Importance of adaptation and genotype × environment interactions in tropical beef breeding systems

This paper examines the relative importance of productive and adaptive traits in beef breeding systems based on Bos taurus and tropically adapted breeds across temperate and (sub)tropical environments. In the (sub)tropics, differences that exist between breeds in temperate environments are masked by the effects of environmental stressors. Hence in tropical environments, breeds are best categorised into breed types to compare their performance across environments. Because of the presence of environmental stressors, there are more sources of genetic variation in tropical breeding programmes. It is therefore necessary to examine the genetic basis of productive and adaptive traits for breeding programmes in those environments. This paper reviews the heritabilities and genetic relationships between economically important productive and adaptive traits relevant to (sub)tropical breeding programmes. It is concluded that it is possible to simultaneously genetically improve productive and adaptive traits in tropically adapted breeds of beef cattle grazed in tropical environments without serious detrimental consequences for either adaptation or production. However, breed-specific parameters are required for genetic evaluations. The paper also reviews the magnitude of genotype × environment (G × E) interactions impacting on production and adaptation of cattle, where 'genotype' is defined as breed (within a crossbreeding system), sire within breed (in a within-breed selection programme) or associations between economically important traits and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs - within a marker-assisted selection programme). It is concluded that re-ranking of breeds across environments is best managed by the use of the breed type(s) best suited to the particular production environment. Re-ranking of sires across environments is apparent in poorly adapted breed types across extreme tropical and temperate environments or where breeding animals are selected in a temperate environment for use in the (sub)tropics. However, G × E interactions are unlikely to be of major importance in tropically adapted beef cattle grazed in either temperate or (sub)tropical environments, although sex × environment interactions may provide new opportunities for differentially selecting to simultaneously improve steer performance in benign environments and female performance in harsher environments. Early evidence suggests that re-ranking of SNPs occurs across temperate and tropical environments, although their magnitude is still to be confirmed in well-designed experiments. The major limitation to genetic improvement of beef cattle over the next decade is likely to be a deficiency of large numbers of accurately recorded phenotypes for most productive and adaptive traits and, in particular, for difficult-to-measure adaptive traits such as resistance to disease and environmental stressors.