Breeding animals to feed people: The many roles of animal reproduction in ensuring global food security
| Autor: | Ty C Davis, Robin R. White |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Livestock
Meat Natural resource economics Population Reproductive technology Breeding Environment 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Food Animals Production (economics) Animals Humans Animal Husbandry Small Animals education education.field_of_study 030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine Food security Reproductive success Equine business.industry 0402 animal and dairy science 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences 040201 dairy & animal science Milk Agriculture Food Security Sustainability Animal Science and Zoology business |
| Zdroj: | Theriogenology. 150 |
| ISSN: | 1879-3231 |
| Popis: | As the population grows and shifts demographically, the resulting increase in demand for beef and milk necessitates improvements in the sustainability of ruminant livestock production systems. Ruminant livestock contribute to ensuring global food security because they have the ability to up-cycle non-human-edible products into meat and milk products with notable nutritional value. However, ruminant livestock also pose a challenge to global food sustainability because they are resource-intensive to produce and contribute substantially to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. As such, improving environmental impacts of ruminant livestock production globally is an essential goal. There are a number of strategies that can be employed to enhance sustainability of ruminant production systems; however, improving reproductive efficiency is among the more efficient, because an increase in reproductive success will reduce the number of cows needed to produce a target quantity of beef. This reduction in the cow herd size helps limit the number of unproductive animals retained in the herd, thereby reducing the environmental maintenance cost of livestock production. Additionally, proper application of reproductive technologies enables faster and more targeted advances in genetic gains, which can be leveraged to produce phenotypes that are resource-use-efficient and well-adapted to their production environment. Optimizing reproductive efficiency can be accomplished through improved genetic selection for fertility and fecundity; applying more effective use of assisted reproductive technologies; and coupling reproductive and nutritional management to optimize likelihood of reproductive success. Collectively, applying these approaches will be essential when working to ensure ruminant livestock’s contribution to global food security. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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