Genetic Aspects of Cattle Adaptation in the Tropics

Abstract

Improving the quality of life of many people living in tropical regions throughout the world is a very high global priority. For many of those people, this requires significant improvements to the productivity of their cattle herds, which comprise a major part of their household income (Payne and Hodges, 1997). Morgan and Tallard (2007) indicate that globally, there are ~1.5 billion head of cattle, with more than 65% located in the tropics and subtropics. Cattle make a major contribution to milk, meat and hide supply and additionally, in some regions, they are a major source of draught power and manure for use as fuel and maintaining soil fertility.