The present status of poultry, cattle and aqua industries pose challenges and opportunities for improvement of productions further to meet the growing demands in the coming years. So far chemical, biological and mechanical innovations had come to our rescue to increase productivity but now the most promising technology would be Biotechnology.
Biotechnology is a modern tool by which crop and animal improvement is possible by applying cell and gene technology. Agricultural biotechnology brings together advanced disciplines of biology, genetics, molecular biology, biophysics, biochemical engineering and computer science. The potential contribution of Biotechnology to the livestock revolution would be in area of reproductive biotechnology which includes artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) and molecular biotechnology which consists of development of transgenic animals, diagnostic kits, recombinant vaccines and genetically modified (GM) feed stuff and feed additives. In the production of transgenic animals especially for poultry and cattle, India is unlikely to make great progress in the near future. This is because the technology development is very time consuming, expensive and inefficient at present. Also consumer acceptance, ethical considerations and risk evaluation may reduce the scope considerably. But other biotechnological inputs covering the entire food production chain from animal feed to product processing would be applicable. The largest impact of biotechnology on livestock production in India is likely to stem from increasing the livestock feeds through improving nutrient content as well as the digestibility of low quality feeds through use of efficient feed additives. The focus of this article would be to evaluate the present and future application of biotechnology in the animal feeds.
