What is Animal Husbandry?
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture focused on the care, breeding, and management of livestock for food, fibre, and other essential products. Farmers raise animals like cows, goats, poultry, and fish for meat, milk, eggs, and other products vital to human nutrition. Proper animal husbandry practices ensure high productivity, animal welfare, and sustainable farming.
Types of Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry includes various farming practices aimed at maximising productivity. The primary types are:
1. Dairy Farming
Dairy farming involves the breeding and management of milk-producing animals like cows, buffaloes, and goats. These animals provide essential dairy products such as milk, cheese, butter, and yoghurt. Veterinary care, nutritious feed, and clean shelter ensure high-quality dairy production.
2. Poultry Farming
Poultry farming focuses on raising birds such as chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys for eggs and meat. These birds require disease-free environments, proper nutrition, and regular health checkups to maximise productivity.
3. Fish Farming (Pisciculture)
Fish farming involves breeding fish in controlled environments such as tanks and ponds. Common fish species raised for commercial purposes include salmon, tilapia, and catfish. Pisciculture supports high-protein food production and conserves wild fish populations.
4. Bee Farming (Apiculture)
Apiculture involves maintaining bee colonies for honey and wax production. Bees also play a crucial role in pollination, which boosts agricultural yield. An apiary provides a controlled environment for honey bees to thrive and produce honey commercially.
How Do Good Animal Husbandry Practices Benefit Farmers?
Effective animal husbandry practices provide multiple benefits to farmers:
Increased productivity: Ensuring good nutrition and veterinary care leads to higher yields of milk, eggs, and meat.
Disease prevention: Proper sanitation and vaccinations reduce livestock diseases, minimising losses.
Economic growth: Farmers earn a stable income by selling animal-based products like dairy, meat, and wool.
Sustainable agriculture: Manure from livestock serves as organic fertiliser, improving soil fertility and crop production.
Real-World Applications of Animal Husbandry
Dairy Industry: Milk and dairy products are essential in daily nutrition.
Meat Production: Poultry, fish, and livestock meat provide protein-rich food globally.
Textile Industry: Wool from sheep and leather from cattle are used in clothing production.
Agricultural Support: Animal manure is used as a natural fertiliser to improve crop yields.
Fun Facts about Animal Husbandry
India is the largest producer of milk in the world.
Honey never spoils; archaeologists have found edible honey in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Poultry farming contributes to over 40% of global meat production.
Interactive Quiz: Test Your Knowledge
What is the main objective of dairy farming?
a) Raising animals for meat
b) Producing milk and dairy products
c) Selling wool and leather
Which farming practice involves raising fish for commercial purposes?
a) Poultry Farming
b) Pisciculture
c) Apiculture
Check your answers: 1. (b), 2. (b)
FAQs on Animal Husbandry
1. What is animal husbandry as per the biology syllabus?
Animal husbandry is the agricultural science concerned with the care, breeding, and management of domestic animals (livestock). It aims to improve the genetic qualities and behavior of animals to increase their utility for humans, primarily for producing food like milk, meat, and eggs, as well as other products like wool and leather.
2. What are the main types or branches of animal husbandry?
The primary branches of animal husbandry focus on different types of livestock and their products. The main examples include:
Dairy Farming: Management of milk-producing animals like cows, buffaloes, and goats.
Poultry Farming: Rearing domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys for their eggs and meat.
Aquaculture/Pisciculture: The farming of aquatic organisms like fish, prawns, and crabs in controlled environments.
Apiculture (Beekeeping): Maintaining honey bee colonies for the production of honey and beeswax.
3. What is the importance of animal husbandry in agriculture and the Indian economy?
Animal husbandry is vital for both agriculture and the economy. It provides a stable supplementary income to farmers, ensures food security by supplying protein-rich food (milk, eggs, meat), and creates employment. Additionally, it supports farming through the provision of draught animals for labour and manure for fertilising soil, reducing reliance on chemical fertilisers.
4. How does selective breeding help improve livestock in animal husbandry?
Selective breeding is a core practice used to enhance livestock quality. It involves choosing parent animals with desirable traits—such as high milk yield, rapid growth, or resistance to diseases—and mating them. Over successive generations, these beneficial traits become more common in the population, leading to more productive and robust breeds. For example, breeding a high-yielding foreign cattle breed with a disease-resistant indigenous breed can create a superior offspring.
5. What is the key difference between milch animals and draught animals?
The primary difference lies in their purpose. Milch animals are those that are raised specifically for milk production, such as cows, buffaloes, and goats. In contrast, draught animals, like bullocks and camels, are raised and used for agricultural labour, including ploughing fields, transportation, and irrigation.
6. What are the essential requirements for proper livestock management?
Effective livestock management depends on several key practices to ensure animal health and productivity. These include:
Proper Feeding: Providing a balanced and nutritious diet suitable for the animal's age and purpose.
Adequate Shelter: Ensuring clean, dry, and well-ventilated housing to protect animals from harsh weather and diseases.
Disease Prevention: Implementing regular health check-ups, vaccinations, and maintaining hygiene to prevent the spread of infections.
7. How does animal husbandry contribute to sustainable farming practices?
Animal husbandry promotes sustainable agriculture by creating a symbiotic relationship between crops and livestock. Animal waste, such as dung and urine, serves as excellent organic manure, enriching soil fertility and reducing the need for synthetic fertilisers. This integrated farming approach helps maintain ecological balance, improves soil health, and makes farming more economically viable.
8. What is the difference between pisciculture and aquaculture?
While often used interchangeably, there is a subtle difference. Pisciculture specifically refers to the farming of fish for commercial purposes. Aquaculture is a broader term that includes the farming of all aquatic organisms, including fish, as well as crustaceans (prawns, crabs), molluscs (oysters), and aquatic plants.
9. Why is apiculture (beekeeping) considered an important part of animal husbandry?
Apiculture is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it is a source of valuable products like honey, beeswax, and royal jelly, which have nutritional and commercial value. Secondly, and more critically, bees are essential pollinators for a vast number of agricultural crops. By facilitating pollination, beekeeping significantly increases crop yields, making it a crucial component of integrated farming systems.
