Animal husbandry is an agricultural branch engaged in breeding farm animals for the production of livestock products [1] . The scientific basis of animal husbandry is zootechny .
Content
Historical Information
Livestock is the most ancient trade of humanity after hunting , gathering and fishing , mastered, along with agriculture , in the Neolithic period , during the so-called Neolithic revolution . The emergence of animal husbandry was preceded by the process of domestication of certain species of wild animals that could live next to a person, while bringing him some benefit - as a source of food ( meat , milk , bird eggs ), a source of raw materials for making clothes or building huts (for example, skins ), as workers (for example, pulling a plow ) or mounts, as animals to protect property ( dog , cat ).
Like farming, animal husbandry made it possible to provide more stable and predictable livelihood, and thus reduced the time spent searching for food compared to hunting and gathering societies. In addition, the breeding of certain types of animals allowed to transport goods over long distances and marked the beginning of an extensive trade . Many scholars agree that these facts served as a powerful impetus for the development of culture , new household inventions, as well as larger societies and ethnic groups that arose on the basis of their unifying identity.
Cows , goats , sheep , pigs , camels , deer and some other animals turned out to be suitable for domestication and the production of animal products. It was found that the natural ranges of most of these species overlapped in the so-called Fertile Crescent in the Middle East , which gave the peoples living in it an advantage in development and led to the emergence of the first civilizations, including the Sumerians , Babylonians , Egyptians , Assyrians and Phoenicians .
At the beginning of the XXI century, about 70% of agricultural land (30% of the total land area) is required for grazing [2] .
Livestock industries
In animal husbandry, the following industries are distinguished [1] [3] :
- Camel breeding
- Fur farming
- Goat
- Horse breeding
- Rabbit breeding
- Mule breeding
- Insect farming ( beekeeping , sericulture , as well as bumblebee and cockroach )
- Sheep breeding
- Reindeer herding
- Breeding
- Poultry farming
- Fish farming
- Pig breeding
- Cattle breeding (including dairy cattle breeding , dairy beef cattle breeding and beef cattle breeding )
- Dog breeding
Impact on global warming
Breeding of ruminant animals has a significant impact on global warming due to about 18% of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the intestines of animals: they account for 9% of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, 35–40% of methane (CH 4 ), 64% of nitric oxide (I) (N 2 O) [2] , and some others. To reduce emissions, various methods are offered (for example, food additives, gas-accumulating bags, etc.), as well as reduction of livestock while reducing their meat consumption.
See also
- Crop production
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- 2 1 2 Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options . Food & Agriculture Org. (January 1, 2006). Archived June 25, 2008. ,
- ↑ Animal Husbandry // The Great Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 t.] / Ch. ed. Yu. S. Osipov . - M .: The Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.
Links
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to Livestock
- Information resource IZh NAAN about animal husbandry
- Feeding, keeping, breeding farm animals and birds
Literature
- Livestock // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Livestock // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 t.] / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (Checked April 5, 2012)
- Animal Husbandry // The Great Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 t.] / Ch. ed. Yu. S. Osipov . - M .: The Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.
- A.P. Soldiers. Basics of animal husbandry . - 3rd ed. - M .: Agropromizdat, 1988.