Animal Husbandry
Chapter Name : Strategies For Enhancement In Food Production |
Sub Topic Code : 103_12_09_01_02 |
Topic Name : Animal Husbandry |
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Sub Topic Name : Animal Breeding |
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Introduction
Animal breeding is an important aspect of animal husbandry and aims at increasing the yield of animals and improving the desirable qualities of the produce.
Pre-Requisites:
• Knowledge about importance of animal husbandry. • Mendelian genetics.
Real Life Question:
Gallons and Gallons of milk are required each day in a country. Imagine the number of cows that will be required. So how cows are made efficient so they can produce such higher quantity of milk?
Key Words / FlashCards
| Key Words | Definitions (pref. in our own words) |
|---|---|
| Inbreeding | Refers to mating of closely related individuals within the same breed for 4-6 generations. Used to evolve pure line in any animal as it increases homozygosity. Close inbreeding also reduces fertility and productivity termed as inbreeding depression. |
| Out-breeding | Breeding of unrelated animals which may be between individuals of the same breed but having no common ancestors on either side (out-crossing) or between different breeds (cross-breeding) or different species (inter-specific hybridization). |
| Artificial insemination | Semen is collected from the selected male parent and injected into the selected female’s reproductive tract. Semen may be used immediately or can be frozen and used at a later date. |
| Multiple ovulation embryo transfer technology | Cow is administered with hormones that induce superovulation. This cow is then mated with an elite bull or inseminated. The fertilized eggs at 8-32 cells stage are non-surgically removed and transferred to surrogate mothers. Used mostly in increasing herd size. |
Learning aids / Gadgets
| Gadgets | How it can be used |
|---|---|
| Encyclopedia and internet. | Find the different types of breeds and their parents and see whether they are mated by inbreeding or out-breeding techniques. |
Real life uses :
Breeding has helped to improve the animals and their produce and achieve major increase in their produce.
Places to visit :
Cattle farms, etc.
Practical examples around us
| Examples | Explainations |
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What you learn in Theory:
The various inbreeding and out-breeding methods involved in animal husbandry.
What you learn in Practice:
How yield and quality of produce is improved in animals by breeding.