Blanco Orejinegro cattle (BON) a zoogenetic resource available for efficient livestock farming in Colombia.

Livestock activity in Colombia is of great economic importance, but its productive indices are not optimal, due in part to the fact that most of the animals used are of foreign breeds insufficiently adapted to local environmental conditions, which prevents them from fully developing their genetic potential. This situation is favored by the adverse environmental conditions typical of the tropics, such as the high temperatures that imply situations of thermal stress, and the low quality of forages with a marked fluctuation in their nutritional content, which conditions low energy and protein levels in them. All of the above ends up generating deficiencies in the nutrients offered with respect to the requirements of the animals, which imply imbalances or negative interactions between minerals, proteins and energy, and which end up being expressed with low productive parameters. In such unfavorable conditions, the Blanco Orejinegro Cattle (BON) is one of the Creole cattle breeds of Colombia, which have naturally adapted to the environment of the area, and which is being widely used in tropical regions of America for its reproductive and productive capacity, resistance to diseases, and for its good ability expressed in crosses with specialized meat and dairy breeds. This article reviews these aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]