Animal reproduction research to transform industry

New biotechnologies that influence the sex ratio and fertility of production animals are set to not only dramatically boost the productivity and profitability of Australia’s cattle and aquaculture industries but also address significant sustainability and welfare issues.

Being able to produce more animals of the desirable sex to re-stock the herd, pond or sea cage has been a long-held goal of industry, as have cost effective and welfare-friendly ways to control unwanted animal pregnancies.

Thanks to new research being undertaken by an international partnership led by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), these goals are set to become reality. According to CSIRO’s Food Futures Flagship Director Dr Bruce Lee, the new multi-million dollar, three-year project aims to develop:

•  a vaccine to sterilise male and female cattle;
•  better ways to breed female only Atlantic salmon, which are more productive than their male   counterparts;
•  sterile female prawns which grow 30 percent faster than males.

The collaboration, involving CSIRO, The University of Queensland (UQ), The University of Newcastle, Simon Fraser University in Canada and Central Michigan University in the USA, brings together world-leading scientists to find solutions to these difficult problems. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.