GenTORE

GENomic management Tools to Optimize Resilience and Efficiency

Description

This new 5-year European project was kicked-off at the launch meeting in Paris last June. GenTORE will develop innovative genome-enabled selection and management tools to empower farmers to optimize cattle resilience and efficiency in a wide variety of changing environments. Precision phenotyping is one of the main activities, which will provide livestock farmers with a revolutionary approach to selecting the best animals for their system.

Objectives

Achieving a balance between resilience and efficiency of animals and livestock farms is crucial to ensure modern and sustainable livestock farming. The animals must be more resilient because their nutritional needs differ based on the production systems and the type of pastures available. They must be able to cope with diverse situations and withstand diseases that can vary based on environments and livestock farming systems. However, the relevant resilience and efficiency factors are difficult to measure on experimental farms and even more difficult under commercial conditions. This limits the possibilities for selecting more resilient and efficient animals and prevents farmers from managing their herds and optimizing the balance in their system.

Impact

GenTORE will have an immediate impact at the farm level:

By providing innovative solutions
By providing selection and decision-making tools for herd management
By creating new market opportunities

The combined research and outreach program of GenTORE will contribute to addressing the challenges facing farming in a changing and volatile world.

How?

The project includes 6 major work packages, as well as important promotion, outreach, and training actions. The main research results that can be used to develop tools to assist farmers will include:

The key elements necessary for the development of a multi-criteria selection index, including the characteristics to be included, their relative weights in the index, and their correlations throughout the life of the animals
The development of predictive modeling tools to enable farmers to identify the animals best suited to their system and adopt optimal herd management strategies, taking into account the impact of climate change

The tools developed by GenTORE will be practical and applicable to many farms (dairy, beef and mixed) and different systems (conventional and organic). They will increase the economic, environmental and social sustainability of European cattle farming.