Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock

Livestock and crop improvement has long relied on selecting individuals with desirable traits, but modern genomic tools now allow breeders to predict an animal's or plant's genetic value from DNA markers alone, without waiting for the trait to fully express. Quantitative genetics provides the mathematical framework for understanding how thousands of small-effect variants collectively shape complex traits like milk yield, disease resistance, or drought tolerance, while genome-wide association studies help pinpoint which regions of the genome matter most. A central challenge is improving the accuracy of these predictions across diverse populations and breeds, where historical selection, genetic drift, and domestication have shaped patterns of variation in ways that can either help or confound genomic models. Ongoing work is examining how to integrate genomic selection with genomic editing, how to preserve genetic diversity while pursuing rapid improvement, and how findings in well-resourced cattle or wheat programs can transfer to understudied species and smallholder farming systems.

Works

172,639

Total citations

1,867,878

Keywords

Genomic SelectionPlant BreedingAnimal BreedingGenetic Value PredictionMarker-Assisted SelectionQuantitative Genetics