Dairy cows could be genetically selected to produce \"niche milk to improve human health, including a component that provides some benefits of human breast milk, according to an Agriculture Victoria scientist.<\/p>\n
And this technology could deliver the dairy industry a step-change in terms of what it could produce with infant formula.<\/p>\n
Agriculture Victoria principal research scientist Jennie Pryce said there was great science behind the opportunity to breed cows to produce human milk oligosaccharides.<\/p>\n
They are the same as you would find in the milk of human breast milk and give children or babies protection against pathogenic infections, she said.<\/p>\n
They also promote development of the intestine and help the gut microbiome to get going, obviously thats one of the reasons why breast milk is promoted.<\/p>\n
Professor Pryce was speaking at a presentation about breeding the socially acceptable cow at the 2020 Genetics Australia online conference.<\/p>\n
She said a genetic marker explained about 80 per cent of the genetic variation in the oligosaccharide, which meant it would be simple to aggressively select for these niche milks.<\/p>\n
Breeding a socially acceptable cow should also consider the cows impact on the environment, its welfare and sustainability, she said.<\/p>\n
Sharing preliminary research data, Prof Pryce showed how selecting for bulls with both a high Balanced Performance Index (BPI) and lower methane emissions was possible without too much compromise in profitability.<\/p>\n
Prof Pryce plotted the BPI the dairy industry herd improvement organisation DataGenes economic index against a greenhouse gas index.<\/p>\n
It showed if a dairy farmer only selected high BPI bulls with the most favourable greenhouse gas emissions, they would compromise their BPI by about 20 units.<\/p>\n
This is down from a mean of 333 BPI if they selected the top 30 BPI bulls without a consideration of emissions.<\/p>\n
It doesnt seem like a huge comprise to be able to get that advance in terms of reduced emissions, Prof Pryce said.<\/p>\n
She also highlighted how Australia led the world with research on heat tolerance and feed saved both traits with contributed to a socially acceptable cow.<\/p>\n
The former Australian Breeding Value enables cows to better handle warming temperatures, the latter ABV increasing their feed-to-milk efficiency.<\/p>\n
Prof Pryce said a lot of what the dairy industry was already doing was hugely progressive.<\/p>\n
Consumers need to know that we are already breeding for more environmentally friendly, resource efficient cows.<\/p>\n
If we focus on profit, welfare and social acceptability we will be more successful in the long term.<\/p>\n
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