Chapter 1 - Introduction: significance, challenges and strategies of animal production

Abstract

Livestock, poultry and fish are the biological transformers of low-quality feedstuffs into high-quality protein and highly bioavailable essential minerals in diets of humans. Thus, animal agriculture plays an important role in improving human nutrition, growth and health, as well as economical, political and social stability in society. However, more than 10% of the world's population suffered from chronic deficiencies of nutrients (particularly protein and microminerals) in 2016. Globally, 150million children under five years of age were stunted in their growth and development in 2017. With exponential growth of the global population and marked increases in meat consumption per capita, demands for animal-source protein are expected to increase 72% between 2013 and 2050. This raises concerns about the efficiency, sustainability and environmental impacts of animal agriculture. An attractive solution to meeting increasing needs for animal products and mitigating undesirable effects of agricultural practices is to enhance the efficiency of animal growth, reproduction, and lactation. The application of techniques in biotechnology is expected to help in achieving this goal. In addition, a promising, mechanism-based approach is to optimize the proportion and amounts of amino acids and other nutrients in diets for maximizing whole-body protein synthesis and feed efficiency. Furthermore, new management skills are required to reduce various environmental and disease-associated stresses in livestock and poultry under practical production conditions. Improvements in farm animal productivity will not only decrease the contamination of soils, groundwater, and air, but will also help sustain animal agricultural production of high-quality protein for the expanding global demand in the face of diminishing resources.