ANIMAL BREEDING

AND IMPROVEMENT
SUBTOPICS:

• Animal breeding
• History of animal breeding
• System of mating
• System of breeding
• Positive and Negative effects of Animal
breeding
• Animal improvement
 WHAT IS ANIMAL BREEDING?

• Is the process of selective mating of

animals with desirable genetic traits to
maintain or enhance these traits in
future generation.
 WHAT IS BREED?

• Is a specific group of domestic animals

having homogeneous appearance
(phenotype),homogeneous behavior ,
and/or other characteristics that distinguish
it from other organisms of the same
species.
 HISTORY OF ANIMAL BREEDING
There are 5 very important aspects that should be
considered in animal breeding.
• Most importantly, obviously for selective breeding to
be successful it is essential that the trait (e.g.
running speed or milk production or coat colour)
under selection is heritable.
• That animals have different genetic backgrounds so
that selection is possible.
• The direction of selection is defined by humans and
they decide which animals are allowed to mate and
produce members of the next generation.
• Success of animal breeding can be
judged by looking at a shift in
population average phenotype from
one generation to the next. So animal
breeding works at population level,
not automatically at individual level.
• Success of animal breeding can be
measured as the cumulative result of
multiple generations of selection.
Breeding decisions are made with the
 ORIGIN OF ANIMAL BREEDING

• The start in the 18-th century

• Until roughly the 1700's animal breeding, as in
selective breeding, did not really exist.
• There was no systematic way of selecting
animals for reproduction, based on predefined
characteristics that did not change from
mating to mating, but remained similar in time.
• In Europe , the origin of animal breeding lays
in the United Kingdom. It was Sir Robert
Bakewell (1725 – 1795) who introduced
keeping accurate records of performance of
animals so that objective selection became
possible.
• He used inbreeding (mating of related
animals with similar traits) to fix certain
characteristics in animals and he also
introduced progeny testing: the method of
evaluating performance of the first (small)
group of progeny and use that information to
select the best father of future progeny.
• He promoted the idea to 'breed the best to the best'.
Bakewell developed the New Leicester sheep from the
old Lincolnshire breed.
• The New Leicester had good quality fleece and a good
fatty shoulder that was popular at the time. Bakewell
also noticed that Longhorn cattle were growing well
and used less feed compared to other cattle.
• So he developed that further in order to grow more
meat efficiently. It is amazing he did this without
knowing anything about genetics.
 ANIMAL BREEDING IN THE 20TH
CENTURY
• Most of the animal breeding theory we are still using today, was
invented in the first half of the 20-th century.
• The statistician R. A. Fisher (1890 – 1962) showed that the diversity of
expression of a trait could depend on the involvement of a large
number of so-called Mendelian factors (genes).
• Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) and coworkers connected the
chromosome theory of inheritance to the work by Mendel and created
a theory where chromosomes of cells were believed to carry the actual
hereditary material.
 SYSTEM OF MATING

• The way animal populations are being

structured in relation to reproductive/
sexual behavior.
 PEN MATING
• A cohort of females is brought into the
male’s pen and he services them all while
they are in the pen. This is the least labor-
intensive mating system because the
animals are just left to mate at will.
 HAND MATING
• Mating in which the female is detected to
be estrus and is then handheld while she
is mated or is let into a padlock or pen
with a male , where she is the only
female.
 MONOGAMY

• One male and one female have an

exclusive mating relationship , serially or
for a life-time.
 PROMISCUITY

• Any male mates with any female in a

population or social group.
 POLYGAMY

• One male has a relationship with two or

more females.
 POLYANDRY

• One female has a relationship with two

or more males.
 POLYGYNANDRY

• Two or more males have a relationship

with two or more females(almost
promiscuity).
SYSTEM OF
BREEDING
 PURE BREEDING

• Is the mating of males and females

livestock animals of the same breed or
type.
 TYPES OF PURE BREEDING

• OUT-BREEDING
- mating of animals of the same breed but
which have no closer relationship than at
least four to six generation.
• INBREEDING
-mating of closely related animals . For example
, sire to daughter , son to dam , and brother to
sister.
• LINE BREEDING
-a system of breeding in which the degree of
relationship is less intense than in inbreeding. It
is usually directed towards keeping the offspring
related to some highly priced ancestor .
 CROSSBREEDING
• Is the mating of males and females
livestock animals of different breed
compositions or types.
 CROSSBREEDING ADVANTAGE

• HETEROSIS
-is the superiority of the crossbreed offspring.
Mathematically, heterosis is the difference in
performance between the crossbred and the
average performance of its purebred parents.
• BREED COMPLEMENTARITY
-all breeds have strengths and
weaknesses. No breed excels in all
relevant traits. Thus ,production can be
optimized when mating systems place
breeds in roles that maximize their
strenghts and their weaknesses.
 TYPES OF CROOSSBREEDING

