Biotechnology will provide new and unprecedented opportunities to improve the productivity of animals through increased growth, carcass quality and reproduction, improved nutrition and feed utilization, improved quality and safety of food, improved health and welfare of animals, and reduced waste through more efficient utilization of resources. The livestock industry will benefit also from the application of biotechnology in other areas such as in the development of new and improved feedstuffs, as well as in microbiology as related to food and bioremediation. Advances in human medical biotechnology form an important basis for research and development in animal biotechnology.
A broad range of topics on biotechnology in animal nutrition, physiology and health will be addressed. This review does not cover areas related to transgenesis, reproduction and molecular genetics, which are covered in a companion paper in this series, and β-agonists, steroid hormones and antibiotics. It does include reference to some present technologies, such as pro-biotics, that currently in the strictest sense may not be considered biotechnology, but which show great potential for biotechnological application. Extensive reviews on the application of biotechnology in animal production (Robinson and McEvoy, 1993) and in animal nutrition (Wallace and Chesson, 1995) are available.