Development and application of a livestock phenomics platform to enhance productivity and efficiency at pasture
Paul L. Greenwood A B E , Gregory J. Bishop-Hurley C , Luciano A. González D and Aaron B. Ingham C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A NSW Department of Primary Industries Beef Industry Centre, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B CSIRO Agriculture, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.
C CSIRO Agriculture, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.
D Centre for Carbon Water and Food, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: paul.greenwood@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Animal Production Science 56(8) 1299-1311 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15400
Submitted: 23 July 2015 Accepted: 21 September 2015 Published: 22 March 2016
Abstract
Our capacity to measure performance- and efficiency-related phenotypes in grazing livestock in a timely manner, ideally in real-time without human interference, has been severely limited. Future demands and constraints on grazing livestock production will require a step change beyond our current approaches to obtaining phenotypic data. Animal phenomics is a relatively new term that describes the next generation of animal trait measurement, including methodologies and equipment used to acquire data on traits, and computational approaches required to turn data into phenotypic information. Phenomics offers a range of emerging opportunities to define new traits specific to grazing livestock, including intake and efficiency at pasture, and to measure many traits simultaneously or at a level of detail previously unachievable in the grazing environment. Application of this approach to phenotyping can improve the precision with which nutritional and other management strategies are applied, enable development of predictive biological traits, and accelerate the rate at which genetic gain is achieved for existing and new traits. In the present paper, we briefly outline the potential for livestock phenomics and describe (1) on-animal sensory-based approaches to develop traits diagnostic of productivity and efficiency, as well as resilience, health and welfare and (2) on-farm methods for data collection that drive management solutions to reduce input costs and accelerate genetic gain. The technological and analytical challenges associated with these objectives are also briefly considered, along with a brief overview of a promising field of work in which phenomics will affect animal agriculture, namely efficiency at pasture.
Additional keywords: cattle, feed efficiency, goats, pasture intake, phenomics, precision livestock management, sheep, WSN.
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