Biotechnology Applications in Livestock Production

During the Neolithic Revolution, agriculture was the major means of food production. Through biotechnology, the early farmers selected and kept the highest performing crops, with the highest amount of output, to produce adequate food for the increasing population. As the first forms of biotechnology, the genetics of farmers’ crop varieties were changed through selection, human migration leading to their establishment in completely different environments and crossing with other varieties. The procedure behind fermentation was quite vague until 1857 when Louis Pasteur’s work resulted in the application of biotechnology in converting food items into other valuable products. With the process of fermentation introduced around early Mesopotamia, starch in malted grains was converted to sugar in the brewing of beer. This process of fermentation was used in other cultures in the preservation of food in diverse ways, like in the production of soy sauce and leavened bread. It is on record that selective breeding techniques have been used by humans to enhance the production of food crops, cash crops and livestock for food security for centuries. Living organisms with distinct traits have been bred to reproduce off-springs with similar desirable traits, for instance; the modification of corn which led to the production of enhanced sweet corn varieties. Earlier in the 20th century, especially during the World War 1, Scientists in the United Kingdom exploited the understanding of microbiology in the manufacture of specific products such as the conversion of corn starch in the production of acetone using Clostridium acetobutylicum, which was highly required in the production of explosives. Biotechnological applications have also been used in the production of antibiotics employed in combating pathogenic diseases in humans. Between 1971 and 1980, using gene splicing procedure, significantly advanced the new technology, and by 1980, genetic material was successfully transferred into a bacterium to genetically modify microorganisms for the production of insulin. Despite the fact that major genetic enhancements have been carried out in crops over the centuries, current trends including animal genomics, food fortification for improved human nutrition and health is rapidly taking over for enhanced food and nutrition security; while the most recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genome editing are currently being deployed to fast-track genetic improvement for the benefit of man.