Résumé
Recent technological advances in biology allow the collection of large sets of data which permit a precise description of domestic animal phenotypes. To process those data, scientists (zootechnicians, geneticists, physiologists, biochemists, ethologists, producers …) need to refer to a common and standardized language. The construction of this language is based on ontologies. INRA in collaboration with US and European partners has set up a program called ATOL (for “Animal Trait Ontology for Livestock”) aiming to define and to organize the phenotypic characters of livestock species including fish. The objective is to describe the traits underlying livestock production efficiency and the societal concerns: welfare and adaptation, nutrition and feed efficiency, fertility and reproductive efficiency, mammary gland and milk production, growth and meat quality. At present, 229 traits are included to describe growth and meat production of 6 major species (cattle, pig, chicken, trout, rabbit and sheep) in a generic way.