ABG narrative

ABG support people involved in animal breeding by means of education, fundamental and applied research, training, and consultancy. Our focus is on farmed production animals, like cattle, pigs, poultry, and fish. However, our expertise also applies to any species with controlled or monitored breeding, such as companion animals and zoo populations. Animal breeding aims for vital future generations, suitable for keeping animals in sustainable ways. With the inevitable changes in living environments selective breeding, thus, has a crucial role to play as populations need to adapt to these changing environments.

In the wild, survival of the fittest selects those individuals which are best adapted to the environment in which they live. This allows wildlife populations to evolve and adapt to a changing world. Thousands of years ago humans started to domesticate species. This process dramatically changed the living environment of these animals. Those individuals that thrived in captivity were deemed the fittest to breed the next generation. In this way man gradually changed the genetic make-up of domesticated species. Darwin (1859) describes selective breeding, as practiced by farmers, as follows:

Initially, local breeding schemes generated a wide range of breeds worldwide, which were diverse in appearance, adaptation, and performance. Subsequently, selective breeding became one of the driving forces behind modern farming systems. At first, these changes were driven by a deep urge to prevent hunger, especially after WWII. Therefore, in the last century, selective breeding had a strong emphasis on improving characteristics of animals related to production. This breeding goal only favoured a few breeds, and the original breeds became cultural heritage. In some cases, this selective breeding on characteristics related to production resulted in undesirable changes in other characteristics. In response, breeding goals were expanded, as data collection advanced and novel methods were developed. Nowadays, breeding goals aim at simultaneous improvement of a wide range of characteristics, including fertility, health, welfare, resilience, and environmental impact. Some of these characteristics may still be present in the cultural heritage breeds, and thus these small populations need to be conserved and utilized carefully. Fields of quantitative genetics, genomics and statistics continued to develop. These developments greatly improved possibilities of selective breeding, while maintaining a vital population through controlling rates of inbreeding and sustaining biodiversity.

Today, our world is faced with many challenges. They include providing a fast-growing global population with safe and healthy food, coping with climate change, and creating a healthy living environment for current and future generations. At the same time, societies differ in how they value animals. This means that we face the challenge to produce sufficient food of high quality in farming systems acceptable to a range of societies. Animal breeding shapes future generations to fit in evolving systems across the world, so it is an essential part of solutions to achieve this security of acceptable food products. Selective breeding and developing sustainable livestock systems go hand in hand. Animal populations that fit in these sustainable systems have a small environmental impact, can behave naturally and are well-prepared for pathogens permanently present in their environment. Diversity of breeds and genetic variation within the population are an asset to look after carefully for tomorrow’s solutions. To achieve this goal, we combine traditional selection methods with innovative tools. Big data, sensors, organoids, genomics and artificial intelligence are examples of key technologies that can help to improve our biological understanding of desired characteristics and implement new breeding goals to shape future generations of animals. For some of these key technologies we are in the forefront of scientific development worldwide.

Enabling people to support, maintain and improve animal populations is the core business of ABG. A wide range of scientific domains contribute to ABG. In addition, we look outside ABG for opportunities and innovations from other knowledge domains. Our fundamental research provides insight in evolution and biodiversity. We train students from all parts of the world in different aspects of animal breeding. With our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) we reach out to thousands of students and professionals across the world. We share our expertise through scientific publications in international refereed journals. Through established relationships with international commercial companies, we support practice to implement new scientific insights and tools in breeding programmes.

To conclude, animal breeding and genomics is a powerful scientific discipline with a global impact. It supports breeding programs in making small permanent steps repeatedly. It contributes to resolving global challenges directly, and indirectly through suitability for sustainable ways of keeping animals. As ABG, we educate, train, advise, facilitate, and support people for this purpose. We believe that people who know what to do, show how to do it and take the lead in doing it, will make the difference for breeding animals that are suitable for future livestock systems, in whichever direction these systems are being developed.