Healthy animals equals
healthy, productive people
Lorne A Babiuk
University of Alberta
Livestock-based options for sustainable food and nutritional
security, economic well-being and healthy lives
ILRI@40 Conference
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6–7 November 2014

Global challenges
• Currently 1 billion people go to bed hungry
• By 2050 predict 2 billion more people
• Land resources decreasing
• Climate change
• Agriculture investments decreased in 2000
• Increase in food prices
• Increased need for protein
• Developing world increased demand for
animal protein

Global Challenges (cont.)
• Livestock are a reliable cash income
• Raise production of milk, meat and fish
• 500 million smallholders support 2 billion
people
• Almost 2/3 of poor smallholder livestock
keepers are women
• Technology adoption may be a challenge but
also a saviour
• Healthy animals = healthy food = healthy
productive people = increased economic
stability

Gains in meat consumption in developing
countries are outpacing those of developed
FAO 2006

70% of the world’s livestock (18.5 billion head) are in developing
countries and the share is growing
FAO
Livestock in developing countries

Livestock keepers in developing countries
One billion people earning <$2 a day depend on livestock:
• 600 million in South Asia
• 300 million in sub-Saharan Africa
Density of poor
livestock keepers
0 or no data
Density of poor
livestock
keepers
ILRI, 2012

Percent of production from smallholders
Smallholders still dominate production in many counties
BMGF, FAO and ILRI

Challenges
• Mortality due to infections
• Limits areas for raising livestock
• Economic coats
- animals
- humans

Economic Impact of
Animal Diseases
• Rinderpest - limited trade/exports
• BSE – UK $ 2.5 billion direct compensation
• BSE – Canada $ 1 billion direct
compensation
• FMD (2001) $ 6 – 30 billion
• SARS (2003) $100 billion
• Influenza annually
• Ebola – currently causing devastation
• Emerging diseases -- unknown economic
losses

Currently over 70% of New
or Emerging Diseases
are Zoonotic

Zoonosis
• Economic consequences to farms/producers
• International trade barriers
• Price of food
• Human health

Transmission from Humans to
Animals and Back

Biotechnology in the
Developed world
Biotechnology in the
Developing world

Genomic approaches to Animal
Health
• Vaccination
• Breeding disease resistant animals
• Marker assisted management
high quality carcasses

VACCINES
“Vaccination is one of the most
cost-effective approaches for the
management of infectious
disease”

The problem

The solution
• Develop thermal stable vaccines
• Protection in multiple species
• Employ as vectors for other pathogens
• Result in protection from disease in target
species
• Result in protection of humans
• Result in increased economic benefit

18
Etiology
The Capripoxvirus Group
LUMPY SKIN DISEASE
Limited Host Range No Known Wildlife Reservoir
SHEEP POX GOAT POX
97% similar at the genetic level
Capripoxviruses have no serotypes

Removal of virulence gene

Figure 6: Clinical signs and gross pathology following vaccination (1 x 102.3 pfu) and challenge in
sheep and goats at 10 days post-challenge. (A) Conjunctivitis in unvaccinated sheep; (B and C) lack
of pox lesions in vaccinated sheep and goats, respectively, are in contrast to pox lesions seen in
unvaccinated goats (D) and sheep (F) at the same time point. Nasal and mucosal discharges were
also observed in unvaccinated animals (E).

Stage 2: Generation of the KO_1 vectored RVF-PPR
X
Schematic showing the generation of the KO_1 vaccine construct containing
protective antigen genes of RVFV and PPRV. The protective glycoproteins (GnGc) of
RVFV and the fusion (F) protein of PPRV were inserted into the selected target site of
the KO_1 genome.
C
vaccine construct.

Genetics can improve production
• Classical breeding/selection
• Biotechnology

Agriculture
• Knowledge of the genetic
variants that affect livestock
health and productivity can
assist with breeding efforts
aimed at improving these traits.
• Or with precision management
by genotype
5% improvement in feed
efficiency = $300,000,000

Genomics in Livestock?
• Parentage or the origin of a piece of meat
• To identify carriers of a genetic disease
• To manage “genetic health”/diversity (dF)
• To determine the genetic potential of an
animal at birth
• E.g.
– The carcass grade of a steer/ pig
– A sire’s ability to breed prolific daughters
– An animals ability to tolerate environmental or disease challenge
(robustness)

Bovine Macro-array

Determining which alleles
are present (genotyping)
• Genotyping chips can
be used to determine
which SNPs are
present in an
individual’s genome.

The Opportunity
• Converting DNA sequence into useful
genotyping tools
• Analyzing thousands of animals to convert
genotypes into predictions
• Converting genetic code into decision support
tools to improve the efficiency of quality meat
and milk production
• To tailor raw material to markets

Marker Assisted Management
Is this the best use of
our beef?

Marker Assisted Management: cont’d
High Quality
Carcass
Feedlot

Marker Assisted Management: cont’d

Conclusion
• Increasing food security is critical
• Technology is available to benefit society
• Adoption of technology may be a challenge
• Developing world is poised for great human
development opportunities and challenges
• Healthy animals =healthy people= healthy
environment=stable economic environments