Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals
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 stra...
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doaj-3f3d9b283915439d9db22d2ed8fb509e2020-11-25T03:47:58ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-09-01101717171710.3390/ani10091717Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm AnimalsGuoyu Hu0Duy Ngoc Do1Janine Gray2Younes Miar3Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, CanadaDepartment of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, CanadaDepartment of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, CanadaDepartment of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, CanadaDisease 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.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1717diseasesfarm animalsgenetic selectionhealth traits |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Guoyu Hu Duy Ngoc Do Janine Gray Younes Miar |
spellingShingle |
Guoyu Hu Duy Ngoc Do Janine Gray Younes Miar Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals Animals diseases farm animals genetic selection health traits |
author_facet |
Guoyu Hu Duy Ngoc Do Janine Gray Younes Miar |
author_sort |
Guoyu Hu |
title |
Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals |
title_short |
Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals |
title_full |
Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals |
title_fullStr |
Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals |
title_sort |
selection for favorable health traits: a potential approach to cope with diseases in farm animals |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Animals |
issn |
2076-2615 |
publishDate |
2020-09-01 |
description |
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. |
topic |
diseases farm animals genetic selection health traits |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1717 |
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