Breeding Strategies for Weather Resilience in Small Ruminants in Atlantic and Mediterranean Climates

Abstract

Many efforts are being made to cope with negative consequences of climate change (CC) on livestock. Among them, selective breeding of resilient animals to CC is presented as an opportunity to maintain high levels of performance regardless of variation in weather. In the present work, we proposed a set of breeding strategies to improve weather resilience in dairy goats raised in north-western European Atlantic conditions and dairy sheep raised in Mediterranean conditions while improving production efficiency at the same time. Breeding strategies differed in the selection emphasis placed on resilience traits, ranging from 0 to 40% in the index. Simulations were carried out mimicking real breeding programs including: milk yield, length of productive life, age at first kidding and mastitis incidence in dairy goats and milk, fat and protein yields, and fertility for dairy sheep. Considering the particular climatic conditions in the two regions, the predicted future climate scenarios, and genetic correlations among breeding objectives, resilience was defined as stability to weather changes for dairy goats and as the ability to improve performance under heat stress for dairy sheep. A strategy giving a selection weight of 10 and 20% for goat and sheep resilience, respectively, resulted in the best overall genetic response in terms of both, production and resilience ability. Not considering resilience in breeding programs could lead to a major production loss in future climate scenarios, whereas putting too much emphasis on resilience would result in a limited progress in milk production.

Relationship between Vaccine Application and Climate Factors in Sheep and Goat Farms in Greece

“…In general, indigenous breeds of sheep and goats are considered to be less susceptible to disease threats than many mainstream, high-production breeds [25,26], and relevant findings have also been reported regarding Greek breeds [27,28]. Moreover, indigenous breeds of sheep and goats are considered to be more tolerant to adverse weather conditions; previous studies have reported genetic differences in adaptation to temperature stress and, thus, resilience to extreme temperatures [29,30], which are mediated through a complex network of genes [31,32]. In general, local breeds of small ruminants (or their crosses) are believed to have better tolerance to local climate conditions than imported breeds, and relevant findings have been published from work performed in various areas internationally, e.g., Africa [33], Brazil [34] and India [35].…”

Identification of Selection Signals on the X-Chromosome in East Adriatic Sheep: A New Complementary Approach

“…Despite the preference for dual milk and meat production, the genomic composition of EAS is largely modified according to environmental adaptation and sustainable production, since intensive artificial selection has never been practiced. Like many other native Mediterranean breeds ( Ramón et al, 2021 ), EAS are characterised by high resilience to sudden climatic changes (e.g., sudden temperature changes, resistance to strong winds, and endurance to long periods of drought) and low nutrient requirements (ability to live on the barren karst pastures). In contrast to random stochastic changes (genetic drift), adaptation is usually a process characterised by systematic directional changes in gene frequencies at a few or numerous loci, ending with the fixation of favourable alleles and a decrease in variation at neighbouring loci.…”