Quantitative- and molecular-genetic effects on animal well-being: adaptive mechanisms

Abstract

Domestic farm animals play an important role in meeting some basic needs of humankind, especially food and clothing. The aspects of genetic improvement programs in livestock production pertinent to animal welfare and animal well-being are reviewed. A link is made between the evolutionary processes of adaptation and domestication and animal well-being. Animal behavior is a component of all these. Thus, the genetics of behavior may provide clues to the well-being of farm animal populations, and it will also be of relevance to public opinion issues of animal welfare. Many expressions of behavior by domestic livestock may be influenced by those processes that change gene as well as genotypic frequencies such as inbreeding, drift, and artificial selection. The environment in which the individual lives will also play a role, along with the interaction between genotype and environment. Selection for or against such behaviors as aggressiveness, docility, response to stress, and certain sexual behaviors in some livestock species has often been successful. This points to the existence of additive genetic variation for behavior, and scope for the inclusion of behavioral traits into selection programs, if these measures are shown to be related to welfare. Negative relationships between behaviors associated with well-being and traits of economic importance have been reported in most livestock species. However, estimates of genetic parameters, especially genetic correlations between objective measures of well-being and production traits, are scarce. There have been no comprehensive studies of the welfare of transgenic animals reported in the scientific literature. Increased use of biotechnology in animal agriculture, coupled with greater public scrutiny of livestock industries, may precipitate decisions concerning the interface of behavior and genetics that need to be addressed before scientists can conduct appropriate experimental evaluations.