Genetic make-up influences fitness and adaptation and determines an animal’s tolerance to shocks such as temperature extremes, drought, flooding, pests and diseases. Adaptation to harsh environments includes heat tolerance and an animal’s ability to survive, grow and reproduce in the presence of poor seasonal nutrition as well as parasites and diseases. Selective breeding is a technology that aims to improve the value of animal genetic diversity. This technology can be applied to all types of livestock, including cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas and guinea pigs.
Selective breeding via controlled mating
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SectorsObjective
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Potatoes are the fourth-largest food crop after rice, wheat, and maize. This brief describes how to make best use of them.
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The diamondback moth caterpillar is a world-wide pest that can cause severe damage especially in dry, hot weather. Its high breeding rate causes problems of resistance to insecticides so alternative methods of control are needed.
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Type of National plan
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Type of National planObjectiveMitigationSectorsCountryArgentina
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SectorsObjective
Breeding for improved performance under environmental stresses involves activities which accumulate favourable alleles (different forms of a gene) which contribute to stress tolerance. Biotechnological contributions to crop adaptation to climate change do not only, or even mainly, concern the placement into the crop of one or more genes from an organism with which the crop could not normally breed (i.e. genetically modified crops).