By Md Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, April 26, 2024 (BSS)- Adverse impacts of climate change along with
the present prolonged heat wave has been posing threats to the production of
livestock, particularly beef cattle.

Professor Dr SM Kamruzzaman depicted that climatic stress is a major limiting
factor of production efficiency in beef cattle and in dairy cattle in
tropical environments.

Referring to his research findings, he opined that the stress is apprehended
to increase due to climate change. More than half of the cattle in the region
are maintained in hot and humid environments.

Amid the heat stress, the physiological and cellular aspects of reproductive
function are disrupted by the increase in body temperature.

Prof Kamruzzaman, who teaches at the Department of Veterinary and Animal
Science in Rajshahi University, said substantial differences in thermal
tolerance exist among breeds and among animals within breeds.

Elaborating on the indicative of opportunities for selective improvement, he
attributed that use of genomic tools to produce an animal with superior
ability for both thermal adaptation and food production.

It represents an energy-efficient sustainable approach to meet the challenge
of global climate change.

There is an urgent need of concentrating on the domestic hybrid livestock
technology for enriching the breeding capacity through providing high
technology and institutional feedback.

On the contrary, he exposed that the imported livestock species from
Australia or Denmark are much more susceptible to the climate hazards
compared to the locals but it's not cost effective in the country's aspects.

Talking to BSS here on Thursday, Prof Dr Kamruzzaman opined that the
reduction in productivity and reproductive capacity of cattle is supposed to
be accelerated protein deficiency.

In a high-temperature environment, the pregnancy rate decreases, leading to
decrease in animals and the production as well.
 
It's also important to improve the breeding efficiency of cattle through the
use of reproductive technology to mitigate the odd situation.
Selective breeding is an additional mitigating strategy which is cost-
effective, permanent and cumulative and can easily be included in daily herd
management at a limited expense.

Giving an elaboration to the issue he said animal reproductive experts can
play a pioneering role towards mitigating global warming related to the
livestock industry.

Utmost emphasis should be given on innovations in the field of making
selective breeding as mitigation strategies and there are more need-based
works to be done.

Extensive and automated registration, breeding value assessment models,
Knowledge of the impact of selecting cows and implementation in practical and
widely accepted tools need to be promoted in the grassroots.

Appreciating the national livestock breeders but still it requires some
options to improve a rich gene bank that can preserve the livestock's gene up
to a certain period for the climate resilient livestock development.

As a whole, Prof Dr Kamruzzaman categorically mentioned that Bangladesh is
not responsible for climate change but its people are in a miserable
position, which is not suitable for livestock feeds, fodders, forages and
grazing fields.