Qualità e valore nutrizionale delle produzioni zootecniche: dove e come può incidere il miglioramento genetico

In the last 50 years, the progress of knowledge about the genome and the interactions gene-environment improved selection methods more and more, obtaining significant genetic progress in the field of livestock and very significant results for production efficiency and availability of products of animal origin. The progress of quantitative production of milk, meat and eggs has often been accompanied by the enhancement of the quality of these products. The improvement of chemical, technological and nutritional quality has been obtained mainly through traditional selection methods; however, an important role has played, and will continue to play in the near future, the selection driven by in-depth knowledge of the genome structure and of individual DNA mutation effect on specific qualitative characters of the productions. This report will consider, for the main livestock productions, some examples of how the knowledge of the genetic components of the trait affected and will affect the selection process of the quality of livestock products.