Steps on How Animals Can Be Improved | Productivity and All

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

Aims and Objectives of Animal Improvement

1. The aim of animals improvement is to produce animals that gives high conversion rate of feeds to meat,egg,milk etc

2. To produce animals that can provides high quality of product such as, low back-fat, thickness, yolk size, shell hardness etc.

3. To produce animals with high growth rate 

4. To breed animals with early maturity.

5. To produce animals which can adapt to climatic conditions.

6. To breed animals with high growth rate.

7. 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

Introduction method to improve animals is the process of bringing high quality breeeds of livestock with a high productive capacity and other good desirable characteristics into a country or farm.Before the introduction of such the exotic breeds(imported breeds), one must be very sure that such breeds possess high quality characteristics rhant the local breeds. Different breeds of farm animals exists and these includes the local breeds, imported breeds and the cross breed.

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

Advantages of Introduction 

1. Breeds which are not present in the local country are introduced.

2. It enhance greater productivity if animals.

3. It leads to the absence of pest if properly quarantined 

4. Breeds may perform better in terms of quality and quantity, if it is able to adapt to 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 in 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 select animals that are capable to transmit 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

1. Natural Selection: This is the ability of individual animal to weather through unfavorable environmental forces to survive and reproduce.Those that are unable to survive will die.

2. Artificial Selection: This selection is done by using man's intelligence and influence to select animals in order to increase the number of animals. There are four types of artificial Selection which includes:

(i) Mass selection: Animals are selected based on their own merit

(ii) Progeny selection: Animals are selected based on the performance of their offspring. Mother of the best offspring will be retained.

(iii) Family selection: Animals are selected based onthe characteristics and performance of the relatives and family

(iv) Pedigree selection: Animals are selected or rejected based on their ancestors performance.This selection is based of 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 is selected.

2. It reduces the spread of parasite associated with breeding stocks.

3. Animals with poor qualities are rejected.

4. Animals with best breed are bred for distribution.

Disadvantages of Selection

1. Selection of good animal consumes time .

2. It is waste money

3. It requires good plant breeders to select and which may be be available.

4. It brings about the elimination of some desirable traits of some parents stock.

Breeding

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

Types of breeding

1. In-breeding - This involves the mating of more closely related variety of animal than the average of the population from which they come, e.g., the mating of father to it's daughter, son to mother 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 famers get desired character or quality that is well developed in an animal.

2. Line breeding : This is similar to in-breeding. It involves the mating of animals that are not too closely related e.g mating between cousins.

3. Cross breeding- This is the mating of animals of known quality.It may leads to hybrid vigour.It brings about greater rate of growth in an offspring.It produces animals that can withstand different climatic changes.It promotes animals with high yield of eggs, meat, and milk production.

4. Out breeding- This is the mating of unrelated individual Animals within the same breeds.Out breeding is the opposite of in breeding.It produces offspring with great vigour 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 line.

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 drop in production of animal such as milk,egg, slow growth rate and loss in fertility (in-breeding).

Artificial Insemination

This is the introduction of semen into the reproductive tract of the female by a method and other than natural mating.The semester containing spermatozoa are carefully handled, diluted and stored in 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 tract during breeding so that fertilization will occur. 

Advantages of Artificial insemination

1. It is easier and less expensive that natural mating since farmer saved the money of maintaining a herd of male animals

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

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

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

Disadvantages of Artificial Insemination

1. It really requires expertise which may not be readily available.

2. In-breeding effect may show up if only a few bull are used in a particular environment.