Optimisation of selection for methane mitigation by integrating production traits with ruminal microbiome-driven...

Breeding for reduced methane production is challenged by the high cost associated with its continuous measurements on individual animals. To address this, a microbiome-driven breeding methodology was developed and investigated to identify the most informative microbial genes (MGs) related to methane production. The analyses considered different genomic selection scenarios based on data from beef cattle: (i) with and without inclusion of production traits such as daily feed intake, average daily gain (ADG), cold carcass weight (CCW); (ii) different sets of MGs were evaluated - those most informative to predict the host genetics of methane production, with and without restriction of showing favourable genetic correlation with ADG.

Methane production had a high heritability (0.56), and we identified 43 MGs, whose abundances are associated with methane production through functions such as electron transfer and coenzyme A biosynthesis. Selection of 10% of the animals based on microbiome-driven breeding using these 43 MGs revealed a methane mitigation potential of 18% per generation, slightly higher than 17% reduction achieved through direct selection based on methane measurements using respiration chamber. Integrating production traits into the microbiome-driven breeding system enhanced the methane reduction to 23% but also reduced ADG by 14%. To avoid the decline in ADG and CCW, residual methane production was developed on genetic level, which yielded a meaningful 15% reduction in methane production, and a correlated improvement in residual feed intake of 5%. Applying microbiome-driven breeding based only on profiles of MGs favourably correlated with both methane production and ADG resulted in a promising response in methane mitigation of 14%.

The high heritability of methane production supports animal breeding programmes aimed at reducing methane production. However, selection solely for lower methane production resulted in substantial adverse responses in key production traits. Therefore, it is essential to adopt specific selection criteria, such as residual methane production, to reduce its emissions while avoiding negative correlated responses in production traits. Especially, microbiome-driven breeding based on MGs favourably correlated with both reduced methane production and improved ADG, is recommended to directly enhance the efficiency of ruminal microbial metabolism to achieve sustainable beef production by cost-effective breeding.