Metabolomics in animal breeding

Abstract

Metabolomics in its close definition is a rather young field in farm animal production. Initially, metabolomic analyses in farm animals had been initiated for many non-genetic applications e.g., control of drug abuse, control of embryo and oocyte quality in reproductive processes or for detection of product origin of food, whereas genetic variability essentially has been ignored in these fields. Only recently, the fields Physiological Genomics/Genetics and Refined phenotypic description of animal models have emerged, that fit into the current concept entitled Genetics meets Metabolomics: from Experiment to Systems Biology. Up to now, the non-genetic application fields however, still comprise the majority of attempts applying metabolomic technologies in animal breeding including: