Special Issue "Modeling Genotype by Environment Interaction for Precision Farming and Improved Animal Welfare"
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: genomic selection; genotyping strategies; genotype by environment interaction; meat quality; selection index
Interests: livestock genomics; quantitative genetics; physiological genomics; behavior; welfare; resilience; small ruminants; cattle; pigs; environmental efficiency
Interests: genomic selection; genotype-by-environment interaction; heat stress; genomic prediction; genetics of disease resistance
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Livestock genetic improvement is experiencing a new phase of increased relevance, where novel traits, sophisticated statistical methods and high-throughput technologies are constantly being proposed or refined. Such advancements are resulting in faster rates of genetic progress compared to the pre-genomics era. The large majority of livestock breeding programs have primarily focused on productive traits, but more recently, worldwide selection indexes are being refined to incorporate indicators of reproductive performance, animal resilience, adaptation to changing environments, and health traits. Meanwhile, agriculture in general is moving to data-based decision making, where a wealth of data and heavy use of computational tools are employed every day for planning, monitoring, and managing livestock production and breeding.
Large datasets were necessary for performing genetic improvement of livestock before they became popular for decision making on other contexts of production. Now, genetic improvement is moving towards the incorporation of large and comprehensive datasets, that include phenotypic, genomic, physiological and environmental variables into statistical genomic models. This expansion in tools available happens contemporarily to the raising importance of welfare traits as breeding goals, driven by market demand and its increased economic importance (e.g. heat stress tolerance). The evaluation of animal welfare involves a complete assessment of the animal’s physiological, behavioral, physical, and emotional state. Therefore, animal welfare cannot be reduced to a single trait, but is composed of a wide spectrum of variables, which are probably determined by interactions between the genotype and environmental effects. Precision livestock farming and selection for animal welfare show an inherent advantage of including genotype by environment interactions. This involves scouting for new data sources (e.g. sensors), testing or refining statistical models (e.g. machine learning), unravelling genomic regions associated with such interactions, and engaging livestock industry stakeholders about the potential of these new methods and approaches (e.g. interactive selection index composition).
We invite original research papers, literature reviews and technical notes that address the topic of selection for novel and innovative traits incorporating the modelling of genotype by environment interactions. List of topics includes, but is not limited to: use of sensors in measuring phenotypes or determining condition, selection and genomic basis of tolerance to thermal stress, modelling of longitudinal data, behavioral genomics, and genetic by environment interaction in the determination of relevant breeding goals and product quality traits. Papers having any livestock species as subject are welcome.
Prof. Francesco Tiezzi
Prof. Luiz F. Brito
Prof. Breno Fragomeni
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 papers will be 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 monthly 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 1800 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
- Genomic selection
- Genotype by environment interaction
- Heat tolerance
- Animal welfare
- Precision livestock farming
- Animal resilience
- Longitudinal data
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
1. Genotype by environment interaction for test-day milk yield in sheep recorded in farmers’ field and at breeding stations in Ethiopia, by stage of lactation and various proportions of Awassi
W. G. Haile1,2, *, G. Klemetsdal1, S. Banerjee3, A. Ayele4, T. Mestawet2, and T. Ådnøy1
1. Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, N-1432, Norway.
2. School of Animal and Range Sciences, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, P.O. Box 5, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
3. College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Mansarovar Global University (Mansarovar Group of Institutions), Bhopal, India.
4. Debre-Berhan agricultural research centre (DBARC), Agricultural research institute, Amhara regional state, Debre-Berhan, Ethiopia.
*Correspondence: [email protected] or [email protected]
Abstract: Genotype by environment (G x E) interactions were evaluated by studying contrasts between test-day milk yield (TDMY) in breeding centres’ environment (BE) compared to farmers’ environment (FE), for combinations of similar breed proportions of Awassi and stages of lactation. A total of 1506 TDMY records from 326 ewes were analysed: The records were made at different stages of lactation and parities, from the two environments during 2015 to 2017, with ewes having the sex of their lambs recorded. To be able to get information from a limited data set, a univariate repeatability model was fitted within each environment with Legendre polynomial (LP) coefficients (3rd order) for both days in milk (DIM) and % Awassi describing fitted TDMY planes for the two environments. Over a 120 DIM, none of the genetic groups (based on % Awassi) showed significant differences in estimated contrasts for average TDMY between the two environments. This implies that genetic superiority at breeding centres will in large be realised in the farmers’ environment. With the lower % Awassi groups a significant TDMY increase was found for the stations’ environments, but not for the highest, >50 - 75% Awassi, genetic group. This G x E interaction implies that it is the high % Awassi (>50 - 75%) ewes that appear to be robust. The significant interaction in early lactation, being mostly physiological, will be avoided for most animals with the current regime for dissemination of rams that are either 50% or 75% Awassi.