy sector. This Special Issue focuses on how breeding strategies and genetic improvement can contribute to this balance and enhance long-term sustainability. It will compile innovative research and reviews that advance dairy cattle breeding beyond traditional output-focused metrics. We invite contributions that explore the genetic basis of traits directly or indirectly related to sustainability, such as health, fertility, robustness, feed efficiency, and environmental impact. Specifically, we encourage submissions on the application of genomic tools to select for improved welfare-associated traits (e.g., disease resistance, longevity), economic evaluations of multi-trait selection indices that incorporate sustainability goals, and ethical frameworks for defining breeding objectives. Ultimately, this Special Issue will foster a holistic dialogue on breeding more resilient and efficient dairy cattle, which can thrive within and support farming systems that are ethically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible.
Prof. Dr. Huili Wang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainable breeding
- dairy cattle
- animal welfare
- multi-omics
- multi-trait selection
- genomic selection
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