Would it be possible today to use genomic selection for more efficient breeding?
In theory I would say yes but the selection of a camel milk breed is a much more complex affairs. The largest "industrial" camel milk dairy structures (UEA, KSA etc) existing at present do not own their milking camels. Since in their geographical area there is an abundance of camels it is more practical/simple for them to use lactating camels obtained from a large pool of camels kept by nomads or former nomads. There is constant supply of milking camels: lactating camels are provided on loan, once their lactation diminish they are replace with new camels at the early stage of lactation. Smaller enterprises in Mauritania, Kenya, Somalia etc use a even simpler method simply purchasing camel milk from nomads. All these factors means that the selection of a "camel milk breed" is left completely in the hands of nomads camel owners and their criteria of selection are based on different parameters then the straightforward western milk breed selection practices. A nomad camel breeder selection parameters should not be dismissed as unimportant or irrational actually is the opposite since their camel selection criteria are geared towards a better survival of the nomad family. For example you may have camels that produce little milk but are resistant to trypanosomosis, or are able to drink brackish/saline water, or tolerate large watering intervals (over 8 days), or loose body conditions very slowly during a drought, or reproduce regularly every 2 years. Even if such camels produce "little milk" all their progeny is kept and use for reproduction. On the top of all these factors there is the issue of morphological defects: a camel may have a large milk production capability but his udder is faulty. Well developed udder with sufficiently developed and spaced teats are not that common, in some areas 90% of the camels have seriously faulty udders. Again it will be impossible to tell a nomads not to breed from a female because her udder is not right ! There is also to consider among the selection of milk traits the "behavior" issue, an increasingly important aspect if mechanized milking is adopted on a large scale. Some camels have a very easy milk let down reflex and can even be milked without the presence of the calf while some other camels are very sensitive to external conditions and cannot be easily milked. More to talk.......
Hi Malin, It is now possible to use classical quantitative genetic selection or genomic selection is all species but as well explained by maurizio, to select you need criteria to measure and the same measurment technic used for all. At this time excepted recording of individual milk production is not optimized milking parlor that could act as a major "farm" effect that could exceed animal effect; even in more organized country, you do not have a enough animals, enough farm and enough traits measured and enough materail for that to obtain a basis of calculus. It is the very beginning of this history and as i say in my course: it is not necessary to use an electronic microcope to read the herald tribune, a magnifying glass is sufficient. Nevertheless, because, the genetic maps of camels are now better decrypted, it remain pssible to developp somme genomic approach at least on a theoretical point of view.
best regards
Hi Malin
In fact dromedary camels in many Arab countries, are not well established in term of Milk genetics. As far as I know in my country nothing about camels, also in the neighboring Israel, and egypt.
I suggest to go for some sort survey to investigate the Milk genetic issue in my region.
regards
In recent years many practical efforts have been done and a reasonable population of high-yielding camels is placed in some countries with the modern camel dairies. Some specimen is really high producing and touch the digit of 40 kg/day. We have records with >12000 kg milk per lactation. In my recent project, about 43 camels are registered up to date based on their milk yield record per day, per lactation, milking ability in the machine, SCC, conductivity etc. The next step is to record the phenotypic, special and dairy traits. At the end of this year, we shall work on this part of the project. The 3rd and last part is the genetic study.
In my opinion the guiding philosophy on the issue of milk production in camels should be "to work with nature not to rape nature". In my personal experience very high yielding camels are seldom able to have long lactations (over 12 months) and regular calving (every 2 years) and often develop udder problems. To select camels that produce 40 liters a day it may be possible but has a lot of disadvantages, a bit like selecting a cow for the Dubai World Cup horse race ! If you want lactating animals that produce 40 liters a day keep cattle not camels.
Has anyone investigated what happens to camel milk quality with increased production? I mean nutritional and medicinal qualities, like content of vitamins, lysozymes, antibodies etc. Will the concentrations of the different substances in camel milk remain the same with increase yield?
Dear Malin Larsson , go through the below RG link,
Article Genetic and nongenetic effects for milk yield and growth tra...
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