Reproduction Biotechnology

Development of reproductive biotechnologies in animal agriculture is occurring at a phenomenal rate. However, producers must decide if the economic benefits outweigh the costs associated with many of these techniques.

Additionally, caution should be advised in propagating reproductively inferior animals via assisted reproductive technologies. Reproductive advances—artificial Insemination, In Vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, embryo transfer, cloning, transgenic animals (carrying a foreign gene), sex selection and trait selection, spermatagonial stem cell transplantation, immunocastration, marker assisted selection—provide producers the ability to propagate superior animals beyond what was previously thought to be the normal reproductive lifespan of cattle.