CBSE Class 10 Biology Food Production Notes Set 02

Why Animals Are Kept

After farming began, humans domesticated animals for milk, meat, eggs, work, transport and products such as wool and leather. The dog was probably the first animal friend.

Milk-Yielding Animals

Cows, buffaloes and goats are the main milch animals. Indian cow breeds include Sahiwal, Gir, Sindhi, Tharparkar, Deoni and Kankrej; foreign breeds include Jersey, Holstein, Friesian and Brown Swiss. Cross-breeding Indian and foreign breeds has produced good milk yielders such as Karan Swiss and Karan Fries. Murrah, Surti, Nili and Bhadawari are buffalo breeds; buffalo milk contains more fat and protein than cow's milk. Goat's milk is light and easy to digest, good for infants and the old.
Operation Flood, also called the White Revolution, is the programme to raise milk production through better breeds, good management and milk co-operatives. Milk gives proteins, fat, lactose, calcium and vitamins A and B. Dairy products include cream, butter, ghee, cheese, khoa and milk powder.

Meat and Poultry

Meat from cattle is beef, from sheep and goat mutton, from pigs pork. Meat is rich in proteins and fats but has almost no carbohydrate, so it cannot replace cereals. Sheep are reared for wool, skin and meat, and local breeds are improved by crossing with Merino and other foreign breeds. The goat is called the poor man's cow because it gives milk and meat and survives on poor feed and harsh conditions.
Poultry farming means keeping hens, ducks, turkeys for eggs and meat. The Indian fowl Gallus gallus murghi is the ancestor of most domestic chickens. Egg-laying hens are layers and meat chickens are broilers. Indian hens lay about 60 eggs a year but foreign breeds such as White Leghorn lay about 180. Crosses with White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red gave strains like ILS 82 and B 77 that eat less and lay more.

Draught Animals

Oxen, buffaloes and camels pull ploughs and carts. Donkeys and mules carry loads, especially on hills. A mule is the sterile hybrid of a male donkey and a female horse; a hinny is the sterile hybrid of a male horse and a female donkey. Elephants lift timber, and the yak is the livestock of high mountains. Bulls not chosen for breeding are castrated and become bullocks, the main draught power in India.

Other Animal Products

1. Hair and wool: sheep (the Hissar breed), goats (pashmina), rabbits and other animals.
2. Skin: tanned hides give leather; leather export earns foreign exchange.
3. Bones give gelatin, glue and bone meal; horns give buttons and combs; feathers fill pillows; liver oils of shark and cod give vitamins A and D.

Care of Farm Animals

1. Food: roughage such as straw and dry grass and concentrates such as oil cakes and cotton seed. Poultry feed contains cereals, oil cake, fish meal, minerals and greens.
2. Shelter: clean, well-aerated and well-drained housing, safe from storm and heat, with proper disposal of dung.
3. Protection from disease: viruses cause pox, foot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest; bacteria cause cholera and tuberculosis; the fungus Aspergillus causes aspergillosis in poultry. Vaccines and veterinary help prevent and cure them.
4. Breeding: selection, import, cross-breeding and inbreeding. In artificial insemination semen from a high-quality bull is collected and stored at sub-zero temperature; one collection can serve about 3000 cows. Embryo transplantation is the later improvement.

Fish Farming

Inland fish culture (pisciculture) rears Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Tilapia and mullets. Fish are made to breed artificially by injecting pituitary extract, and fingerlings are protected in nursery ponds. Marine fishing catches mackerel, tuna, Bombay duck and prawns; shark and cod liver oil are rich in vitamins A and D. Aquaculture covers both inland and marine fisheries.