Special Issue "Effect of Genetic and Nongenetic Factors on Functional and Milk Production Traits in Livestock"
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 June 2023) | Viewed by 5781
Special Issue Editors
Interests: quantitative genetics; genetics of heat stress; genomic selection; genome-wide association study; genotype x environment interaction
Interests: bovine health; genome-wide association study; genetics of diseases; infectious diseases; milk indicator traits; quantitative genetics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Over the last several decades, intensive genetic selection for increased milk yield has led to health and fertility problems, since functional traits such as health, longevity and fertility have unfavorable genetic relationships with production traits. In addition, the environment in which dairy farming is practiced varies considerably. Accordingly, susceptibility to environmental challenges such as heat stress and infectious diseases has also been gaining in importance in animal breeding. More importantly, genotype × environment interaction exists when the capacity to alter the phenotype in response to changes in the environment differs among animals.
Understanding the nature of the genetic associations between production, health and fertility traits considering nongenetic factors (e.g., production systems, regions and weather conditions) is essential to optimize the genetic selection in livestock. Several phenotypes derived from milk (e.g., somatic cell count, casein, lactose, β-hydroxybutyrate, and saturated and unsaturated fatty acids) are very useful as indicator traits to improve functional traits. On the other hand, recent advancements in genomic tools offer new opportunities for animal breeders to incorporate functional traits along with milk production traits. In the context of genomic studies, areas fruitful for genetic improvement of dairy productivity also include genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and post-GWAS analyses with a growing emphasis on the role of gene × environment interaction. Such studies identify genomic regions and candidate genes for functional and milk production traits.
This Special Issue aims to present original research (analyzing field data or simulation studies) or reviews related to genetic and environmental factors affecting livestock performance, with particular focus on health and milk production traits.
It is a great pleasure to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue.
Dr. Mehdi Bohlouli
Dr. Katharina May
Guest Editors
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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 2000 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
- candidate gene
- disease
- farm management
- functional traits
- genomic region
- genomic selection
- animal health
- milk production
- cattle
- goat
- sheep