European Network on Livestock Phenomics: An international initiative to enhance genome to phenome integration in all livestock species for applications in animal breeding

The acquisition of relevant animal phenotypes is increasingly recognized as a limiting factor in all applications of animal breeding that rely on the availability of accurate and specific phenotype data. Phenomics applied to livestock production systems has one major aim: to systematically describe the animal phenome, which includes the physical and molecular traits of an animal. The European Network on Livestock Phenomics (EU-LI-PHE) is a Europe-centered multidisciplinary, interconnected and inclusive community of experts aiming to boost scientific collaboration, catalyze developments, and transfer livestock phenomics concepts and applications to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of the global livestock production sector. EU-LI-PHE focuses on i) phenotyping technologies and infrastructures for applications in livestock phenomics, ii) novel approaches and methods for genome to phenome integration in livestock species, iii) computational resources and data analysis methods needed for this big data discipline, iv) the regulatory framework and the societal vision for livestock phenomics and v) the development of a training environment for the benefit of the next generation of researchers in this field. The integration of phenomics and genomics aims to provide an overview of the links between genome/epigenome variation and phenotypic variation at multiple levels in the main livestock species, identify synergies with related initiatives on functional analyses of livestock genomes and identify knowledge gaps and research needs and provide a road map with a clear trajectory to new applications. EU-LI-PHE includes over 400 members from more than 50 countries. Funded by COST - European Cooperation in Science & Technology