Animal Husbandry

Animal improvement

 

 

Performance objectives

  Students should be able to

1. Define animal improvement .

2. State aims of animal   improvement.

3. Describe the processes of animal improvement

4. State the advantages and disadvantages of each process of animal improvement.

 

Step 1.     Definition

Animal improvement is a way of making our indigenous / local animals to be high in yielding, disease and pest resistance.

It can also be defined as the science of changing animals genetically with a view to increasing productivity or performance. It Also involves the upgrading of existing local breeds as a result of some desirable characteristics which they possess.

    Aims of animal improvement

These are :

• To produce animals that can give high yield or products in terms of meat , eggs,milk and milk products.
• To produce animals with high feed conversion efficiency.
• To produce animals with early maturing ability .
• To produce animals which can adapt to environmental conditions.
• produce animals that are resistant to parasites and diseases.
• To produce animals with high growth rate .
• To produce animals that are hardy .

     8.   To.produce animals with good fecundity and mothering ability.

Step 2.    Methods of animal improvement

The methods include

(i) Introduction (ii) Selection (iii) breeding

I.  Introduction -

1. This involves the Introduction of new breeds of animals with better quality and higher productive capacity than the local ones into an area

2.  This can be done to upgrade the local breeds for higher productivity

3.  The exotic breeds imported must have such desirable characteristics like good yields ,fast growth, fertility, resistance to pests and diseases.

Advantages

• Introduction produces new variety of animals which are vigorous ,high yielding and disease resistant.
• It introduces viability that may not be present in the home country .
• It enhances greater productivity.
• It helps to supplement stock already available in an area.

Disadvantages

• It may introduce new diseases to the area .
• It may introduce new pests to the area.
• It may have the problem of adaptation in the area
• It can lead to gradual loss of indigenous varieties of the animals .
• The cost of introduction of the animals is high
• It requires skilled man power.

(ii).            Selection

Selection is a process of choosing individuals with certain desirable qualities for the production of the next generation

It is based on past records of the animal

Methods of selections

• Mass selection
• Progeny selection
• Family selection
• Pedigree selection

• Mass selection - Here animals are selected or rejected on the basis of their performance.
• Projeny selection - Here animals are selected on the performance of their offspring or progeny. Mothers of the best performed offspring are retained while the mothers of offspring that do not perform well are discarded.
• Family selection - Here animals are selected or rejected on the performance of the relatives or family.
• Pedigree selection - Animals are selected or rejected on the basis of the performance of their ancestors.

Advantages of selection

• It ensures that only the best naturally available animals are selected.
• Animals with desirable characters are selected.
• Animals with undesirable characteristics are detected and rejected.
• Selection reduces the spread of diseases.

Disadvantages of selection

• Selection is tedious and time consuming .
• It requires expertise which may not be readily available.
• Selection brings about the exclusion of same desirable characters of the parent stock.
• Selection is very costly /expensive.

Evaluation Questions

• What is animal improvement.
• State any 4 aims of animal improvement.
• Mention any two methods of animal improvement
• Explain briefly the following

(i) mass selection (ii) progeny selection (iii) pedigree selection

Assignment

• Name three cattles that were introduced into Nigeria from Europe .
• Name three breeds of poultry that were introduced into Nigeria.

 

Name of Teacher - Nwankwo L O

E-mail  : nwankwoThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone number: 08142228547