Environmental Stress And Amelioration In Livestock Production

Given the importance of livestock to the global economy, there is a substantial need for world-class reference material on the sustainable management of livestock in diverse eco-regions. With uncertain climates involving unpredictable extreme events (e.g., heat, drought, infectious disease), environmental stresses are becoming the most crucial factors affecting livestock productivity. By systematically and comprehensively addressing all aspects of environmental stresses and livestock productivity, this volume is a useful tool for understanding the various intricacies of stress physiology. With information and case studies collected and analyzed by professionals working in diversified ecological zones, this book explores the influence of the environment on livestock production across global biomes. The challenges the livestock industry faces in maintaining the delicate balance between animal welfare and production are also highlighted.

This volume addresses in detail both livestock’s role in climate change and the impacts of climate change on livestock production and reproduction. Apart from these cardinal principles of climate change and livestock production, this volume also examines the various strategies used to mitigate livestock-related GHG emissions, and those which can reduce the impacts of climate change on livestock production and reproduction. Presenting information and case studies collected and analyzed by professionals working in diversified ecological zones, the book explores the influence of climate change on livestock production across the globe. The most significant feature of this book is that it addresses in detail the different adaptation strategies and identifies targets for different stakeholders in connection with climate change and livestock production. Further, it puts forward development plans that will allow the livestock industries to cope with current climate changes and strategies that will mitigate the effects by 2025. Lastly, it provides researchers and policymakers several researchable priorities to help develop economically viable solutions for livestock production with less GHG emissions, promoting a cleaner environment in which human beings and livestock can live in harmony without adverse effects on productivity. Given that livestock production systems are sensitive to climate change and at the same are themselves a contributor to the phenomenon, climate change has the potential to pose an increasingly formidable challenge to the development of the livestock sector. However, there is a dearth of scientific information on adapting livestock production to the changing climate; as such, well-founded reference material on sustaining livestock production systems under the changing climate scenarios in different agro-ecological zones of the world is essential. By methodically and extensively addressing all aspects of climate change and livestock production, this volume offers a valuable tool for understanding the hidden intricacies of climatic stress and its influence on livestock production.

This book describes the importance of sustainable livestock production from a food security perspective in the changing climate scenario. It covers the amelioration of climate change impacts and describes the various mitigation strategies to reduce enteric methane emissions. The book targets sustainable livestock production by covering diverse concepts of amelioration, mitigation, and policy up-gradation. Further, it examines various adverse impacts of climate change on growth, meat, milk, and reproduction in livestock. Most importantly, the book covers novel aspects of quantifying heat stress response of livestock based on non-invasive methodologies, including infrared thermal imaging, sensor-based applications, hair, urine, and fecal cortisol estimation. Particular emphasis was given to describing the skin-based novel approaches to establish climate resilience in indigenous breeds. The book provides detailed descriptions of alleviating climate change impacts on shelter management, nutritional interventions, and genetics-based strategies involving advanced genomic tools. Lastly, it highlights the livestock species which could be considered ideal climate-resilient animal models to withstand the adversities associated with climate change.

Animal husbandry is strongly influenced by weather and climate. Climate change/variability imposes multiple stresses in animals and thus vital to understand the impact of environmental stress on livestock production and reproduction. Among the environmental variables affecting livestock, heat stress seems to be one of the more intriguing factors making difficult animal reproduction and production. Information and knowledge on animal responses to the environment continues to be in process, managing livestock to reduce the impact of adverse weather and climate remains a challenge. Responding to the challenges of global warming necessitate a paradigm shift in the practice of agriculture and in the role of livestock within the farming system. The key thematic issues on environment stress and livestock production includes: early warning system, multiple stress research, exploitation of genetic potential of native breeds, suitable breeding programme and nutritional intervention research. Livestock farmers should have key roles in determining what adaptation and mitigation strategies they support if these have to sustain livestock production in changing climate. The integration of new technologies into the research and technology transfer systems potentially offers many opportunities to further the development of climate change adaptation strategies. This publication is therefore a multi-authored attempt to present the scientific fraternity high quality resource material in the field of climate change and livestock production. Attempts were made to discuss the adaptive mechanism that the animal exhibits to counteract the adverse effects of heat stress. In addition to the adaptive mechanisms, several management and feeding practices have also been established as tested methods for reduction of stress effects in livestock. It also highlights the challenges the livestock industry faces in maintaining the delicate balance between animal welfare and production. This book is a comprehensive resource for the researchers, teachers and students to understand stress, stress management and livestock productivity so as to sustain animal production in the Country under projected climate change scenario.

In a changing climate, livestock production is expected to exhibit dual roles of mitigation and adaptation in order to meet the challenge of food security. This book approaches the issues of livestock production and climate change through three sections: I. Livestock production, II. Climate change and, III. Enteric methane amelioration. Section I addresses issues of feed quality and availability, abiotic stress (heat and nutritional) and strategies for alleviation, livestock generated nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and approaches for harnessing the complex gut microbial diversity. Section II discusses the effects of climate change on livestock diversity, farm animal reproduction, impact of meat production on climate change, and emphasising the role of indigenous livestock in climatic change to sustain production. Section III deals with the most recent approaches to amelioration of livestock methane such as breeding for low methane emissions, reductive acetogenesis, immunization/vaccine-based concepts and archaea phage therapy.

Environmental stress is one of the most significant factors affecting livestock performance and health, and it is only expected to increase with effects of global warming. Environmental Physiology of Livestock brings together the latest research on environmental physiology, summarizing progress in the field and providing directions for future research. Recent developments in estimating heat stress loads are discussed, as well as key studies in metabolism, reproduction, and genetic expressions. Environmental Physiology of Livestock begins with a survey of current heat indexing tools, highlighting recent discoveries in animal physiology, changes in productivity levels, and new technologies available to better estimate stress response. Using this synopsis as a point of orientation, later chapters hone in on major effects of heat stress, including changing metabolic pathways and nutrient requirements, endocrine regulation of acclimation to environmental stress, and reduced reproductive performance. The text concludes with a thorough discussion of environmental effects on gene expressions, providing important insight for future breeding practices. Environmental Physiology of Livestock is a globally contributed volume and a key resource for animal science researchers, geneticists, and breeders.

Created for sophomore - senior level undergraduate courses that deal with farm animal well-being, with perspectives on stress, behavior, and environmental design. Also an ideal supplementary text in such agriculture courses as Farm Animal Behavior, Farm Animal Production, and Environmental Management for Farm Animals. Focusing on three major areas of consideration (physical, dietary, and social) required to successfully maintain a balanced, low-stress environment for farm animals, this comprehensive survey discusses the broad range of environmental needs of animals, how these needs are met, and why providing an adequate environment is critical to animal well-being as well as economics in animal enterprises. An excellent reference for livestock producers and all professionals serving the animal industry.

" ... At the Expert Consultation held at FAO headquarters in Rome in September 2011, participants called for a series of case studies to document existing practices that enhance animal welfare as well as farmers' incomes; currently, such studies are few and far between. This document presents a number of such studies and it is hoped that the information they contain will encourage researchers and agencies working in the area of animal welfare to initiate studies to capture the impact of any intervention on farmers' incomes - an area that has been neglected to date. It is also envisaged that these studies could pave the way for developing guidelines and policy options to promote sustainable animal feeding that enhances animal welfare, animal productivity, animal product quality and profitability."--Preface.