New IAEA Project to Enhance Animal Phenotyping for Productive Livestock Breeding

As the global population continues to increase, demand for foods derived from animals is also growing, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Animal production, however, faces challenges that hinder productivity. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns and more frequent extreme weather events can lead to heat stress, reduced feed quality, increased water scarcity and the spread of diseases. These factors can significantly impact animal health, productivity and welfare, resulting in lower yields of meat and milk.

Breeding animals that remain productive and healthy under changing and extreme environmental conditions is therefore essential. A key step is identifying traits that strengthen resilience while maintaining productivity. These range from heat and drought tolerance, disease resistance and reduced methane emissions to feed conversion efficiency, high fertility and fast growth rates, and high milk and meat production. 

Developing and promoting livestock breeds that are better adapted to varying environmental conditions and management practices can mitigate some negative impacts of environmental shifts on livestock production—and of livestock on the environment—thereby improving the sustainability of agricultural systems.

An important indicator of animal resilience is metabolic efficiency. Animals with higher metabolic efficiency are better at converting feed into energy, growth and products like milk and meat, and they produce less methane per unit of product. Understanding how environmental stressors like heat and water scarcity affect an animal's metabolism, methane emissions and overall productivity is crucial to improving productivity and sustainability.

The main challenge, particularly in extensive livestock production systems, is identifying the right traits and collecting data on them (phenotyping) to improve breeding programmes. 

Nuclear and related techniques offer a solution to phenotyping animals for both productivity and resilience traits. Compound-specific stable isotopes (CSSI) analysis assesses feed efficiency and an animal's tolerance to drought and cold, and helps in understanding how the rumen microbiome affects productivity and resilience. Infrared technology can detect heat stress, diseases and reproductive efficiency, while dual-energy Xray absorptiometry (DEXA) provides a non-destructive method for studying body and carcass composition. These technologies, combined with the Laser Methane Detector (LMD) — a portable device that measures methane emissions in livestock — can enhance phenotyping and breeding of productive animals. Genomic tools can identify resilient genotypes, enhancing the effectiveness of breeding programmes.

The coordinated research project (CRP) aims to help countries — especially developing countries — to use nuclear and related tools to enhance animal phenotyping and support breeding for increased productivity and resilience.

Research organizations interested in joining the CRP must submit their proposal for a Research Contract, Technical Contract or Research Agreement by email, no later than 19 December 2025 to the IAEA’s Research Contracts Administration Section, using the appropriate template on the CRA web portal. Note that the same template can be used for both research and/or technical contracts.

For further information related to this CRP, interested applicants can use the contact form available on the CRP page.