| Semester 1, 2022 Toowoomba On-campus | |
| Units : | 1 |
| Faculty or Section : | Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences |
| School or Department : | School of Agriculture and Environmental Science |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
| Course fee schedule : | /current-students/administration/fees/fee-schedules |
Staffing
Examiner:
Requisites
Pre-requisite: AGR1101 and BIO2103
Overview
Animal breeding underpins the production of meat, milk and fibre. Ensuring a high reproductive rate is critical for the productivity and sustainability of animal production systems. Consequently, it is important for animal agriculture professionals to have a detailed understanding of animal reproduction so they critically evaluate and assess animal breeding programs to identify efficiencies and opportunities for improvement. This course will provide students with the underpinning knowledge and skills to implement and analyse animal breeding programs and identify reasons for poor reproductive performance within animal production systems. Throughout lectures and practicals held during a residential school, students will build on the foundational knowledge gained in BIO2103 Biology 2 to develop a detailed understanding of animal breeding as it pertains to production animals in both extensive and intensive production systems.
This course examines animal breeding; covering topics such as reproductive anatomy and physiology, reproductive disorders, artificial insemination/breeding, embryo transfers and breeding program development as they pertain to animal agriculture. Emerging technologies in animal breeding are also examined.
This course contains a highly recommended residential school for both external and on-campus students.
Course learning outcomes
On completion of this course students should be able to:
- Explain the reproductive anatomy and physiology of production animals;
- Design and analyse animal breeding programs;
- Identify the potential causes of poor breeding performance in livestock production systems;
- Critically evaluate the role that artificial breeding technologies have in breeding programs;
- Discuss and examine future technological developments that will impact animal breeding.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Reproductive anatomy and physiology in production animals | 25.00 |
| 2. | Artificial breeding technologies | 20.00 |
| 3. | Breeding program design | 20.00 |
| 4. | Addressing low/poor fertility | 20.00 |
| 5. | Managing for high breeding performance | 10.00 |
| 6. | Future technologies in animal breeding | 5.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
Student workload expectations
To do well in this subject, students are expected to commit approximately 10 hours per week including class contact hours, independent study, and all assessment tasks. If you are undertaking additional activities, which may include placements and residential schools, the weekly workload hours may vary.
Assessment details
| Description | Group Assessment |
Weighting (%) | Course learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literature review | No | 35 | 1,4,5 |
| Quiz | No | 30 | 1,2,3 |
| Case 精东传媒app | No | 35 | 2,3 |