PHENOMICS -
a system biological approach of genotype-phenotype-distinction in the context of farm animal performance, health and welfare in cattle and pig

Farm Animals provide an essential resource for the long-term production of high value food, which is tailored to suit the market needs. The growing population worldwide, the increasing prosperity in the newly industrialising countries and the change of food pattern will further increase the demand for products of animal origin. Up to now the perfomance of animal couldt be raised explicitly by directed breeding, though at the expense of health and welfare.
The future production of food of animal origin will stringently require the animal health as the leading concept, in which animal health and welfare demonstrate the link between the necessary connection of animal protection and sanitary consumer protection.

Here the farm animal specific network of competence PHÄNOMICS (BMBF support code 0315536F) steps into the breach, which started in May 2010 and unites excellent competences of functional genome analysis, animal breeding and veterinary sciences, genetics of farm animals, biology of animal behaviour, animal husbandry, bioinformatics and biomathematics. The network is coordinated by the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Science of the University Rostock and comprises 19 partners of 7 German universities and 2 extra-universitarian research institutions.