Interpretive Summary: Harnessing adaptive alleles in native animals for sustainable intensification of livestock
By: Muhammed Elayadeth-Meethal, Naseema Kolathingal-Thodika, Surinder S Chauhan
Implications- Evidence from Global Farm Platform hub-and-spoke studies suggests that adaptable genetic variety can boost output while lowering reliance on external inputs in circular livestock systems.
- Native and locally adapted breeds are key genetic resources that could be used for climate adaptation and future food security.
- The genotype → phenotype → environment → system impact (G→P→E→SI) model predicts phenotypic resilience, environmental fitness, and stable system-level outcomes during climate stress.
- Directed haplotype introgression combines resistance and performance, resulting in minimal-input and low-emission livestock farming.
Introduction
Sustainable intensification strategies that provide productivity, resilience, and economic benefits while lowering dependency on external resources are becoming more important in global attempts to alter livestock systems under climate change (Eisler et al., 2014). In this regard, the hub-and-spoke Global Farm Platform (GFP) model offers a special global setting for combining agricultural practices, science, and policy across distinct agroecological zones (Figure 1) (Rivero et al., 2021, 2026; Lee et al., 2025). A vital but underutilized asset for sustainable livestock development, native and locally adapted cattle populations within these ecosystems in different climatic zones contain adaptive alleles, haplotypes, and selection signatures shaped by prolonged exposure to climatic pressure, feed restriction, and endemic disease (Elayadeth-Meethal et al., 2023; Kalaiyarasi and Elayadeth-Meethal, 2025). The present article, based on collaborative research conducted across GFP hubs-and-spokes in India, Australia, and the United Kingdom, presents evidence showing that adaptive variation in the genome underlying heat tolerance, immune competency, energy efficiency, and rumen stability leads to both phenotypic adaptation and system resilience.
Read the full article in Animal Frontiers.
