Food securers or invasive aliens? Trends and consequences of non-native livestock introgression in developing countries

Abstract

Importation of livestock genetic resources from industrialized countries for introgression of specific traits and other forms of crossbreeding is often indicative of a shift in production systems toward greater intensification and specialization. In developing countries, imported genetic resources are regarded as both a solution to improve the performance of local livestock and as one of the main threats to local populations. Using international databases, censuses and technical reports, we investigate ongoing trends and consequences of these two phenomena in 40 countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. In these countries, the share of locally adapted breeds within species has decreased by an average of 0.76% per year over the last 20 years. The corresponding increase has been distributed between pure exotic breeds and crossbred animals, with differences across regions. In several countries, increased utilization of exotic cattle breeds and crossbreeding has been accompanied by a trend in increased milk yield per cow. The shift from local genetic resources to crossbred and exotic animals must be considered in the context of challenges such as food security, erosion of agrobiodiversity, interactions with other agricultural production, reduction of poverty and provision of ecosystem services, as well as resilience to and mitigation of climate change.

Breeding Soundness Inspection and Production Features of Bullocks under Ecological Conditions in Free State Region, South Africa

“…The findings of adaptability are in line with [52], who indicated that adapting feedlot cattle with incremental increases in dietary concentrate from approximately 55 to 90 % of diet dry matter in less than approximately 14 d, while allowing ad libitum access to feed, generally results in reduced performance during adaptation or over the entire feeding period [39] According to [53], genetic correlation between each of two performance traits and its corresponding progeny test traits was high in spite of the difference in feeding regime. The genetic correlation coefficient and standard error for performance test final weight and progeny test 15 months live weight was 0.90±0.08.…”

“…Climate studies have indicated that the arid and semi-arid areas are possible to experience an intensification in the severity and length of droughts as well as in increased temperatures. Therefore, it is recommended that under extreme weather conditions locally adapted breeds will have a competitive advantage over the exotic breeds [39]- [41] [37]. Temperature is one of the most crucial climatic parameters in cattle production as it determines the breeds adaptable to a particular region.…”

“…The average body temperature of cattle is 39.0°C with a minimum of 37.0 °C and maximum of 41.0 °C. According to [19], [39]- [41] any substantial deviation from standard maximum represents signs of poor inadaptability and/or poor health status, become hyperthemic with low growth rates and infertility. Previous studies have indicated that bull productiveness and semen quality is affected by management factors based on body conditions, environmental stresses and photoperiod [42].…”

Characterization of experimental cattle populations from Argentina with a low‐density SNP genotyping panel

“…One important conclusion of this work is the relevance of experimental herds in research stations as a reservoir of genetic variability, particularly in a context of global climate change and the consequent need of novel food production strategies (Leroy et al, 2020). The dissemination of a breed across private herds, increasing the size of the total population, does not warrant its genetic integrity and conservation.…”

Local Chickens Farming System Characteristics and Their Genetic Resources Management in Seno Province of Burkina Faso

“…In developing countries, specifically in Africa and Asia, animal productions rely primarily on local genetic resources (Leroy et al, 2020). In Burkina Faso, for example, local populations for different species were estimated to be over 99% in 2016 (Leroy et al, 2016).…”