Increased animal productivity has reduced animal fitness, resulting in increased susceptibilityto infectious and metabolic diseases, locomotion problems and subfertility. Future animalbreeding strategies should focus on balancing high production levels with health status mon-itoring and improved welfare. Additionally, understanding how animals interact with theirinternal and external environment is essential for improving health, fitness, and welfare. Inthis context, the continuous validation of existing biomarkers and the discovery and fieldimplementation of new biomarkers will enable us to understand the specific physiological pro-cess and regulatory mechanisms used by the organism to adapt to different environmentalconditions. Thus, biomarkers may be used to monitor welfare and improve managementand breeding strategies. In this article, we describe major achievements in the establishmentof biomarkers in dairy cows and small ruminants. This review mainly focuses on the physio-logical biomarkers used to monitor animal responses to, and recovery from, environmentalperturbations. We highlight future avenues for research in this field and present a timely posi-tioning document to the scientific community

Biomarkers of fitness and welfare in dairy animals: healthy living

Gabai, Gianfranco
Writing – Review & Editing
;
2019

Abstract

Increased animal productivity has reduced animal fitness, resulting in increased susceptibilityto infectious and metabolic diseases, locomotion problems and subfertility. Future animalbreeding strategies should focus on balancing high production levels with health status mon-itoring and improved welfare. Additionally, understanding how animals interact with theirinternal and external environment is essential for improving health, fitness, and welfare. Inthis context, the continuous validation of existing biomarkers and the discovery and fieldimplementation of new biomarkers will enable us to understand the specific physiological pro-cess and regulatory mechanisms used by the organism to adapt to different environmentalconditions. Thus, biomarkers may be used to monitor welfare and improve managementand breeding strategies. In this article, we describe major achievements in the establishmentof biomarkers in dairy cows and small ruminants. This review mainly focuses on the physio-logical biomarkers used to monitor animal responses to, and recovery from, environmentalperturbations. We highlight future avenues for research in this field and present a timely posi-tioning document to the scientific community
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3315427
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