Steps on How Animals Can Be Improved - Productivity and All

Animal Improvement refers to the ways of developing and breeding only those animals that show good quality and have good advantages under the consideration such as good feed conversion, growth rate, disease resistance, egg and offspring size, etc. It also involves the upgrading of local breeds of animals as a result of some desirable characteristics which they possess. 

Aims and Objectives of Animal Improvement

The aim of animals improvement is to produce animals that give a high conversion rate of feeds to meat, egg, milk, etc

1. To produce animals that can provide high-quality products such as low back fat, thickness, yolk size, shell hardness, etc.
2. To produce animals with a high growth rate 
3. To breed animals with early maturity.
4. To produce animals that can adapt to climatic conditions.
5. To breed animals with a high growth rate.
6. To breed animals that have high resistance to diseases and parasites.

Process of Animal Improvement

There are three methods of animal improvement which includes:

1. Introduction
2. Selection
3. Breeding

Introduction method for Animal Improvement

The introduction method to improve animals is the process of bringing high-quality breeds of livestock with a high production capacity and other good desirable characteristics into a country or farm. Before the introduction of such exotic breeds(imported breeds), one must be very sure that such breeds possess more high-quality characteristics than local breeds. Different breeds of farm animals exist and these include local breeds, imported breeds, and the crossbreed.

The local breeds are always small animals with slow-maturing and poor producers, but they adapted to the local environment and are resistant to many diseases. The exotic breeds (imported breeds) are big animals, early-maturing, good producers but may not adapt to the local environment and not really resistant to many diseases. To obtain a balance, so that the exotic breeds can adapt to the local environment, both breeds are allowed to mate to obtain cross-breeding which will now combine all the good qualities of the exotic and the local breeds together.

Advantages of Introduction 

1. Breeds that are not present in the local country are introduced.
2. It enhances the greater productivity of animals.
3. It leads to the absence of pests if properly quarantined 
4. Breeds may perform better in terms of quality and quantity if they can adapt to the local environment.

Disadvantage of Introduction

1. It may introduce new pest(s) and disease(s) into the area.
2. It may not perform maximally.
3. It may have a great problem with adaptation.

Selection

Selection is the process of picking or selecting from a mixed population of that animals with breeding value as parents. It helps to choose animals that are capable of transmitting their genetic attributes to their own offspring. Animals with good characteristics like good meat production, egg laying, etc are selected.

Selection is grouped into two main classes

• Natural Selection: This is the ability of individual animals to weather through unfavorable environmental forces to survive and reproduce. Those that are unable to survive will die.
• Artificial Selection: This selection is done by using man's intelligence and influence to select animals to increase the number of animals. There are four types of artificial Selection which include:
• Mass selection: Animals are selected based on their own merit
• Progeny selection: Animals are selected based on the performance of their offspring. The mother of the best offspring will be retained.
• Family selection: Animals are selected based on the characteristics and performance of the relatives and family
• Pedigree selection: Animals are selected or rejected based on their ancestor's performance. This selection is based on the belief that the offspring can do like or better than the ancestors.

Advantages of Selection

1. It ensures that only the best naturally available animals are selected.
2. It reduces the spread of parasites associated with breeding stocks.
3. Animals with poor qualities are rejected.
4. Animals with the best breed are bred for distribution.

Disadvantages of Selection

1. Selection of good animals consumes time.
2. It is a waste of money
3. It requires good plant breeders to select and which may be available.
4. It brings about the elimination of some desirable traits of some parents' stock.

Breeding

Breeding is the process of developing the animal by transferring inherited qualities from parents to offspring. This is possible through mating.

Types of breeding

1. In-breeding: This involves the mating of a more closely related variety of animals than the average of the population from which they come, e.g., the mating of father to daughter, mother to son, or brother to sister. It produces offspring with desirable characteristics because of recessive genes showing up. It also leads to in-breeding depression and it helps farmers get desired character or quality that is well developed in an animal.
2. Line breeding: This is similar to in-breeding. It involves mating animals that are not too closely related e.g mating between cousins.
3. Crossbreeding: This is the mating of animals of known quality. It may lead to hybrid vigor. It brings about a greater rate of growth in offspring. It produces animals that can withstand different climatic changes. It promotes animals with high yields of eggs, meat, and milk production.
4. Outbreeding: This is the mating of unrelated individual Animals within the same breeds. Outbreeding is the opposite of inbreeding. It produces offspring with great vigor and productivity.

Advantages of Breeding

1. Offspring grows more rapidly and is more economical to rear (cross-breeding).
2. It helps to concentrate and preserve specific qualities in an animal
3. It results in the production of pure breeds or pure lines.
4. Offspring produced can withstand environmental changes.

Disadvantages of Breeding

1. It may result in poor resistance to diseases
2. It can also result in a drop in animal products such as milk, and egg, a slow growth rate, and a loss in fertility (in-breeding).

Artificial Insemination

This is the introduction of semen into the reproductive tract of the female by a method other than natural mating. The semester containing spermatozoa is carefully handled, diluted, and stored in a freezer at a temperature of 196°C in liquid nitrogen until it is required to use. For artificial Insemination to be successful, the semen which has been stored is introduced into the female reproductive tract during breeding so that fertilization will occur. 

Advantages of Artificial insemination

It is easier and less expensive than natural mating since farmers saved the money of maintaining a herd of male animals

The semen of a bull can be used after a long time of bulls death 

It's easier and cheaper to import the semen of exotic breeds rather than the male animals themselves.

It makes it possible to use the best male animal to a large extent.

Disadvantages of Artificial Insemination

1. It really requires expertise that may be limited.
2. The in-breeding effect may show up if only a few bulls are used in a particular environment.