Climate change and adaptation practices in the livestock sector.
2023
The article considers the negative interaction between climate change and livestock farming in Georgia, as well as the risks caused by global warming and methods for adapting the livestock sector to its impact. Between 2041 and 2070, temperatures are expected to rise to 1.6°C -3°C degrees across the country against a reduction of precipitation to 3.6-15%. Other new risks are expected to appear. The main factor affecting climate on a global scale is greenhouse gases, of which livestock production is an important source. Studies have found that the ability of local cattle breeds to adapt to hot climates was significantly better than that of high-yielding breeds. So, return to traditional animal husbandry, the development of small-scale farms and family farms based on natural food production, a focus on ecological livestock breeding in mountainous areas, using energy-saving technologies and less pollution, is considered a necessary way of adaptation. The existence of smallholdings is organically linked to the breeding of local cattle breeds, the protection, restoration and improvement of which should be given special attention. Their ability to adapt physically and physiologically to stress, which must be explained by heredity, forms the basis for their use in the breeding of high-yielding breeds for the establishment of industrial livestock production. Tab. 1, Ref. 9.
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