Chapter 17_Livestock Productivity and Health

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Chapter17:Improving Livestock Productivity and Health

Edited byDr. Mir F. Ali 1

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The world is faced with crucial challenges toensure food security. The reality is that theamount of available animal protein for human consumption at a global level is alreadylimited. Additionally, the increased movement of animals and animal products due to

expanding world trade and the growing effects of climate change making the fragile foodsecurity further exacerbated. There is a strong possibility that these effects may result inchanges in the geographical distribution of pathogens and their vectors. At the sametime, there is a recognition that assisting smallholder farmers in developing countries toimprove the utilization of locally available land, water, and plant resources in order tointensify and increase animal production is critical to ensuring food security for a worldpopulation that will grow to over eight billion in the next twenty years.

Perhaps another noteworthy factor to consider is that resource-poor developing countrieswill become increasingly vulnerable to emergencies caused by the growing prevalence ofinfectious diseases, especially transboundary animal diseases (TADs). A complicatingfactor is that more than 60 percent of the TADs are zoonotic diseases, diseases of animalorigin that infect humans, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), H5N1 (AvianInfluenza) and H1N1 (Swine Flu), Rabies, Rift Valley Fever, and Trypanosomosis.
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It is envisioned that in order to improve livestock productivity as well as health whileminimizing the vulnerability to emergencies caused by the growing prevalence ofinfection diseases, it will require not only more sustainable livestock production, but alsomore efficient approaches, meaningful tools, and realistic strategies for preventing,diagnosing and controlling animal diseases around the world.

Unfortunately, classical or traditional techniques for diagnosing threatening diseases arewell in place, but often lack the sensitivity and specificity needed to make accurate andtimely diagnoses of diseases. Nuclear and nuclear related technologies have these featuresand are therefore increasingly being used to complement traditional diagnostic andtracing technologies to improve the early and rapid diagnosis and control of animaldiseases through tracing and vaccination strategies. The IAEA, through the developmentand application of nuclear and nuclear-related technologies, is at the forefront ofdeveloping and validating early and rapid diagnostic techniques. These techniques are:

1. Simple to use, inexpensive and can be applied in a laboratory limitedenvironment, such as those located in rural and decentralized areas;2. In the tracing of diseases through the application of stable isotope techniques; and

3. In the application of irradiation technologies to provide safe and user friendlyvaccines.


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Nuclear applications for improving livestock productivity and health have driven modernbiotechnological research by providing more sensitive, specific and cost effectivediagnostic platforms or assays to detect and characterize the disease pathogens. Many ofthese nuclear-based applications are being used in IAEA Member States for diagnosis ofTADs such as rinderpest and rabies. The use of nuclear technologies allows the detection

and characterization of pathogens within 24 hours of their onset, helping to differentiateone particular virus strain from another. An example of this differentiation is noted in thecase of the Influenza A H1N1 virus, from Influenza AH5N1. Nuclear techniques are alsoimportant in determining the nucleic acid sequence that describes the capacity of aparticular virus strain to cause a disease.

The application of nuclear technologies, in combination with conventional technologies,has contributed to concrete improvements in the number, condition and health ofanimals resulting in improved livelihoods for millions of people worldwide. For example,according to the Food and Agriculture (FAO), it is estimated that the eradication of

rinderpest saves Africa more than 1 billion USD per year. The unique characteristics ofnuclear technologies not only contribute to the efforts to reduce transboundary animaldisease risks, but also to the tracing and monitoring of animal movements (e.g. thetracing of disease infected migratory birds), as well as to the timely and proactive controland prevention of diseases through the use of vaccines.

The FAO together with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have identifiedthe analysis of animal genetic resources as a high priority area since it provides crucialoptions for the sustainable development of livestock production and for enhancing foodsecurity.Sustainable livestock production, refers the farming of animals using a systemthat ensures (or at least favours) the long-term availability of the inputs necessary to

continue in operation, along with satisfactory returns for the farmer. Unsustainablepractices are those that cause damage to the environment, increased risk for disease,decreased genetic variation and dissatisfaction by consumers, not to mentiondisenchantment by the producer.

Nuclear technologiesare used in many areas of livestock research and production. Forexample, the use of isotopic tracer techniques to measure the nutritive value of feedstuff,to determine the nutrient intake or energy balance of animals, and to study themetabolism of nutrients in the animal body. The output of research helps to formulatebalanced diets to achieve efficient growth and production. Isotopic methods are also used

to monitor reproductive status, leading to better breeding management. Moreover,nuclear techniques are also used in livestock disease diagnosis.

As a definition, ISOTOPES represent one of two or more atoms having the same atomicnumber but different mass numbers. Isotopic technologies present major advantage inmeasuring reactions very precisely and accurately. Therefore, they are still in use inscientific research work to produce for instance better diagnostic tools and tests or tofollow the metabolite of a drug through the body. Better diagnostics will help in early
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diagnosis of diseased animals while better drugs or vaccines will help you reducing thelosses due to the pathogen.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),historically,radioimmunoassay has been the dominant technology in this field. The RIA employsradioisotopes in the measurement the concentration of a given molecule in a biologicalsample. For reproduction, the most commonly measured molecule has been progesteroneand its measurement has allowed for monitoring of the reproduction cycle of livestockand improvement of the efficiency of artificial insemination programs.

