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Geneticists at the Heart of Animal Breeding
© INRA photographic collection The 2006 Agricultural Framework Law confirmed these missions, recognising the importance and efficiency of this system founded on the complementarity of competencies. The Genetic data Processing Centre (CTIG) of Jouy is therefore at the heart of the Division's calculations but also manages the national databases for genetic evaluation and research.
The Division concentrates thus essentially on its competencies in qualitative animal genetics and has built intense partnerships with the animal genetic industry. Within this context, the Division works in close collaboration with the Institut de l'Elevage (IE) and the Institut Technique du Porc. Both organisations are in charge of technical development in France. Nine people from the IE work in our offices on the valorisation of genetic evaluation. Two joint technological units were created, one in 2006 at Jouy and one in 2007 in Toulouse.
The confidence we have in each others work has helped build collaborations that go beyond genetic evaluation. We are involved in making breeding objectives, in particular keeping in mind the sustainability of population management. Within the framework of the National Genetic Improvement Commission and, since 2006, within the framework of the commercial genetic organisation France Genetique Elevage, we participate in the comanagement of French selection, particularly of ruminants. INRA animal lines were or still are breeding nuclei largely available. We train doctoral students (cofinanced by the industry) who then become their executives.
Even in the poultry and acquaculture fields, not included in the Breeding Law, where INRA is just one of the possible representatives on the international level, there are increasing numbers of partnerships between INRA and French breeders. The SYSAAF, in particular, is associated with INRA by several partnership agreements. The increasing number of fields could have a tendance to weaken INRA's relations, however, the stakes of molecular genetics and its application have on the contrary reinforced our relations. Since 1994, the GIE Labogena has associated INRA and different industrial partners in the development of genotyping tools for progeny testing and selection. Despite the high competition, Labogena has a very important position on the market and is very implicated in the transfer between INRA and the industry. Since 2001, a large scale marker assisted selection programme has been set up for dairy cattle. We are also partners of different organisations implicated in the safegarding of genetic resources, in particular in the Office of Genetic Resources and the National Cryobank. In 2001, these existing trusting relations probably contributed very much to the support given by the industry to the Agenae programme. Agenae is a scientific interest group involving INRA, the CIRAD, the cattle, fish, pig and poultry breeding industries. This structure has three purposes: orienting research in animal genomics by associating the industry in decision making and finances; organising cofinanced research eligible to financial help from the Research Ministry; developing the structures necessary for these projects : CRB, transcriptomic platforms, bioinformatics. Agenae has gone beyond the boundaries of the Animal Genetics Division but we played an active role in its creation, the development of tools and one scientist from the Division is currently the head of Agenae. This structure has allowed mobilising several million euros per year from both the Research Ministry and the industry.
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Creation date: 25 October 2007 Update: 20 January 2009 |
