Una reflexión prospectiva sobre técnicas sostenibles para controlar la reproducción en mamíferos domésticos

Abstract

Controlling farm animal reproduction was/is one of the essential tools for domestication of species. It is still of high interest for genetic improvement, adjustment of reproduction to feed availability, to market and reduction of unproductive periods. Detection of oestrous behaviour in cyclic females, synchronization of conceptions and increase of the potency of diffusion of sires are three common objectives among species. The various reproductive systems among livestock systems differ because of intrinsic properties of species and because of the various degrees of intensification of these systems. Three clear tendencies are to continue increasing productivity by improving reproductive efficiency, developing new and sustainable techniques without hormones, and continuing to develop AI and reproductive biotechnologies. Future areas in research could be the physiological and ethological bases of the socio-sexual inter-relationships between animals, the genetic control of reproductive traits, an increase in the efficiency of classical and new reproductive biotechnologies and engineering, and the use in farm conditions of innovative reproductive techniques. These reproductive techniques should be developed and applied within the livestock systems in such a manner that they contribute to the three pillars of sustainability: environment, economy and society.