Animal Production and Health

Last Updated: July 2005

The focus of activities is on enhancing food security by supporting sustainable livestock production systems in developing countries through strategic and applied research, technology transfer and capacity building. The three principal components of the programme are animal production, animal health and food safety. Problems are identified and solutions developed using nuclear-based tools, strategically and in conjunction with conventional technologies, as summarized below.

1. Characterization of locally available feed and animal genetic resources, identifying and alleviating constraints in the management of feeding, breeding and reproduction to improve the efficiency of livestock production while conserving the environment, through:

Radioimmunoassays for measuring hormones: for identifying and mitigating constraints to efficient livestock production; improving the delivery of national artificial insemination services and providing diagnostic services to farmers.
Radiolabelled evaluation systems, Radiolabelled hybridisation, polymerase chain reaction, gene expression and other molecular methods: for developing effective feed supplementation strategies using locally available feed resources, particularly those that do not compete with human food; for characterizing rumen microbial ecology to develop and use strategies to decrease environmental pollution from gases and excretions from livestock; for characterizing small ruminant genetic resources and identifying quantitative trait loci, microsatellites and genes for disease resistanceand productive traits.

For the latest information on any of these activities see our:

Newsletter No. 42
- July 2005 -

An Overview of Animal Production Activities (1998 - 2004)

For some highlights and current events please click the NEWS link on the left navigation frame

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2. Assessment and reduction of risk to livestock by effective diagnosis and monitoring of transboundary animal diseases and zoonoses and their use in national and international control and eradication programmes to increase national and international trade, through:

Immunoassays, Molecular diagnostic techniques (Polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing) and other appropriate procedures: to develop, evaluate, standardize and validate reagents, kits and procedures and to develop guidelines for their use for the rapid, early, sensitive and specific diagnosis of diseases.
Establishment of quality assured Standard Operating Procedures and Systems related to nuclear and non-nuclear disease diagnosis and monitoring methods: for use in animal diseases diagnostic laboratories.

3. Assessment and reduction of risk to livestock products by effective screening and quantification of veterinary drug residues in animal products and promoting safety of foods, through:

Radioimmunoassays for measuring veterinary drug residues: for promoting safety of food of animal origin and meeting international requirements for their trade.
Establishment of quality systems related to nuclear and non-nuclear methodologies: for screening, confirming and measuring veterinary drug residues in the veterinary drug laboratories.

The above activities are complemented by tools developed for computerized data management in disease diagnosis and animal production; use of geographic information systems in farm resource management and disease management; and distance learning through information communication technologies in the related areas.

We work mostly with the National Agricultural Research Institutes of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), providing support and guidance in formulating and implementing strategic, applied and adaptive research underpinning national, regional and global livestock development objectives, including those of EMPRES and OIE's Animal Health Standards which underpin Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures under the WTO Agreements. These activities are pursued through Research Networks, Technical Co-operation Projects and Training Courses which are closely linked through a common set of objectives, and conducted in collaboration with other global and regional partners e.g. FAO's Animal Production and Health Division (AGA); the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); the International Office of Epizootics (OIE); and OAU's International Bureau of Animal Resources (IBAR).
We operate an Animal Production Unit from the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, at Seibersdorf, and promote information sharing among national research organizations and regional and global bodies through symposia, seminars and consultants' meetings, and by disseminating the results of our activities through various types of publications including newsletters, manuals and databases.