Enhancing animal phenotyping for improved productivity and resilience

Animal production is facing several challenges hampering productivity amid the significant increase in human population and demand for animal source food particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events can lead to heat stress, reduced feed quality, increased water scarcity, and the spread of diseases. These factors can significantly impact animal health, productivity, and welfare, resulting in lower yields of meat and milk. To mitigate these challenges, selection and breeding of productive and (climate-) resilient livestock is crucial. By focusing on animals that can maintain their productivity, health, and well-being under changing and extreme climatic conditions, a more sustainable and resilient livestock sector can be ensured. This can be achieved through selection and improvement of both production traits (e.g. meat, milk and egg yield) and resilient traits such as heat tolerance, metabolic efficiency, resistance to diseases and other animal health traits. For the different production systems, a consortium of traits, therefore, needs to be identified and used in the selection of such robust and resilient animals. However, in most LMIC, phenotyping for either production or resilience traits is a major constraint. Most of these extensive production systems are characterised by limited to no records of animal performance coupled by limited capacity to systematically collect this information. This CRP intents to investigate nuclear and related technologies that can be used to generate the relevant phenotype data and facilitate selection and breeding for improved productivity and resilience. This CRP aims to (i) establish the consortium of traits for selection of productive and climate resilient animals and (ii) optimise and validate nuclear and related techniques for phenotyping of these production and resilient traits in livestock.
Metabolic productivity plays a relevant role in identifying and promoting climate-resilient animals, as those with higher metabolic efficiency are better equipped to convert feed into energy and growth, enabling them to cope with environmental stressors and maintain production. Methane emissions, a byproduct of ruminant digestion, can serve as an indicator of metabolic efficiency. Animals that produce more methane per unit of feed consumed generally have lower feed conversion efficiency. Recently studies on the microbiome have demonstrated its role in the animal’s productivity, health and resilience. Non-destructive phenotyping plays a crucial role in livestock improvement programs, offering a way to assess traits like meat yield and carcass quality without harming the animals. Techniques like near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS), DEXA imaging, and ultrasound are used to predict these traits, enabling breeders to make informed decisions about which animals to select for breeding. The project will run for five years and will involve 7 Research Contract (RC) holders from developing countries, 3 Technical Contract (TC) holders and 2 Research Agreement (RA) holders.
Submit Proposal for Research Contract or Agreement directly to the IAEA’s Research Contracts Administration Section, using the form templates (<a href='http://cra.iaea.org/cra/forms.html'>http://cra.iaea.org/cra/forms.html<…;) on the CRA web site (preferably via email): research.contracts@iaea.org. The CRP proposal must reach the Research Contracts Administration Section on or before XX by close of business.