Advantages and Disadvantages of Selective Breeding

If you have a farm, wherein livestock or crops are your main source of income, then finding the best ways to boost efficiency are likely very important to you. Organic or natural farming does not always assure best results. Selective breeding can be one of the best options for higher production.

Selective breeding is an agricultural method used to hereditarily encourage favorable characteristic on both plants and animals. Typically, it’s achieved through the controlled breeding of animals and plants. However, just like any agricultural method, it has its advantages and disadvantages. If you are planning to apply selective breeding into your livestock or crops, weighing the pros and cons of this method will surely help you decide whether it is a great option.

Advantages of Selective Breeding

Selective breeding offers numerous benefits, a reason why many farmers choose this method. One of the main advantages of this agricultural method is for you to have a higher profit. When you have the capability to supply the demands of the consumers, it allows you to earn more.

Higher Profit
Selective breeding permits the encouragement of characteristics that are more beneficial to the farmer. If you have livestock like cows, it can produce more milk than typical cows, when you breed them, the cow will produce more milk and this gene can be passed on to their offspring. When it is implemented with crops, it will grow more that the typical crops. Promoting these advantages methods will surely increase the market value of these products. If you are a businessman, using selective breeding is undeniably a perfect option.

Eliminating Disease
Another great advantage of selective breeding is the chance to eliminate the disease of the plants or animals. According to the studies, it revealed that identification and pre-screening of particular diseases allows controlling the disease. Controlled breeding of the plants and animals without genetic diseases will sooner or later eliminate genetic disease from the future offspring.

Disadvantages of Selective Breeding

Loss of Variety
Selective breeding usually requires inbreeding of plants and animals. As a result, it causes the genetic variety to decrease. As the genetic variety is reduced, the organisms may express same vulnerability to certain pathogens. In case a group of plants or animals with the same traits or genes are attacked by a particular pathogen the entire population of these plants and animals will certainly suffer. That s why meticulous monitoring and analysis is needed in order to assess if selective bred or population is risky for certain kind of disease.

Animal Discomfort
Breeders who want to formulate particular traits may accidentally reproduce traits that are damaging to the health of the animal. For example, cows can only produce large amount of milk if they have large udders. Usually, a product of selective breeding may find it heavy because they have large udders. This can surely cause them discomfort.