Impact of biotechnology on animal breeding and genetic progress

Animal breeding is a field related to a whole range of biotechnologies. The impact of a
biotechnology can be measured by the influence it has on genetic progress. According
to the type of biotechnology considered, different component of genetic progress may
be affected: accuracy of prediction, generation interval, intensity of selection and
genetic variance. The first type of biotechnologies affects the efficiency of male and
female reproduction: artificial insemination, multiple ovulation, in-vitro-fertilization,
ova pick-up, embryo-transfer, twining, sexing of semen and embryos cloning and
selfing. The impact of these technologies is mainly in the enhanced distribution of
superior germplasm and the selection intensity, but also in the accuracy obtained when
testing animals. In the past, artificial insemination has been a very successful
biotechnology, enhancing greatly the genetic progress. A secondary, negative, impact is
that these biotechnologies affect indirectly genetic diversity and therefore reduce
genetic variance. A second group of biotechnologies can improve determination of the
genetic merit of animals. These are all the techniques relate to quantitative or
economical trait loci (QTL/ETL), their detection and use. Their main feature is the early
availability in life, therefore allowing an earlier and more accurate selection. Two
direction of research exists: detection of markers for the unknown QTL and direct use
of a potential candidate genes as QTL/ETL. QTL/ETL will have a major impact on
animal breeding especially if their use in future breeding programs can be optimized. A
last type of biotechnologies with a large potential to affect animal breeding in the future
are those with the ability to transform artificially DNA. The impact of these
technologies is however still no very clear especially as gene expression and other
issues remain unsolved. Biotechnology had, has and will have a major impact on animal
breeding and genetic progress. To a certain extend animal breeding is a very promising
field to use biotechnology as the past has already proven.