Developing genomic selection in Russia will improve domestic dairy herd productivity 30%-40% - expert
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Developing genomic selection in Russia's agro-industrial complex will improve productivity of the domestic dairy herd by 30%-40%, Nikolai Yelatkin, Director of Genetics at the Miratorg agroholding, said.
"Our goal for the dairy herd is to improve productivity. The average [milk yield per cow] is currently seven tonnes per year. This is an average figure. We have set an overall goal to improve this by 30%-40% owing to genomic selection. This is not only the work of a laboratory, this is large-scale, comprehensive collaboration among farmers, science, and livestock breeders," Yelatkin told reporters on Thursday at Miratorg's Center for Genomic Selection.
Yelatkin also said that this is a long-term operation. "Long-term programs are required on a five- to seven-year horizon in order to improve [productivity of] the animals," he said.
Yelatkin explained the importance of the work by saying that the breeding of dairy cattle is currently actively developing in Russia. "There is a specific deficit in milk that could be covered, among other means, by improving productivity of cows. We have developed a method for conducting genomic selection. [...] We have found certain genes that are 'responsible' for milk yield, for the amount of milk. Together with our partners, this allows us to select the best cows, so that milk yields increase on the horizon of two or three generations," he said.
"We are currently collaborating with 12 regions that are engaged in breeding dairy cattle. The goal is to cover all of the country's main dairy regions with the program," Yelatkin said. "Genotyping will allow us not only to be independent from importing breeding material, but also to breed animals that will be fully adapted to our upkeep conditions, to our feeding conditions, to our management, and meet the needs of farmers to the greatest extent," he said.
Yelatkin emphasized that Miratorg's experience in breeding beef cattle is actively used in this work. "The holding does not have its own dairy farming, so we are simply assisting with our experience and our expertise," he said.
Miratorg Agribusiness Holding launched the Center for Genomic Selection in the Moscow Region in 2019. Genomic selection is a breeding method based on studying the DNA sequences of animals. Miratorg is forming the world's largest biobank of the Aberdeen Angus breed. The laboratory is capable of conducting up to 400,000 DNA studies of farm animals per year and is among the world's top 10 genetic agricultural laboratories in terms of productivity.
