Sustainable Animal Breeding for the Green Transition

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue of Animals on "Sustainable Animal Breeding for the Green Transition" is dedicated to exploring the crucial role of animal breeding in creating a sustainable and environmentally friendly future. This Issue delves into the intricate biological factors behind emission production, production efficiency, animal health, and welfare. Moreover, it focuses on the development and implementation of innovative breeding strategies that foster sustainable animal production systems, biodiversity conservation, and resilience to climate change.

Scope of the Special Issue:

The scope of this Special Issue encompasses various aspects of sustainable animal breeding, which is an approach that considers the long-term ecological, economic, and social impacts of breeding practices on the environment, animal welfare, and human health. Potential topics include, but not limited to:

1. Understanding Animal Emission Production, Efficiency, and Resilience: This area involves conducting in-depth research into the biological factors that contribute to emission production, production efficiency, and the ability of animals to resist disease and cope with stress within breeding systems.
2. Genetic Diversity Conservation: This area focuses on exploring strategies to preserve and utilize genetic diversity within animal breeding programs. The aim is to maintain a diverse gene pool to enhance resilience and adaptability in the face of changing environmental conditions.
3. Climate-Smart Animal Breeding: This area revolves around investigating breeding approaches that prioritize traits contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The aim is to develop animals that are more resilient to climate-related challenges and have a reduced environmental footprint.
4. Breeding for Sustainable Livestock Production: This area highlights breeding methods that integrate multi-omics and meta-omics technologies with traditional breeding techniques. The goal is to leverage advanced technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of livestock production systems.

By addressing these key areas, this SI aims to advance our understanding and application of sustainable animal breeding practices, ultimately leading to more environmentally friendly and socially responsible approaches in the field of animal agriculture. It provides a platform for researchers and experts to share their insights, findings, and innovative solutions in order to contribute to the green transition and the development of sustainable animal breeding practices.

Dr. Masoud Shirali
Dr. Suzanne J. Rowe
Dr. Nóirín McHugh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• animal breeding
• emission
• production efficiency
• animal health and welfare
• breeding strategies
• biodiversity
• resilience to climate change
• climate-smart animal breeding
• climate change mitigation and adaptation
• multi-omics and meta-omics