What is Animal Bio-Technology??
Animals are helping to advance biotechnology, and biotechnology
is improving animal health in return. Combining
animals and biotechnology can lead to progress in
four areas:
- Improved animal health.
- Enhancements to animal products.
- Environmental and conservation benefits.
- Advances in human health.
Animal biotechnology includes all animals—livestock, poultry, fish, insects, companion animals and laboratory animals—and covers three primary technologies: genomics, cloning and transgenics.
Animal Genomics:
Having access to the genome of a livestock species makes it possible to identify individual genes and proteins that can control a host of commercially and economically crucial functions—everything from muscle growth and tenderness to disease resistance and reproduction. Even
subtle differences in the genetic makeup of an individual animal can greatly affect its value for breeding, feedlot or branding purposes.
The diagnostic tools developed through the use of genomics are improving management practices, animal health and food quality. Traditionally, decisions regarding breeding or feedlot selection were made by human observation. But genomic-based diagnostic and selection
tools replace “eyeballing” with scientific precision and efficiency, leading to more consistent and cost-effective results.
Benefits of DNA-based Products:
- Disease surveillance and food safety: Using DNA to trace meat and animals through the food chain.
- Enhanced breeding and selection: Developing animals with desirable traits such as greater muscle mass or
milk or egg production.
- Improved animal production efficiency: Creating management systems based on genetic potential.
- Enhanced end product quality and consistency: Certifying branded meat (such as Angus beef) to meetconsumer demand.
Animal Cloning:
Livestock cloning is the most recent evolution of selective assisted breeding in the ancient practice of animal husbandry. Arab sheikhs first used artificial insemination (AI) in horses as early as the 14th century. In the last 50 years, techniques such as embryo transfer, in
vitro fertilization, embryo splitting, and blastomere transfer have become commonplace—providing farmers, ranchers and pet enthusiasts powerful tools for breeding the best animals.
Cloning does not change an animal’s genetic makeup: it is simply another form of sophisticated assisted reproduction. Cloning allows livestock breeders to create an exact genetic copy of an existing animal—essentially an identical twin.
Livestock Cloning Benefits:
Animal cloning offers benefits to consumers, farmers and
endangered species:
- Cloning accelerates the birth of the best possible stock and provides farmers with certainty of the genetic makeup of a particular animal.
- Cloning reproduces the strongest, healthiest animals,thus optimizing animal well-being and minimizing the need for veterinary intervention.
- Cloning can be used to protect endangered species. For example, in China, panda cells are kept on reserve as insurance against extinction.
Transgenic Animals:
A transgenic animal is one that has had genetic material from another species added to its DNA. This breakthrough technology allows scientists to precisely transfer beneficial genes from one species to another. Transgenic technology can improve the nutritional value of animal products through enhanced genes. In addition, the technology promises improved animal welfare and productivity—a critical capability in meeting the food demands of a growing global population.
Transgenic animals currently under development include pigs, cattle, fish and poultry, each of which will be thoroughly reviewed by the appropriate federal agencies before entering the marketplace.
Benefits of Transgenic Animals:
Transgenic animals offer a plethora of benefits that will
improve consumer health and nutrition, as well as animal
welfare and productivity:
- Increased nutritional value.
- Quality assurance.
- Higher efficiency production.
- Stronger disease resistance.
- Improved animal welfare—less disease and longer lifespan.
Animal Welfare & the Environment:
By making animal welfare a priority, transgenic technology (as well as other animal biotechnology) offers tremendous potential benefits for animals. Specifically, it can
help cut animal mortality and disease, as well as reduce or eliminate painful standard agricultural practices like castration and de-horning.
Transgenic technology can also be used to mitigate environmental impacts of livestock production. The EnviroPig™, for example, dramatically lowers levels of phosphorus pollution. Such applications underscore the industry’s commitment to environmental protection.