Q.What is meant by the term 'breed'? What are the objectives of animal breeding?

Breed: A breed is a group of animals related by descent that are similar in most characteristics such as general appearance (look), features, and productivity/performance, and that can be distinguished from other members of the same species by these shared traits. For example, within cattle, Gir, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi are distinct breeds; within poultry, White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red are distinct breeds.

Objectives of animal breeding: The broad aims of animal breeding are:

• To increase the yield of animals — e.g., increase milk yield in cattle, egg or meat production in poultry, wool yield in sheep.
• To improve the desirable qualities of the produce — e.g., improve the fat content and protein content of milk, the quality of wool or meat.
• To develop breeds with resistance to diseases and better adaptability to local climatic conditions, so animals remain healthy and productive.
• To combine desirable traits from different breeds (e.g., high yield of an exotic breed with the hardiness/disease resistance of an indigenous breed) through methods such as crossbreeding.
• To increase the number and improve the quality of progeny through controlled/assisted reproductive techniques (e.g., artificial insemination, MOET), so that superior parental traits are propagated more widely and rapidly.

In short, animal breeding uses selection and controlled mating (inbreeding, out-breeding, crossbreeding, or interspecific hybridization) to improve the productivity, quality and disease resistance of livestock, thereby enhancing food production.

First define 'breed' precisely (descent + shared identifiable traits), then list the objectives of breeding as a short set: increase yield, improve product quality, build disease resistance/adaptability, and multiply superior progeny.

• Defining 'breed' loosely as just 'a type of animal' without mentioning descent/relatedness and shared identifiable characteristics.
• Giving only one objective (usually 'more milk/meat') instead of the fuller set including quality improvement and disease resistance.
• Confusing 'breed' with 'species' — a breed is a sub-group within a species, not a different species.