Tropical Livestock Development: Mitigating Seasonal Weight Loss and Health Conditions

Two main limiting tropical environment conditions in livestock production are concerned with seasonal dry periods leading to a decrease of foodstuff availability and with hyperthermia, both negatively affecting animal productivity. Seasonal weight loss (SWL) is an important constraint limiting animal production in the Tropics and the Mediterranean. Hence, our focus on the study of physiological and biochemical mechanisms by which domestic animal breeds respond to SWL and plants show resilience under heat or dehydration stress.