Traditional Strategies and Cutting-Edge Technologies Used for Animal Breeding: A Comprehensive Review
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Food security continues to remain a critical challenge confronting humanity. Worldwide, the demand for food products is extensively increasing. Today, the research of generating transgenic organisms is one of the fastest-developing biotechnology fields, as it promises sustainability of agriculture and aquaculture. Many of the animals observed today, including top-quality agricultural breeds such as Holstein cows and Landrace swine, have undergone significant changes and are entirely distinct from their wild ancestors. The reason behind this is that they went through decades of selective breeding (SB) techniques, particularly crossbreeding and mutation breeding. Genome or gene editing (GE) refers to the process of targeted restructuring of a gene at a specific site through genetic engineering (GEN) technology. It ultimately leads to the construction of ‘custom-made animals’ with better hereditary features and amendments. It effectively imitates the natural methods that form the origin of SB programs. However, farmers’ attempts to provide stable productivity and sustainability using traditional breeding proved difficult, inefficient, and time-consuming. So, there is a pressing need for novel strategies for efficient animal breeding today. Compared to conventional breeding techniques, GE is receiving considerable attention, since it can efficiently adjust the target gene to get a GEN animal with desired traits. Developments in animal breeding methods are ongoing, and as each innovation is made, it potentially offers a range of opportunities. The prospects vary between providing targeted production traits such as yield and nutritional profile, improving disease resistance, and expanding animal welfare. This article gives an overview of GE techniques used in breeding livestock models, birds, and fishes. It concludes that applications of GE to improve the traits are the present and future of innovation in animal production. The limitations and future of the breeding process and the development of GE technology in farm animal breeding are also addressed.
Source: Sustainable Food Connect
Author: Ahmad M. Khalil
Institution: Yarmouk University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4406628710