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Global Impact Domain - Animal Genetic Resources

Year of publication 1995

Author E.P. Cunningham;Animal Production and Health Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Agriculture, in both developed and developing countries, is built on a number of basic resources. Some, like sunlight and air, are not depleted or compromised by agricultural activities. Others, like land and water, can be degraded or depleted by inappropriate use. They therefore form the focus of concern in the interactions between agriculture and the environment. Livestock, which are often considered simply as a product of or an instrument in agriculture, are also a basic resource, on a p ar with land and water. In this context, the livestock resource also forms part of the environment, and is exposed to deterioration from many of the same causes. Degradation of the livestock resource can take several forms, of which the most easily recognised is the depletion of genetic diversity. However, in many parts of the world, livestock populations can also be compromised in other ways. In many subsistence agricultural systems, particularly with communal land ownership, perennial fee d shortage means that animals function at little above survival level. Throughout the tropical world for example, cows typically calve for the first time at four to five years, and thereafter at two-yearly intervals. Calf survival rates are often low. The net effect is a population barely able to maintain its numbers, with persistent under nutrition and distress for the animals and very limited capacity to generate productive output. A series of case studies has been prepared to illustrate or support various aspects of the use or conservation of animal genetic resources. These are given in the appendix and are referred to as A1, A2 etc. Other references are given in numerical order.

Language English

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