Apr 11
6
The success of commercial ostrich farming depends on many things including understanding the importance of genetics of the production livestock.
For many centuries agriculture has improved output with farmers selecting seeds from their best crops and breeding males and females from their best livestock genetic lines. This process has improved agricultural production since the start of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. This is known as genetic improvement by natural selection and not to be confused with the recent introduction of genetic engineering or genetic modification which is a totally different process of genetic development.
In livestock genetic improvement by natural selection is achieved by selecting the animals demonstrating the best traits for their breed and/or specie to use for future breeders to improve the breed for their productive traits. In ostrich these productive traits may be egg laying, they may be specific conformation that provides optimum muscle size for meat production; they will include optimum growth size and feed conversion.
With plants this natural method of genetic improvement is achieved by saving seeds from the best crops to produce a quality crop with optimum yield under the local climatic conditions.
Genetic improvement by natural selection introduces only the genes from the same species, they may be crossed with different breeds or varieties of the same species but they do not introduce genes from different species. For example in cattle you may cross a Friesian Dairy Cow with a Hereford to achieve a calf that will yield more meat.
In recent years something new has crept into genetic development that is alien to genetic improvement by natural selection. That is genetic engineering where DNA from different species is impregnated into a plant or animal of a different species. The simplest definition of a genetically modified organism is one in which the genetic make-up has been altered in a way that does not happen naturally. The genes have crossed the specie barrier.
An example of Genetic Modification is taking the gene that programs poison in the tail of a scorpion, and combining it with a cabbage. These genetically modified cabbages kill caterpillars because they have learned to grow scorpion poison (insecticide) in their sap. Another example is the gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas has been inserted into a strawberry, allowing the fruit to be frost-tolerant.
The two types of genetic improvement must never be confused as genetic improvement by natural selection is normal and essential in commercial agriculture and quite natural so long as the traits selected for and developed do not compromise the animal’s health and well-being. The controversy on the safety and ethics of genetic improvement is the Genetic Engineering/modification introduction of genes from different species as many scientists still question their long term safety.
The commercial success of ostrich farming depends on identifying the productive genetic material and developing those bloodlines using natural selection and breeding techniques, which can include Artificial Insemination.
