APPLICATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN SOUTHERN PROVINCES

Application of biotechnology in animal husbandry has been encouraged by governmental policies. Our initial results in this aspect showed that reproductive biotechnologies including sexed semen, ovum pickup can be used into in vitro embryo production in order to produce high quality animal breed; molecular biology have been applied successful to detect pathogen of serious disease (PRRS) or congenital genetic disease (BLAD). Our research trends focus on (i) combining reproductive biotechnology with gene assisted selection for producing high quality animal breed (ii) combining genotype selection (MAS, GAS, SNPs) with phenotype selection (BLUP) in animal selection and breeding programmes, especially on improving quality of animal products (iii) combining molecular biology with conventional methods in diagnosis of animal diseases, especially on genetic diseases.