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Breeding for climate-friendly livestock
In the Netherlands, 75% of all methane that is emitted into the atmosphere in agriculture comes from ruminants. Breeding more climate-friendly cattle can help farmers to cost-effectively reduce emissions, which would result in long-term effects.
"Identifying animals with genetic predisposition for lower methane output and using them to breed for the next generations is a reliable, cost-effective, accumulative, and permanent method for transforming livestock impact on the environment," says Roel Veerkamp, head of the Animal Breeding and Genomics department of Wageningen Livestock Research. "The results of Anouk van Breukelen's PhD thesis show that genetic variation exists in methane emission and genetic selection can be an effective mitigation tool."
Sharing data and exploring possibilities
In the European project Re-Livestock, Wageningen University & Research, Animal Breeding and Genomics (WUR-ABG) is leading across-country analysis to accelerate genetic progress in methane mitigation by estimating the genetic correlations between methane traits in various countries.
First results suggest that methane phenotypes from different countries can be combined and genetic selection to reduce methane emissions is possible. Successful breeding programs require large datasets of individual animal measurements, which cannot be generated by any EU country working alone. Hence, it is important to collaborate and share and combine datasets.
Global Methane Genetics Programme
Accurate breeding values for lower methane emissions require large reference populations with several thousands of phenotyped animals. The Global Methane Genetics Program will develop a global database to enhance and facilitate easy and fair data sharing and utilisation across countries.