Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals.

Guoyu Hu,Janine Gray,Duy Ngoc Do,Younes Miar

doi:10.3390/ani10091717

Guoyu Hu, Janine Gray + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091717

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Abstract

Simple SummaryThe losses caused by the outbreak of diseases are disastrous for the animal farming industries. There is an urgent need for an efficient, economical, and permanent disease control method to cope with the adverse effects of diseases in farm animals. In this review, we have proposed that genetic/genomic selection for animals with favorable health traits provide potential methods to eliminate the adverse influences of diseases in farm animals. It is undeniable that the traditional methods for disease control (e.g., vaccination, treatment, and eradication strategy) and several other rising disease control and detection methods (e.g., genome editing, biosensor, and probiotics) are contributing to the prevention of diseases from farm animals, curing infected animals, and detecting sick individuals; however, the limitations and deficiencies of these methods cannot be ignored. Although genetic/genomic selection solutions are facing some challenges, the developments of selection-associated techniques (e.g., high throughput phenotyping and sequencing, and generation of big data) and the advantages of selection over the other disease control methods can provide animal farming industries the ability to cope with the issues caused by diseases through breeding for health traits.Disease is a global problem for animal farming industries causing tremendous economic losses (>USD 220 billion over the last decade) and serious animal welfare issues. The limitations and deficiencies of current non-selection disease control methods (e.g., vaccination, treatment, eradication strategy, genome editing, and probiotics) make it difficult to effectively, economically, and permanently eliminate the adverse influences of disease in the farm animals. These limitations and deficiencies drive animal breeders to be more concerned and committed to dealing with health problems in farm animals by selecting animals with favorable health traits. Both genetic selection and genomic selection contribute to improving the health of farm animals by selecting certain health traits (e.g., disease tolerance, disease resistance, and immune response), although both of them face some challenges. The objective of this review was to comprehensively review the potential of selecting health traits in coping with issues caused by diseases in farm animals. Within this review, we highlighted that selecting health traits can be applied as a method of disease control to help animal agriculture industries to cope with the adverse influences caused by diseases in farm animals. Certainly, the genetic/genomic selection solution cannot solve all the disease problems in farm animals. Therefore, management, vaccination, culling, medical treatment, and other measures must accompany selection solution to reduce the adverse impact of farm animal diseases on profitability and animal welfare.

Highlights

Disease control is a global challenge for livestock industries and farmers, as diseases bring tremendous economic losses to farm animal production systems
Selecting favorable health traits to cope with diseases in farm animals has increasingly become an attractive focus of animal farming industries
Given some limitations and deficiencies of current non-selection disease control methods and the advantages of genetic selection over the other methods, breeding for health traits is a promising solution for the sustainable development of livestock farming

Summary

Introduction

Disease control is a global challenge for livestock industries and farmers, as diseases bring tremendous economic losses to farm animal production systems. The animal farming systems in both developed and developing countries are suffering economically from different infectious diseases. Direct economic losses from the outbreaks of disease can account for up to 20% of the revenue in developed countries and up to 50% of the revenue within the livestock sector of the developing world [1]. All farm animal production systems are vulnerable to disease. Many diseases, such as bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), Johne’s disease, and bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC). Finding the effective solutions to combat diseases has become a top priority for all livestock industries

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