Züchtung auf Fleischqualität mit Hilfe der Gendiagnostik

Increasing demands on meat quality on the part of the consumer and the processing industry and the consequent setting up of high quality meat programmes have led in recent years to there being greater interest shown amongst producers and processors in improving meat quality. On the one hand meat quality is influenced by environmental factors and on the other by genetic factors. Environmental factors such as transport, slaughtering techniques and chilling have been optimized for many years. The genetic composition of the animals is influenced by animal breeding. When using conventional breeding methods the genetic performance potential of the animals is estimated by statistical means from the characteristics determined during performance testing. The genes that are responsible for this performance potential remain unknown. For about 3 years now these breeding methods have been complemented by the methods of genome analysis and gene diagnosis. As there are reservations about the use of biotechnological methods in animal production in many areas of society the present paper aims to provide information about new methods of animal breeding and thus help to make the discussion more objective.