Q.Enlist the main objectives for improved animal breeding programmes using gene transfer technology.

Transgenic animal breeding aims to boost productivity, disease resistance, product quality, and to produce biopharmaceuticals.

Gene transfer technology (production of transgenic animals, in which a foreign gene is introduced into the animal's genome) is applied in animal breeding programmes with several key objectives: (1) To increase productivity — introducing genes that enhance growth rate, milk yield, meat quality/quantity, wool production, or egg production, thereby improving the economic yield from livestock/poultry. (2) To improve disease resistance — transferring genes that confer resistance to specific pathogens or diseases, reducing losses and reliance on medication in livestock populations. (3) To produce biopharmaceuticals ('pharming') — engineering animals (e.g., goats, cows) to secrete valuable therapeutic proteins, hormones or antibodies in their milk, which can then be extracted and purified for medical use, offering a cost-effective large-scale production system. (4) To improve product quality — modifying genes affecting the nutritional composition of milk, meat or eggs (e.g., altering fat content, protein composition) to yield healthier animal products. (5) To develop research/biomedical models — creating transgenic animals as model systems to study …