• TERMINAL CROSSING
-all the crossbred offspring are sold and
replacement of females must be
purchased or produced in the group by
mating the proportion of the group to the
males of the same breed.
• ROTATIONAL CROSSING
-involves alternating the use of males of
two ,three, or more breeds. Females are
mated to males of the breed which are
least related.
• ROTO-TERMINAL CROSSING
-involves both terminal crossing and
rotational crossing.
• GRADING UP
-denotes the repeated crossing of females and
their females progeny to males of a single
breed.
• SINGLE CROSSING
-a first generation breeds between two selected
and usually inbred lines.
• BACK CROSSING
-breeding of animals with one of its parents or
individual genetically similar to its parent, in
order to achieve offspring with a identity which
is closer to that of the parent.
 POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ANIMAL
BREEDING

• Increased production
• Disease resistance
• Successful reproduction
• Resilience to climate stresses, most often
heat and drought.
• Highly productive animals use a greater portion of
their nutritional intake to produce desired goods such
as milk or meat as opposed to simply maintaining
their bodies. Increased longevity and reproductive
success also means that feed calories are
concentrated among most productive, and that a
lower number of animals needs to be kept in a herd
for replacements.
• Animal breeding makes use of the natural variation
among animals. It can yield permanent and
cumulative improvements in the population because
the selected traits are directly transferred from
generation to generation.
 NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF ANIMAL
BREEDING

• It is not all positive that has come out of animal

breeding practices.
• There are also examples where selective
breeding has not only improved certain
performances, but simultaneously and
unintendedly also deteriorated other
performances that were not under selection:
the so-called negative correlated responses.
• Both types of negative responses to selective
breeding are difficult to predict and are
usually only noticed afterwards.
• Selection for large offspring has resulted in a
high fraction of difficult births, sometimes
requiring caesarean sections in the Texel
sheep, and even almost as a standard way of
delivering in the beef cattle breeds Belgian
White-and-Blue cattle and the Dutch Improved
Red-and-White.
ANIMAL IMPROVEMENT
 WHAT IS ANIMAL IMPROVEMENT?

• Is the process of selecting and breeding

animals to enhanced desired traits. This
practice has been a cornerstone of
agriculture for centuries , leading to
significant advancements in livestock
production.
 KEY METHODS OF ANIMAL
IMPROVEMENT
• SELECTIVE BREEDING
-this is the most traditional method , involving mating
animals with desirable traits to produced offspring
with those traits.
• ARTEFICIAL INSEMIINATION
-sperm from a superior male is collected and used to
inseminate multiple females, increasing the genetic
reach of a single animal.
• IN VITRO FERTILIZATION(IVF)
-eggs are fertilized outside the body , and
the resulting embryos can be implanted
into surrogate mothers, allowing for more
controlled breeding.
• GENE EDITING
-this relatively new technique involves
altering the genetic code of an animal to
introduce or modify specific traits .
 TRAITS COMMONLY IMPROVED IN
ANIMALS
• GROWTH RATE
-faster growing animals lead to increased production
efficiency.
• MEAT QUALITY
-improvements in tenderness ,flavor , and leanness.
• MILK PRODUCTION
-higher milk yield and quality.
• FERTILITY
-increased reproductive efficiency.
• DISEASE RESISTANCE
-animals that are more resistant to diseases
reduce health costs and mortality.
 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Animal welfare is a critical concern in animal
improvement.
While advancements in breeding and genetic
technologies have led to significant benefits for
livestock production, it is essential to ensure that these
practices do not compromise the well-being of animals.
Ethical considerations include minimizing stress,
providing adequate nutrition and housing, preventing
disease and ensuring human euthanasia when
necessary. By prioritizing animal welfare , we can
ensure that the benefits of animal improvement are
achieved in a responsible and sustainable manner.
• Genetic diversity is crucial in animal
improvement.
It provides a reservoir of genetic variation that
can be exploited to develop animals with
desirable traits. By maintaining genetic
diversity, breeders can reduce the risk of
inbreeding depression , which occurs when
closely related animals are mated , leading to a
decline in genetic fitness. Additionally , genetic
diversity increases the adaptability of animal
populations to changing environmental
conditions, such as diseases , climate change ,
and altered market demands.
• Unintended consequences in animal
improvement can arise from breeding for
specific traits, often leading to unforeseen
problems.
For example,breeding for increased muscle massin
livestock can sometimes result in health issues such as
joint problems or difficulty giving birth. Similarly,
breeding for higher milk production in dairy cattle can
increased the risk of mastitis,a painful udder infection.
These unintended consequences highlights the
importance of careful consideration and monitoring in
animal breeding programs to ensure the overall well-
being of animals.
THANK YOU!
PREPARED BY:
GROUP 8
1. CHARITY LUMAMIG
2. NYRIA JAYE ESTANCIA
3. MARICAR RENEGADO
4. MICHEL ALLAN BICOY
5. ARJIE SUCO
6. JOHN PAUL PAQUE