Defining multiple-trait objectives for sustainable genetic improvement

Abstract

Genetic improvement is inherently a long-term process in which progress in the future is built upon improvement in the past. Discounting of future returns is often used in deriving economic values of traits under selection, but this gives a short-term perspective that is in conflict with the long-term nature of genetic improvement. Changes in management, market environment, and genetic potential over time can negatively affect the attainment of breeding goals. Nonlinear optimization techniques can be used to find optimum economic weights each year over any time horizon. Nearly optimal solutions can be found by deriving economic weights for a single, specified future date. Uncertainty about future production and marketing environments creates risk that might be lessened by maintaining or selecting for diverse genetic stocks that could be used in the future. Such programs may need to be coordinated internationally because they may be too expensive for individual companies to undertake. Consideration of risk and careful analyses of future technical and environmental conditions are needed to define multiple trait objectives for long-term genetic change.