There is a growing demand worldwide for animal protein due to the growing world population and changing eating patterns. In order to meet this demand in a sustainable manner while also considering animal welfare and animal health, cattle breeding can make a vital contribution.

How does the project help?
Within the project, large breeding organisations work together to develop new tools to improve animal breeding, using rapid developments in the field of genomics. The project aims to develop advanced statistical applications and bio-informatical applications in order to understand the relationship between genetics and characteristics. Apart from that, methods and knowledge are being developed to measure characteristics such as behaviour, food efficiency and proneness to diseases.

What has the project achieved?
The project has already given us many new insights ,which can be applied to the development of new cattle, chicken, broiler (meat) chicken and pig breeds. An extended description of the project results can be found on www.breed4food.com.

Project information
Project title: Breed4Food
Project number: TKI AF-12018
Duration: 2012 –
Public budget: € 3,349,000
Private budget: € 20,007,000
Project partners: Wageningen Research, CRV, Cobb Europe, Hendrix Genetics Research, TOPIGS