Hugo F Monteiro, Caio C Figueiredo, Bruna Mion, José Eduardo P Santos, Rafael S Bisinotto, Francisco Peñagaricano, Eduardo S Ribeiro, Mariana N Marinho, Roney Zimpel, Ana Carolina da Silva, Adeoye Oyebade, Richard R Lobo, Wilson M Coelho, Phillip M G Peixoto, Maria B Ugarte Marin, Sebastian G Umaña-Sedó, Tomás D G Rojas, Modesto Elvir-Hernandez, Flávio S Schenkel, Bart C Weimer, C Titus Brown, Ermias Kebreab, Fábio S Lima
Genetic selection has remarkably helped U.S. dairy farms to decrease their carbon footprint by more than doubling milk production per cow over time. Despite the environmental and economic benefits of improved feed and milk production efficiency, there is a critical need to explore phenotypical variance for feed utilization to advance the long-term sustainability of dairy farms. Feed is a major expense in dairy operations, and their enteric fermentation is a major source of greenhouse gases in agriculture. The challenges to expanding the phenotypic database, especially for feed efficiency predictions, and the lack of understanding of its drivers limit its utilization...
February 6, 2024: Animal microbiome