Adapting the feed, the animal and the feeding techniques to improve the efficiency and sustainability of monogastric livestock production systems
Abstract
Objectives. Selection in monogastric species is applied to pure lines in selection farms, while commercial animals are crossbreds raised in diverse conditions. Improving feed efficiency in these populations is a key to enhance the productivity and limit the environmental footprint of livestock production. However, recording feed efficiency is costly in most species because it requires measuring feed intake, and this trait is affected by genotype by environment interactions (GxE) that makes it a different trait in selection and commercial populations. Major gains in genetic progress could thus be achieved if more animals had records for feed intake or feed efficiency, and if these measurements could be obtained from any farm. Identifying new traits for selection of feed efficiency is thus crucial to improve the prediction accuracy of breeding values in livestock populations. Depending on the species, measuring feed efficiency on-farm is a difficult issue: individual feeders for pigs have been available on-farm for long. They are costly to acquire and maintain, but at least they provide reference measurements in most populations. Poultry and rabbits still rely on measurements made in individual cages. This type of measurement is not representative for the performance of animals raised in groups, and is questioned in terms of welfare. Thus, our objectives were: 1. To test direct measures of feed intake and feed efficiency for genetic designs after the development of electronic feeders in WP2 for rabbits 2. To evaluate measures of components of feed efficiency (i.e., digestibility, activity and behaviour, robustness), which could be used to select more efficiently individuals dedicated to different breeding conditions when GxE is large. A major effort was undertaken to understand the contribution of the gut microbiota to feed efficiency and its potential as a criterion for selection, which is reported in a separate deliverable (D5.1) 3. To identify biological markers of feed efficiency and their components that could be measured on a large number of individuals at a moderate cost, potentially on production farms, so that selection accuracy for production conditions could be improved.
Domains
Life Sciences [q-bio]
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Feed-a-Gene_D5.2_New_traits_to_select_for_feed_efficiency_.pdf (2.85 Mo)
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