Tad Sonstegard

The global demand for sustainable and resilient livestock systems has never been more pressing due to ever-increasing population growth and associated demand for animal-sourced protein. Part of the challenge to meet these demands will be accomplished using our current dairy breeding programs, which remain the cornerstone of genetic improvement for milk production and animal viability.

Subject areas Ecology Biological sciences Genetics Genomics Evolutionary biology Introduction Hybridization between divergent lineages results in an influx of new genetic variants which can improve the adaptive potential of animal and plant populations (Hedrick, 2013; Moran et al., 2021). It has long been used by breeders to generate livestock populations with specific phenotypic characteristics (Wu and Zhao, 2021).