| Annual Reports |
|
As the existing 5-year NP 101 Food Animal Production projects near their completion in 2022, the scientific advances made through these projects have and will continue to drive and expand research opportunities in the next 5-year cycle. Advances in science have allowed greater depth of knowledge of biological function than ever before and ARS scientists continue to be scientific leaders in discovery and application of these findings to food animal production.
Research focusing on livestock production efficiency has far-reaching impacts, as efficiency is an all-encompassing term in food animal production. Efficiency improvements involve both animal feed and non-feed resource utilization. Key drivers and focal areas include:
- capture and effective use of nutrients from traditional and emerging feedstocks;
- enhanced gut and rumen function and the associated improvements in animal health and well-being;
- evaluation and optimization of production, reproduction, and product quality traits;
- discovery, verification, and adoption of new technology;
- enhanced analytical capabilities and statistical modeling to use ‘big’ data and bioinformatics;
- expanding knowledge of animal and microorganism genomes and phenomes to identify key genes, pathways, and associations that improve selection response and offer gene editing targets; and
- focused efforts to monitor individual animal needs, identify optimal housing, and understand the myriad of environmental factors that influence stress, health, and behavior of food animals.
All with goals focused on offering solutions that ameliorate concerns for animals produced for food.
To read more about NP 101 Accomplishments (pdf; 0.3Mb): FY2021 Annual Report
FY2020 NP 101 Accomplishments (pdf; 0.3Mb): FY 2020 Annual Report
FY 2019 NP 101 Accomplishments (pdf; 0.3Mb): FY 2019 Annual Report
FY 2018 NP 101 Accomplishments (pdf; 0.3 Mb): FY 2018 Annual Report
FY 2017 NP 101 Accomplishments (pdf; 0.1 Mb): FY 2017 Annual Report
