Integrating Genetic, Environmental, and Phenotypic Information in Within and Between Breed Evaluation of Livestock for Smallholder Farmers in the Tropics

Well-designed genetic improvement interventions can enhance livestock productivity and address food insecurity in many African countries. MEPA offers a complementary strategy to traditional long-term genetic gain programmes based on selective breeding. In MEPA, candidate-improved breeds developed elsewhere can be evaluated for their productive (e.g., growth rate, egg numbers, milk yield) and adaptive (e.g., survival, feed efficiency, health, fertility, and longevity) performance in different environments before they are introduced at scale to smallholder farmers. In this case study, we report the findings of an MEPA study conducted in Ethiopia using analytical frameworks developed by plant breeders. We fitted additive main effects multiplicative interaction model (AMMI) and linear mixed-effects models (LMM) by incorporating genetic, environmental, and phenotypic information. The models identified two out of the five test breeds excelled in live body weight at 180-days-of-age (W180) and yield stability.