Some examples ofisotopic techniquesare:1. Stable- (15N) and radio-isotope (35S or 32P) incorporation methods for measuring

microbial mass in vitro and in vivo, enabling the selection of feeds based on the

efficiency of microbial protein production;2. 125I-labeled bovine serum albumin and 14C-labeled polyethylene glycol assays formeasuring tannin in feeds;

3. A method based on the feeding of isotope-labeled protein (15N or 125I) complexeswith tannin for ranking different tannins for their abilities to release protein fordigestion in vivo;

4. 14C-uric acid and 14C-allantoin infusion methods for development of modelsdescribing excretion of purine derivatives in urine and microbial protein supply to
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ruminants, which permit assessment of nutritional status of animals anddetermination of nutritional quality of feed resources;

5. A15N isotope dilution technique using 15N-leucine to distinguish feed andendogenous secretions at the ileum, for determination of true digestibility ofprotein-rich tree leaves and aquatic plants in pigs;

6. Progesterone radioimmunoassay (RIA) for enhancing reproductive efficiency ofruminants, and RIA based leptin and insulin growth factor assays for assessing thenutritional status of animals;

7. Feeding of15N enriched plant material to generate 15N-labeled excreta for researchon the fate of excreta N in the environment;

8. 15N, 13C and 34S isotopic methods for nutrient budgeting and for following thenutrient pathways in soil-plant-animal continuum;

9. 32P- or 33P-labeled fertilizers for estimating the efficiency of P utilization in legumeleaf production used for livestock feeding;

10.Doubly labeled water (18O and 2H labeled) method for estimation of energyexpenditures of grazing animals, body composition, basal metabolic rate, and milkoutput in cows with calves;

11. NaH13CO3/ NaH14CO3 infusion for estimation of the carbon dioxide productionwhich in turn is used to estimate energy expenditure in free-ranging animals;

12. 3H- or 14C-labelled methane and 14C-labeled volatile fatty acids dilution techniquefor direct and indirect (using stoichiometry of carbohydrate fermentation)respectively for determination of methane emission from livestock; and

13. 15N dilution technique requiring labeling the soil with 15N fertilizer (15N-ammonium sulphate or 15N-urea) for estimation of nitrogen fixation by leguminoustrees and pastures, for better management of pastures and efficient integration ofcereal crops with the fodder crops.

With support from the IAEA, important progress has been made in the analysis of geneticdiversity in cattle, sheep and goat breeds, to improve the selection of desirable animalsfor higher productivity as their ability to resist endemic diseases or harsh environments isin many cases linked to their genetic make-up. The data and results from such geneticanalyses are valuable for ensuring the sustainability of future animal breedingprogrammes and their ability to select animals that carry suitable genes. However, thereare significant gaps in capacity for using the genetic data from these analyses for animalbreeding programmes, particularly in developing countries. To this effect, a computersystem with the network interface capability was developed to make available the genetic

data to all IAEA Member States, and to provide access to laboratory protocols, standardoperating procedures for gene analysis, tools for genome searches, and a livestockmolecular markers database. Genomic and phenotypic data have been acquired from over4000 sheep and goats of 89 breeds. This data will be used to identify common genes thatcould be exploited for improving animal production.

Radiolabelled nucleotide probes have contributed to the sequencing of the full bovinegenome14. These tools provide a means for the selection of more energy efficient animals
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with a smaller environmental footprint, and in particular animals that produce lessgreenhouse gas emissions. This discovery could lead to more efficient meat and milkproduction, and provides new information about the evolution of mammals as well as oncattle-specific biology. It also indicates the direction for research that could result inmore sustainable food production in a world challenged by global population growth.

Nuclear technologiesare also vital to animal disease diagnosis where rapid decision-making would be an advantage and especially in situations where the suspected diseaseoccurs in difficult to reach or remote areas that are far from the laboratory. The timesaved by determining whether a disease is present or not, could be the difference betweencontaining a disease at its point of origin and protecting human lives or preventing thespread of a disease to an animal market place or further afield. Conventional moleculartechniques including thermal amplification or PCR require sophisticated, expensive

equipment. A robust test at the molecular level, i.e. the loop mediated isothermalamplification (LAMP) PCR, has been developed using nuclear techniques, which is amore cost effective alternative to thermal DNA amplification. The LAMP PCR can becarried out within 30 to 60 minutes in a simple water bath at constant temperature andthe presence or absence of the isothermally amplified DNA product can be detectedvisually, i.e. a change in colour. Another advantage of the LAMP PCR platform is that itcan be developed for use on-site or on farm as a penside (point of care) rapid diagnostictest.
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The world continues to demand more and healthier animals and animal products that areenvironmentally safe, clean and ethical. This demand poses far-reaching challenges foranimal scientists on the critically important need to improve technologies in animalproduction and health in order to ensure food security, poverty alleviation andenvironmental protection on a global scale.

Nuclear applications drive modern biotechnological research by providing more sensitive,specific and cost effective diagnostic platforms or assays to detect and characterizedisease pathogens. The application of nuclear technologies in combination withconventional technologies contributes to improvements in the number, condition andhealth of animals resulting in improved livelihoods of millions of people worldwide.

This chapter was published on Inuitech Intuitech Technologies for Sustainability onFebruary 12, 2012:http://intuitech.biz/chapter-17-nuclear-energy-applications-food-agriculture-livestock-productivity-health-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/

Resources:

1. Reducing the risk of transboundry animal diseases through Nuclear Technologies:http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC54/GC54InfDocuments/English/gc54inf-3-att2_en.pdf

2. IAEA Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture FAQs:http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/aph/questions/aph-q5.html




6. Nuclear Technology Review 2010:http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC54/GC54InfDocuments/English/gc54inf-3_en.pdf
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